In early October, Gennita Low started an online campaign to ask folks to write to Wal Mart’s headquarters and ask them to stock her book. According to Low, Wal-Mart didn’t stock her first book, Virtually His, and as a result her sales numbers were so low, Mira has delayed the release of the sequel, Virtually Hers.
In an open letter that was posted several places online, including Karen Knows Best, Low invites people to contact Mira, and to contact Wal Mart’s book buying department to try to get her book in stock. Several fans have posted comments saying how eagerly they were awaiting the book, and many have mentioned that they’ve contacted Wal Mart on Low’s behalf.
One reader wrote to me that she was hella pissed off, because she’d pre-ordered the book and been told by Amazon that it was delayed again and again. She was livid that so much power of what she was able to buy in her romance selections was determined by Wal Mart.
Virtually Hers appears to be available starting December 1, so perhaps the nudging helped? Who knows.
CORRECTION: Per Gennita Low’s comment below, she received the rights back from her publisher. Virtually Hers will not be released Dec. 1. I hope it finds a new home.
But this is not the first time I’ve heard of Wal Mart putting the sinker on someone’s sales.
An author who asked to remain anonymous told me:
Walmart placed a HUGE order for my first book (68% of the print run). They returned 80% of their order almost immediately (aka 50% of my print run), meaning it’s likely those books never even saw the shelf (I lost my slot to a backlist title of a NYT best seller most likely). As far as I know they didn’t order book two at all (honestly, I just don’t want to know). Walmart basically trashed my career before I even had a chance. No amount of great reviews or awards is going to offset a 49% sell though (the book sold VERY WELL at book stores, for all the good that does me).
I asked her how she knew about the Wal Mart connection to her sales, and she replied that her info came straight from her editor:
My editor told me my numbers were “in the toilet”. Nice. I was surprised, since my agent had told me that my numbers were great (cue the lesson that Walmart doesn’t report to things like Bookscan, so your sales numbers can look fab when they’re not). I expressed this surprise and my editor said, “Let me poke around a bit and call you back. I remember something really wonky happening with your book and Walmart . . .”
Most authors check their sales figures by subscribing to Bookscan and calling the Ingrams’ number incessantly. These two sources get their info from actual sales (Ingrams from stores ordering from their warehouse and Bookscan from bookstores that report in their actual sales). These two numbers have historically been considered fairly reliable (kind of like polls). There are all sorts of formulas people use to get an idea of what those two numbers equate to in total sales (like triple your Bookscan total or multiple your Ingrams # by 6, etc.). But the idea was that if your Bookscan and Ingrams #s were healthy your book was doing well.
This is no longer the case.
Book sales have begun to be heavily driven by big box stores (Walmart being the most important one apparently), and those stores don’t report to Bookscan. So if it’s true that something like 47% of all mass market fiction is sold ad big box stores (I think) and your book isn’t in said big box stores (because it wasn’t picked up, or like me, they trash you right out of the gate) you’re royally screwed. But you may not know you’re screwed until you get blindsided by your royalty statement and the fact that your publisher isn’t picking up your next contract.
Now, I know next to diddly about Bookscan and sales numbers, and how sales and success are quantified. So I asked an editor: What’s up with Wal Mart?
Does Wal Mart have that much power?
The answer: an unequivocal “Oh, holy shit, yes.”
Wal Mart is the single largest bookseller in the US. Period, full stop. Most books in this country for retail sales are sold to Wal Mart. And so they have the most power, according to my source.
The completely wonky part is that they don’t make as much money selling books as they do selling, say, tires or automotive supplies or groceries. Books are a very small part of their selection, and a small part of their profit margin.
But books at Wal Mart are a holy hopping damn huge part of of the profit margin of your average romance publishing establishment, because when Wal Mart orders a book, it is an order that often has many, many more zeroes in it than orders for all the other retailers combined. It is not far fetched for editors and marketing staff to ponder amongst themselves, ‘But how will this sell at Wal Mart?’ Selling to Wal Mart is crucial for any author, any publisher, and anyone who hopes to realize a profit in publishing romance, particularly as predictions of the financial future of publishing in general turn dire indeed. Wal Mart is the most powerful figure in romance publishing, bar none (after Dear Author and us, of course) (snort).
