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

[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...