Book news, sort of
Feb. 17th, 2008 05:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
msagaraThank you all for being so encouraging. <3.
But I'm still genuinely curious about whether or not things get easier or harder for people who write (or actually, create something that is offered for public inspection). Someone – I think![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kateelliott, suggested that it gets harder because we're all more aware, later in career, of all the ways things can go wrong, most of which we have no control over.
In other news: I received the mass market covers for Cast in Courtlight and Cast in Secret, andcszego saved me the August catalogue (they're both August titles now) in which they're offered. The covers are a matte finish, as opposed to the standard, glossier finish of the trades, and Courtlight is slightly different, in that the runic marks on the figure's arms are now also across the figure's exposed back. The text for Cast in Secret has Kaylin as a Private, and across the back cover of both books are "also in the series" banners that show the covers (in postage stamp size) of the other 3 books in the series.
I like them. I also like that the catalogue – as opposed to the cover proofs – lists the price of the book as 6.99 U.S./Canadian, which means that when the books arrive, they'll be at par. The DAW March titles appear to be at par as well. I'm assuming that this means that the March Roc/Ace titles will come in at par.
We get a lot of people who complain – frequently – about the discrepancy in the Canadian/US prices on those books, and I've explained how the distribution system works here, and how much money we personally would be losing if we charged the US cover price while we were paying based on the Canadian cover price more times than any of you would want to endure. A lot of people have simply been ordering from Amazon, and booksellers here have been ordering from Ingram; it is a huge relief to see the cover prices in Canadian dollars come down. Because the fun of lecturing people? It pales quickly. Yes, I know it's me, so it probably pales less quickly, but even so.
I understand that people are short on cash everywhere, and I understand that it makes sense to economize by ordering on-line from places like Amazon.com; I'm not bitter about it, although we have noticed a slow-down, and some of the people who come into the store for specific things have said they pretty much do all their purchasing, with a few exceptions (things that they don't want to wait for) from amazon.com. So there's no criticism of bookbuyers here (well, not the ones who don't accuse us of horrible price gouging), but I'm happier as a bookseller to see the prices come down.
But I'm still genuinely curious about whether or not things get easier or harder for people who write (or actually, create something that is offered for public inspection). Someone – I think
kateelliott, suggested that it gets harder because we're all more aware, later in career, of all the ways things can go wrong, most of which we have no control over.In other news: I received the mass market covers for Cast in Courtlight and Cast in Secret, and
cszego saved me the August catalogue (they're both August titles now) in which they're offered. The covers are a matte finish, as opposed to the standard, glossier finish of the trades, and Courtlight is slightly different, in that the runic marks on the figure's arms are now also across the figure's exposed back. The text for Cast in Secret has Kaylin as a Private, and across the back cover of both books are "also in the series" banners that show the covers (in postage stamp size) of the other 3 books in the series.I like them. I also like that the catalogue – as opposed to the cover proofs – lists the price of the book as 6.99 U.S./Canadian, which means that when the books arrive, they'll be at par. The DAW March titles appear to be at par as well. I'm assuming that this means that the March Roc/Ace titles will come in at par.
We get a lot of people who complain – frequently – about the discrepancy in the Canadian/US prices on those books, and I've explained how the distribution system works here, and how much money we personally would be losing if we charged the US cover price while we were paying based on the Canadian cover price more times than any of you would want to endure. A lot of people have simply been ordering from Amazon, and booksellers here have been ordering from Ingram; it is a huge relief to see the cover prices in Canadian dollars come down. Because the fun of lecturing people? It pales quickly. Yes, I know it's me, so it probably pales less quickly, but even so.
I understand that people are short on cash everywhere, and I understand that it makes sense to economize by ordering on-line from places like Amazon.com; I'm not bitter about it, although we have noticed a slow-down, and some of the people who come into the store for specific things have said they pretty much do all their purchasing, with a few exceptions (things that they don't want to wait for) from amazon.com. So there's no criticism of bookbuyers here (well, not the ones who don't accuse us of horrible price gouging), but I'm happier as a bookseller to see the prices come down.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 03:59 pm (UTC)I live in a city that has a SciFi/Fantasy-specific owner-run bookstore. I've been going there for years, and they may not have the standard X% off specials the big box stores do, but the big box stores don't call me to find out how I'm handling the wait withdrawal between series books, and can't make recommendations to tide me over based on what types of stories I like. On what genre I buy, yes, but the computer can't differentiate between Bujold and Niven. It's not a store, it's a relationship. I can also handle the books and check the covers and pages to see if there's any noticeable flaw in the bindings before I bring them home. I'd rather pay more to the store.. and I wind up spending more, because I walk in for one book and walk out with 12 due to the owner being an evil enabler of my addiction.. than pay less somewhere online and get impersonal spam about 'Our Customers Also Bought..'.
-T
no subject
Date: 2008-02-18 06:33 pm (UTC)We have a number of customers who buy everything but their SF on amazon at the moment, but are willing to support the store for their genre reading -- but these are people who do understand the economics of a bookstore, and don't assume that we're trying to rip them off; they also navigate the shoals of employee recommendations (we all read different things, so there's often that trial and error period where you're buying someone's recommended reading to see how your tastes synch), and have generally come out ahead. And if they hate a book, they can always come back and argue about it :D.