Some of the email I received regarding Gennita Low’s campaign thought that readers of romance should boycott Wal Mart in protest of their outrageous market power. This is not the first time I’ve heard anti Wal Mart sentiment. As the nations largest retailer, they have attracted more than one lawsuit for alleged discrimination against women.
In the Fall 08 issue of Bitch Magazine, there’s an article about Wal Mart’s latest marketing campaign, which asks if moms have “formed their ‘momtourage’ yet,” targeting female readers and television viewers as potential customers. This is troublesome to the article’s author, because
[t]he superstore is currently involved in the largest workplace gender-discrimination lawsuit in history, with more than 1.3 million female employees suing the retailer for failing to equally promote and pay women…. In one 2005 ruling, [Wal-Mart] was fined $188,000.00 by the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission for violating state law when it refused to reinstate a woman after she completed her maternity leave.
Now, personally, I don’t have a Wal Mart within driving distance, so I don’t shop there. I don’t know if I would had I the choice, given what I know colloquially of their labor practices from friends of mine who worked there while we were all in college.
But I also know that for a lot of people looking to mind their budgets and feed and clothe their families, Wal Mart is the only option in town. Literally.
And for those of us concerned with the health and continued viability of the romance book market? Wal Mart might as well be the only option in town as well. They are literally the most powerful, and books aren’t even their main source of income. How do you fight such a behemoth with that much power over an author’s career future? Is it even possible? Or do we have to play within that power structure to advance our cause – the continued availability of romance novels? According to those with whom I spoke, it’s not possible to circumvent Wal Mart and survive in the current market. They buy in such quantity and sell in such volume that it isn’t possible to go without them. There is simply no way to avoid them.
When I asked my editorial source what readers could do, the answer was immediate: shop there. “We should all get down on our knees and thank God for Wal Mart. They buy romance, we have jobs, you have books to read.” It might leave a sour taste in one’s mouth, but we should go out of our way to shop there, according to this editor, because if more people shop for romance there, and it becomes more of a profitable enterprise for them, then they’ll buy more. If they buy more, there’s room to publish more, and there’s more for us to read. Turning-page economics, if you will.
I’m not pretending I know the answer to this one, and for the time being shopping at Wal Mart or deciding not to isn’t a question I face. But I know a lot of our readers look to Wal Mart for their book needs. GrowlyCub mentioned recently in a comment to my review of Lori Borrill’s Unleashed that:
I went and read the excerpt at Amazon and holy smokes, I want to read that book now! Our local Walmart does not carry Blazes any longer, so that means either a trip 80 miles down the road or waiting till Bamm.com can deliver.
No Blazes in the Wal Mart means one reader waits for shipping, or goes without. Even in the isolated cases, that’s a lot of power for one store to wield.
What’s your take? Do you shop at Wal Mart for books? Or do you avoid it? And if the biggest of the big box stores has that much market power and control over the genre, will that ever change? And how?
I have a hard time thinking that buying more at Walmart will make them stock more variety. Seems to me that it’ll just make them think one more person is satisfied with limited selection and gawdawful cheap manufacture. Everything I’ve been given from Walmart (because I haven’t shopped there in six years—they don’t get my business and if I have to get a little strategic in order to afford other options, then it’s worth it. But actually in my town, our Walmart often *isn’t* as cheap as the other options).
I have to wonder, though, if Ms. Low’s publisher isn’t revealing a little via the editor’s suggestion to “buy more at Walmart.” Sounds like it would be a very easy revenue stream to encourage consumers to buy more from the biggest retailer and thereby reduce the numbers and maybe the viability for the publisher to *have* to deal with other retailers.
Or perhaps this speaks to the backwards way that publishing has traditionally worked. In an era of lean and just-in-time manufacturing, the sheer waste in print publishing is baffling.
As for the charges of censorship, yeah, Walmart does it with music, and the music companies let them.
