Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Summertime fun

Our trade publishing around the globe is having a run of successes. Today on Channel 4 at 5.30 Kate Morton's The House at Riverton  published by Pan Macmillan, which is one of Richard and Judy's Summer Reads, will be reviewed on the Richard and Judy Show by celebrity reviewers Matt Baker (of Blue Peter fame) and Jo Whiley.  In Australia, Who Killed Channel 9?, the book I blogged  about a week or so ago, is at No 1 after its first full week of sales. And in other trade publishing news, I'm pleased to see that the war of words between ASDA and Bloomsbury over the forthcoming Harry Potter launch was closed yesterday with Bloomsbury receiving the apology they deserved from the Walmart-owned supermarket chain, as reported here by The Bookseller.



 

Meanwhile, I was amused by the BBC's feature  on the man whose Internet life begins to eat up his entire business and personal life, so much so that he now pays someone else to be him online. Could it be time for me to employ a full-time 'digital biographer'?

#    |  Comments [3]  | 
7/18/2007 10:26:11 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
The public exchange between Asda and Bloomsbury was highly informative for the independent booktrade which tends to take most waffle from CEO's with a pinch of salt.

Nigel Newton tried to appease the trade last week by suggesting to TheBookseller.com that the supermarkets were supplied at standard terms by wholesalers....well now we specialist bookshops are somewhat the wiser.

Since AsdaWalMart are purchasing half a million copies direct it is very likely that they have received a nice big co-op promo bung for HP7, as well as special terms. Part of the alleged debt from Asda was leaked as being for previous HP titles returned (details in the Daily Telegraph)

I for one think that this whole affair stinks and shows the larger british book publishers in a very poor light.

It has been stated to me that the unwritten agreement between the two parties was that Asda did not enter a further discount war over the title. From the moment that Wilkinson Hardware decided to go £7.99, Asda were not happy bunnies - witness the latest shenanigans.

Wilkinson Hardware are allegedly being supplied by Gardners, but just at the moment I do not believe anything said over HP7.

Thankfully HP7 was never on my agenda, there are plenty of other more productive tiddlers in the ocean, away from the shark infested waters. Yesterday afternoon I was shown the final proofs for a fantastic book from a small independent publisher who have the balls to protect their stock by offering identical terms to every retailer, no bungs and no special discounts.
Clive Keeble
8/4/2007 5:22:29 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
I find it very interesting!
פלייבקים
8/29/2007 9:22:26 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
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