Angus & Robertson: pioneers of the book trade!

[lederhosen]

Via stephen_dedman: most businesses work on the assumption that money flows in one direction when goods or services flow in the other. In the book industry, Publisher might pass a book on to Bookshop, who passes it on to Customer, and meanwhile Customer passes money to Bookshop, who passes some of it back to Publisher.

The clever folk at Angus and Robertson (who are, at least nominally, a bookshop) are attempting to pioneer a brave new business model in which the publisher sends them books and money, which makes a lot of sense as it would obviously boost their profit margins no end. Sadly, the publishing end of the industry is not quite ready to embrace this new paradigm.

Comments

[lordstorm.livejournal.com]

Fascinating, and well done to the response.

I'll remind myself never to shop at A&R if/when I return to Australia.

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

That may be true of Australia, but I hate to tell you that this has already been going on in the States for years: it's just not obvious yet. Just as with product placement in US supermarkets, the big publishers pay big money to get endcap display at the big chain bookstores, and the only reason why indie bookstores are bitching about the practice is because the big publishers realized about fifteen years ago that they're not worth the effort. (Trust me: never point out how irrelevant indie stores are to the owner of a Frumpy Fiftysomething's Used Books and Quiet Desperation Emporium, because she'll then spend years proving the thesis by attempting to disprove it. I know: I was married to one for seven years.)

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I know about payments for the best display positions, and I assume that happens here too, but this is about being expected to pay to sell books through A&R at all. Not that I'd be terribly surprised to hear that happens in the USA too...

[hacked2death.livejournal.com]

I read that yesterday in Crikey's daily updates and couldn't help giggling. The balls of some of these companies, eh? They think they're the most important book group out there.. Outside of the capitals, I dont think Ive seen many A&Rs.

[quatranoctal.livejournal.com]

... uh, right.

"Dear Mr Publisher,

We apparently have no idea how to sell books for a profit, so for every book of yours we don't sell we're going to try and extort the profit margin out of you instead.

Yours sincerely,

A&R"

On a completely unrelated note, apparently the Angus & Robertson's in Belconnen mall doesn't stock any Terry Pratchett books because someone once stole their entire collection in one go.

Belconnen Dymocks, on the other hand, devotes an entire side of one of their bookshelves to Pratchett. They also have a new section, called "Paranormal Romance and Suspense", which apparently covers everything that would be called horror if it were actually meant to be scary.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

I'm reliably informed that the reviewers call those "vampire shaggers"...

On a completely unrelated note, apparently the Angus & Robertson's in Belconnen mall doesn't stock any Terry Pratchett books because someone once stole their entire collection in one go.

Maybe they need to start running cafes or something, because they don't seem to have much of a grip on the book trade. I've been getting less and less joy out of A&R over the last few years, and this incident says a lot about why :-)

[winterkoninkje.livejournal.com]

Well done to the response indeed. Should I ever forget, remind me to be in awe of people who've maxed out both their Politeness and Insult skills.