I wonder if the publishers are under similar pressure—if Walmart caters to only certain subject matter, is it surprising that more and more manuscripts are bought which fit those standards? Now we might consider it simply Walmart’s choice of what to carry but think of this—when the retail outlet dictates to the producer what kind of things they find “unacceptable” *before* the buying public has had the chance to accept or reject through their purchases, that’s not really capitalism, is it?
spamalot – walked35 – yeah, I’d’ve walked 35 extra miles to avoid a stop at a Walmart. The lack of quality of the products, and the implied assent to abhorrent business practices just are not worth it to me. But I’m also lucky enough to be able to have that financial wiggle room.
I bought ONE book at WM once. I liked the cover and the description sounded interesting. Unfortunately I was being rushed and I missed the part where it says that it was the second book of a series. Since I had not read the first book, I went to return it two days later. That’s when I was told that I couldn’t because they did not accept returns on books. Unless the book was return the next day I had to keep it. I never bought another book from them.
I buy books from amazon.com, booksamillion.com and I have a borders not far from home. They recently open a BAM near my house and I swear that place is a threat to my budget. To be honest when you compare the selection of any of those retailers vs. WM, it makes WM look pathetic. I can’t look at the book section of WM because most of what they have is old stuff and inspirational. Another perk of those stores is that if they don’t have the book they will order it for you. This comes in handy for me since I also read books in spanish.
I understand that some people have to buy from WM, they have no other choice. My heart goes out to you. However, I strongly recomend them amazon, BAM or borders. The selection is amazing and you can shop in your pajamas.
Hi! Well, just thru reading all this (very interesting) and I have got to throw in my 2 cents worth!! Local Wal-Mart stores can be persuaded to carry the books you want to see there. It happened at my local Wal-Mart. I pitched a big hissy fit about thebooks in my store. They have deemed our area as African-American and so they cater strictly to that population! They were carrying only 4 or 5 white authors and 3 or 4 long shelves with AA authors. some of those authors had over a 100 copies of a single title! Not the big name authors either! Now, our store is more equal in the books dept. CALL the main office, pitch a hissy fit with them, then notify the district manager, and then see the store manager. Keep after them, tell them you will take your business elsewhere (make sure you tell the store manager) the workers don’t give a shit!! I kept after them and finally got results. If I had a choice locally and could afford to shop elsewhere I would. I do buy from BAMM alot, on line and a couple times a year at the store (100 miles away!)
Very, very true. Their concept of selection is to have a current title, and 6-10 back titles by a single author. Fiction wise, they have maybe 2 dozen different authors, on a good day.
I’m fortunate to have shopping options, both for books and mundane items, but I hate how much power they have. When my budget is tight, I do go there but I avoid it when I’m able.
When I asked my editorial source what readers could do, the answer was immediate: shop there. “We should all get down on our knees and thank God for Wal Mart. They buy romance, we have jobs, you have books to read.†It might leave a sour taste in one’s mouth, but we should go out of our way to shop there, according to this editor, because if more people shop for romance there, and it becomes more of a profitable enterprise for them, then they’ll buy more. If they buy more, there’s room to publish more, and there’s more for us to read. Turning-page economics, if you will.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s not buying this argument. Fun-ky.
Off-topic-ish, but I remember when I worked at Wal-Mart as a college student that unions were THE VERY SCOURGE. I remember in the Wal-Mart back room there were posters warning about unions and that unions will NOT be tolerated and basically If You Learn of Anyone Planning a Union at Wal-Mart, Alert Us Immediately!
Crazytown.
Funny. When I was a kid, I remember that the UAW helped provide my dad and others with jobs that paid enough and had good enough insurance that my mom could be a SAHM with 14 kids. Granted, we didn’t live very high on the hog, but we had the basics. Occasionally, I think unions shoot themselves in the foot, but I would hate to think of a world where we didn’t have them. Oh, wait—isn’t that China?
spaminator: friend 82. Yep, the union was our friend in 1982, and in 1983, when my dad got sick and died. If it hadn’t been for the union, we would have been bankrupt. This thing is eerie
Big business has never been particularly conducive to original thought and literacy. I remember checking out Wal-Mart’s book section (because yes, I DO have to shop there occasionally, as distasteful as that may be to me—HATE Wal-Mart’s store layout and business practices, H.A.T.E. them, but I love my kids and the kids need clothes and food) and discovering that the one I was in barely had ANY book selection at all. The reason this pissed me off was that it was occupying what used to BE a book store, and there wasn’t anything CLOSE to a book store for a multi-mile radius. I’ve always associated Wal-Mart with a particular corporate spawned level of illiteracy—if it isn’t so mainstream as to hardly possess an iota of independent thought, as far as big business is concerned, it doesn’t exist.
I come from a country where Wal-Mart left in a huff, basically because their clueless managers couldn’t grasp that what works in the US doesn’t necessarily work elsewhere (We can’t fire people for joining unions? Say it ain’t so. And people here don’t understand why we pay a person for standing around and saying “Welcome to Wal-Mart” when that person could actually be doing something productive? Clearly those barbarians have no concept of friendliness). Plus, Wal-Mart tried to market themselves as a low price retailer, when it should have been clear for everyone with half-a-brain that they could never beat the local discount chains (which use a completely different business model) at their own game.
I must confess I felt a little smug that my country drove out the behemoth Wal-Mart, mixed with regret, because while I previously could choose to shop either at Wal-Mart or at the local big box rival, my choice for things not carried by the local low-price discount chains is now limited to the local big box chain and a couple of smaller grocery chains controlled by the same conglomerate that controls the local big box chain. And to be honest, I still prefer two retail giants battling it out to one dominating the entire retail landscape. Plus, Wal-Mart’s selection was better in some areas (they had a great fish section and a better toy section than the local chain) and worse in others (no bottled milk, crappy cheese selection). And due to our laws, they couldn’t pull some of the crap they pull on their employees in the US. Though I do boycott one of the local low-price chains for treating their employees like crap.
The book selection of my local Wal-Mart was always pretty bad (whereas their local rival has a pretty good one, for a big box store), though their magazine selection was good, except that they imported their odd American moral qualms to a country where people do not think it’s the end of the world if a child sees a naked breast. You could not buy a copy of Playboy at a German Wal-Mart, because some Americans think that Playboy is the stuff of the devil, but the independent newsstand housed in the same building as Wal-Mart would offer mags that were far racier than anything ever seen in Playboy. And yes, I actually complained about the lack of Playboy on one of those comment cards, because I don’t want the morals of some conservative people in the US limit my reading and shopping choices.
That’s also why I find this disturbing. I don’t want my reading choices limited or censored by the purchase policies of a retailer that doesn’t even exist in my country anymore. Since I prefer to read books in their original English form rather than in translation, I make most of my purchases online anyway, since the foreign language sections aren’t all that great in most bookstores and non-existent in big box chains.
Besides, I really hate the practice of censoring CDs and altering the lyrics, because someone somewhere is offending by a few swearwords. It’s always a pain sifting through a stack of CDs at a store, looking for those with parental advisory stickers, because you know those will be uncensored, whereas the ones without the sticker usually contain the censored lyrics.
Er, regarding my previous post, let me just say that I am thoroughly pro-union. Not sure if my post was too sarcastic. And Wal-Mart is most definitely evil and disgusting.
DeeCee, I also remember those propaganda movies! Very enlightening. Ick.
my heart goes out to those authors who got screwed over by walmart. I’m so glad that I don’t live near a Walmart and can buy my books at B&N;and Borders (Borders rewards card sends out a 20% off coupon like 3 or 4 times a month). Or I’d go on amazon- sometimes used. and sometimes new- but I have to wait for the new ones -until i have $25 worth of books I’d like to buy- then i’d get super saver free shipping!
I’ve been to a Walmart once but hadn’t noticed its books section. But if it’s as small as many say it is- I still can’t understand why they’re selling so many books because the selection must be horrible.
I don’t think it’s just buying more…it’s making them aware that readers want more variety. Which is going to require people writing them, requesting a broader variety.
I buy most of my books at the Superstore (Loblaws), a major grocery store chain in Canada, because it’s convenient and all books are 25% or more off the cover price. Wal-Mart books are now 30% off the cover price, but it’s out of my way. If it wasn’t, yeah, I’d be buying books at Wally World instead of Superstore. If neither of them carries the book I want (very rare), I hit up Amazon.
Yes, I’m an evil person who gives her business to evil corporations who want to squeeze out the little guys.
I refuse to shop at indies because the indies around me do not carry romances and I don’t buy used books unless I can’t hassle the publisher into reprinting them. The local Chapters sales staff snicker when they ring up my purchases (one girl actually held up my purchases, turned to the girl next to her, and mocked them RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME—I’m not ashamed of my reading material, but that behaviour ensures I’ll never shop there again) and they expect me to pay full price!! (It’s $11 CAD for a MMP…at approximately 500 books a year… No way in hell.)
But, hey, even with the global economy in the tank, I’m still buying all my books new and my book budget has grown by 5% over last year’s so I’m contributing to a lot of authors’ royalty cheques.
I’m kind of confrontational, but I would have pointed out that the sale of those books accounts for one huge part of booksales…which kinda enables bookstores to stay open…and kinda enables them to have..well, job. 😉 Matter of fact, I think I’ve actually done that a time or two. Odd how I get greeted with silence when I do that. 😀
I don’t bother. I just happily cash my own royalty cheques and think of them making $10/hour.
Ann, you and I will have to agree to disagree on the topic of Chapters vs the Indie. Having actually been to bookselling school, I know why the selections vary from store to store. My local ones are more than happy to order anything I ask for, withOUT any snickering.
I do occasionally by books at the local Superstore, but recently have been borrowing all my reading material from the library.
Actually, Teresa, I don’t buy books at Chapters (last purchase was at least five years ago) or indies (never have). It’s not a Chapters vs. indie kind of thing for me. It’s a neither Chapters nor indie thing. 🙂
I buy books from Superstore, Wal-Mart, and Amazon, and e-books directly from e-publishers. (If NY publishers would remove the DRM from their e-books OR decide on one format to rule them all, I would buy e-books instead directly from them too and cut out the middle man.)
I can get romances special ordered at my indie bookstore, too, but that doesn’t replace the fun of browsing a romance section, which they don’t have. So I end up at Borders, or surfing Amazon. I have occasionally come across a book I wanted at Target, but those are almost always books that I was on the lookout for because I saw them recommended, usually here or at DA.
I don’t think I ever bought books at Wal-Mart when I shopped there (same story—small town, limited choices, very limited income). I stopped shopping there as soon as I practically could, because I’m a union member in my own profession and a big supporter of organized labor and living wages.
Sigh. I’m sure some will hate me for saying it, and I’ll most likely regret it in the morning, but this type of conversation is one of my pet peeves and it’s been a sucky day anyway, so what the heck. Allow me to dive into the flames …
I was reading through the beginning of this thread and thinking how nice it was to see that people were expressing views about the merits of Wal-Mart book sales without throwing around the big “C” word. How refreshing. Then of course it devolved into a censorship issue. Sorry. That’s incorrect. It’s not censorship. It’s marketing. It’s capitalism. Even corporate greed, if you wish – but the intent is not censorship.
Are they preventing you from buying the book elsewhere? Telling you you aren’t allowed to read it? Damning you because you even *want* to read it so there must be something wrong with you? Telling a publisher they can’t publish it and sell it elsewhere? No. They are simply stating what they will and will not stock on their own shelves, based on what they expect will sell to their customers. As one or two others ably pointed out above, Wallys may be one of the biggest entities to do this, but they are far from the only one. In fact, most if not all purchasing entities of any size do this. It’s just more noticeable, and more acceptable, to blame Wallys for this behavior, since everyone knows it is Teh Ebil.
Wal-Mart, and most other stores for that matter, is not concerned with censorship. Nor are they concerned with “family values,†even though they may profess to have certain values in their business model. They care about the bottom line first and foremost, and will modify their business model to suit the demands of their customers to achieve higher sales. If customers demand “family values,†then that’s what will be emphasized in the marketing. OTOH, if Wallys weighed the cost of selling books containing torrid bungee monkey sex, and determined the revenue gained from TBMS book sales was higher than the revenue lost due to storewide boycotts from those opposing TBMS, they’d blow off the opposition and ramp up marketing to bring in more book sales. And obviously *someone* is buying all those religious books and Nora reprints, or else they wouldn’t continually be stocking them. It wouldn’t be cost-effective otherwise.
My guess is that the type and quantity of books stocked depend on your region and your store. If the demand is insufficient, they won’t supply it. I live in a big metro area, and the SuperWallys around the corner from me has a very large book/magazine area – at least 900 square feet, with four inner aisles and walls on three sides. There is the requisite wall of Noras, Osteens and Bibles, but there are also entire racks (not just a shelf or two) of romances, mystery, westerns, sci-fi, thrillers, AA, kids, classics, Y/A, Espanol and non-fiction. They stock NYT, mid-list and even the occasional newbie author. They also sell all of the category romance lines – including Blaze.
Based on my experience, I would say there is some truth (or at least some logic to the premise) that continued/increased sales, coupled with communication with management about what you want to see on the shelves, could indeed make an impact. This could indeed be a positive thing for some pubilshers, at least some of the time. Also, I know I’ve seen some of Gennita’s other books on the shelves, so it certainly is worth asking and expressing an interest in her current/future books. If you don’t ask, they will stock what other people ask for instead.
I’m not discounting the whole Evil Empire thang, nor am I overlooking the impact on small towns or defending Wal-Mart’s business practices, labor policies or anything else. There are lots of reasons to loathe everything Wallys stands for. There are also lots of reasons to shop there – including the 40% markdown on books. By all means, love ‘em or hate ‘em. Shop there or boycott them forever.
Just call it correctly. It’s not censorship. It’s business.
Diane
stepping off the soapbox now
I was told by somebody I consider a reliable source that Wal-Mart had cut its mass market offerings to allow more space for “inspirational” books (which I had already seen happening in my local Wal-Mart store at the time I was told this). This same person told me that Wal-Mart had notified publishers (or at least certain publishers) that it would no longer stock their midlist authors, only their superstars. After six books with the same publisher, my contract was not renewed, and I was told that a great deal of the blame for that lies directly with Wal-Mart.
I’m sorry to see this happening to Gennita Low. I would have thought that she was a big enough name at this point so she wouldn’t have to worry about this kind of thing happening.
It frightens me not only from the viewpoint of an author whose books suddenly cannot find a home; it also concerns me deeply that there are so many people whose only book-buying outlet is their local Wal-Mart. Does this mean the only book choices they’ll have are inspirationals, Danielle Steel, Nicholas Sparks, and Nora Roberts (I could live the rest of my life reading only Nora Roberts, but that’s not the point!)?
Scary times, indeed.
No, we’ve already had several comments here about how their local WM had a large, varied book section. Bad book selection doesn’t seem to be an evil corporation problem, but more of a clueless store manager problem.
So, go clue them in folks. People seem to have adapted “you can’t fight city hall†into “you can’t fight WalMart,†but according to several of the commenters here, you can. They said that writing/talking to the manager worked for them and got the book sections changed. It just required an action on their part instead of just a reaction.
I know, it’s easier to try and grab the moral high ground and say that you’ll never shop at WM because mean people suck, but I think 99% of the problems people perceive with WM could be solved if everyone just stopped bending over and taking it. And that includes their labor problems.
And it doesn’t necessarily mean unionization. There are so many labor laws and standards in place today that unions have nearly run their course, anyway. Two things today make it relatively easy to screw with a big corporation: the internet and the sheer number of lawyers looking for a big payday. If you see a problem with a corporate policy, go home and research it on the web, if it’s valid, use the web to hook-up with others who have the same problem, then find a lawyer who will take on a class-action suit. (Hint: they’re everywhere and they all want new McMansions.) You admire the Erin Brokovich’s of the world? Great! Go be one.
Okay, enough of playing devil’s advocate. It’s kind of tiring…
I found out about Gennita Low’s loss from a used book store owner. Sad to say, his response was, “I resent Ms. Low’s request to write a letter to Wal-Mart because it isn’t my job. It’s her fault and her publisher’s fault for not having a better contract. I’m not going to do her job for her.” I just wish I didn’t have so much unused credit there; he was a total jerk.
Hey, DeeCee,
I’m over in the boonies between Emmett and Ontario. I couldn’t believe it when the Nampa Library actually pulled that book. Apparently they approached several other libraries around the valley, and they all said “Bite me†but Nampa caved. If I remember right (but I could be mixing it with another incident in my wonky memory), the librarians wanted to leave it on the shelves but then the city council got involved. To paraphrase Aaron Sorkin, trust a politician to appease to keep their job instead of doing their job. It just beats you down sometimes, doesn’t it?
Are the numbers quoted the initial buy only or have they been adjusted to reflect the returns? It seems to me that if they have huge initial orders, but end up not selling them through, they would be a BAD customer. If those ginormous numbers are their actual retail sales, that would indeed be something.
However, if Walmart is selling huge numbers of only a limited selection of books, then the books they’re not selling would have higher numbers with other retailers. Unless I’m looking at this all wrong.
Huh. I need a lesson in how the cycle of bookselling works, because a lot of my righteous indignation may be misdirected. I vaguely understand that:
– The publisher prints X000 books
– Sells them to retailers
– Retailers sell individual books to readers
– Retailer report back the numbers sold
– Publisher somehow pays the retailer for the books not sold
– Unsold books are “destroyed”
– Huge wastage occurs
– Authors don’t earn out their advances and live in penury
Can anybody tell me how very wrong I am?
Im not a walmart fan. I would rather buy my books from Amazon or the local book store..
walmart, dose’nt sell certain, Books, Music, or Video Games, because it goes against there “moral” righteousness.
Im a big girl, I dont need a store to tell me what i want to read. Plus they dont have a good selection.
I love Emmett, except for the hill the scares the beejesus out of me. 😐
Yup. The librarians were ok with just leaving things alone. People made it sound like they were walking up to patrons and flaunting the books. Plus, as human nature will attest, it only made the books that much more interesting to the media, the parents, and all of the children. 🙂
It’s just like that incident a few years ago with the 10 Commandments and people “wanting” change. Totally useless in the end. Millions of dollars later, people don’t care anymore. I personally see it as a huge waste.
My daughter, who used to work there, was raised in a union household. I used to be our rep for my division at the county. My dad was a Teamster for years. If the employees don’t want to unionize, that is one thing. It’s when the company refuses to let them consider the option that is wrong.
Wegman’s grocery stores, which have been in the top 5 businesses to work for, for a long time, have done something right. Union organizers like to gather at a store, by the road entrances and picket. These are not employees- and they are not allowed on the property since it is always privately owned (they don’t lease)- and try to encourage customers to get Danny Wegman, et al. to unionize. It never works. Why? Because the employees don’t want it. They know how to treat their people- their philosophy is “Take care of the employee and they will take care of the customer.” And they do. When a customer compliments and employee (an email, at the counter, in a post card, whatever) they recieve some kind of recognition- gift certificate, movie tickets, etc. Not something that I have ever seen happen at Wally World- or likely to.
One of Wegman’s practices is to hire the disabled (especially those with Down’s or Autism). The high school kid who came off the bench a couple of years ago, as a senior, because the team wanted him to say he played, and then proceeded to make numerous 3 point shots? One of their best employees. (And he’s getting a movie too!). They have scholarships- I don’t know if Wally’s does or not.
The biggest bitch I have about living here is that I have to travel home to go shopping-they have everything- including a big book section. Anyone on the East Coast who has one nearby is so lucky.
The only ones who win class actions are the lawyers.
thanks for the Bamm.com link. I never knew about it. I will check it out. Although I enjoy shopping in a store and just wandering more, if I can find what I want cheaper, I go for it!
People are talking a lot in this thread about the overwhelming power of Walmart as a bookseller, and it’s definitely true. But they’re not the only ones. Publishers change book covers and titles to appease the Barnes and Noble book buyer, and that’s not an unusual occurrence. Amazon has enough pull to force publishers to offer huge discounts on the prices—discounts that are translated through to authors in less royalties per book.
I’ve also seen mention of how Walmart’s book buying practices are squeezing out midlist and newer authors in favor of the bestsellers, but that is true all over. Earlier this year, there was a lot of talk about Borders’ Face-Out strategy (before all the talk switched to Borders’ precarious financial position). The idea behind this strategy would be to put most or all of the books on their shelves face-out, which means a much smaller selection of titles, since backlist titles are usually spine-out, but bigger sales for the titles that are left. Barnes and Noble has been reacting to the current economic crisis by being much more conservative in the titles that they are buying. Libraries used to buy enough copies of books to make it viable to publish books just to the library market, but over the past five to ten years, those numbers have been steadily falling, making it not profitable for publishers to keep their smaller authors.
Walmart certainly has a lot of weight by itself, but these things—smaller sales for midlist and backlist authors, fewer titles getting most of the shelf space—are general trends in publishing right now. 86% of book buyers list author name recognition as one of the reasons they buy books, and as long as that’s the case, you’re always going to see an entire bookshelf of Nora Roberts instead of a selection of debuts.
Where I live, you cannot swing a dead cat without hitting a Wal-mart. They are everywhere, along with the problems they bring.
Committees are always being formed to try to stop them from going up – they lose everytime.
I go there for things that I cannot find elsewhere except perhaps at Target (not that many and not accessible). Was there today as a matter of fact. But I can’t recall ever buying a book there. All the WMs here sell inspirational, kids, and – crap that I’m not interested in.
If I want to buy locally I go to B&N;or a UBS. But mostly I buy from Amazon.
I got to tell you, I don’t want to start buying all my books from WM for any reason – not happening. They get enough of my money already. Sorry. This is depressing….Makes e-publishing look that much more attractive.
We have 2 Wal-Marts near by and I don’t go to either friggin’ one of them. I go to Target instead. 1) I’m a warehouse receiver for our local military department store and every single one of my drivers have nothing but HORRIBLE things to say about Wal-Mart. 2) I have never gone into a Wal-Mart without being treated poorly.
If the former reason isn’t reason enough not to go, then the latter certainly is. I’ve put a bug in my publisher’s ear about going with a distributor who supplies Target around here and I’ve been informed that they will look into it. I hope so, because if MIRA and Harlequin Blaze can’t see the light of day in Wal-Mart, then there isn’t a chance in hell Samhain will get that consideration.
Somehow I missed this earlier, and feel I must address it. The labour laws and standards that are in place today (mostly thanks to unions) are completely useless if not adhered to. And they are not adhered to unless somebody is watching.
Providing emotional and financial support to union members who have run up against management who are ignoring contracts, labour laws, and safety laws is a very time-consuming and very much current, necessary activity for our Local. Even with the laws in existence, and lots of precedence, lots of documentation and backup, the stress and expense of calling management on its violations, and going to court over it, is too much for most people, and they’d rather just quit the job.
In spite of the great effort put forth by union-busting organizations, I don’t think unions are going to run their course any time soon.
Oddly enough, our walmart had a better selection of books BEFORE they became a super walmart (they also had a better garden section). Prior to the change there was a little store about the same size as the beauty shops, that was nothing but books. In fact, it’s where I discovered JR Ward.
But I find it a shame the publishers only read a column that is outside of the control of the author and fully in control of the publisher and the stores in question. If Walmart won’t sell the book and walmart is the deciding factor, why put out a book at all? I don’t understand why a publisher would put out a book and then not FIGHT to get it in walmart so it can make money if that’s their determining factor.
I buy all my books on Amazon, or B&N online site. I used to go to the local stores, BAM and B&N, but when gas prices spiked it was better to just order online. I haven’t bought a book at walmart in 3 years… simply because they haven’t had anything I wanted. I do wander past every time I’m in there, and still dont’ find anything. There was one book, I forget now what it was, where I had heard they had the book in a friend’s walmart in her town so I headed to go get it. Nope. My Walmart didn’t stock that particular book. Why not? Didn’t want to. Uh huh! gotcha!