Publisher, Editor, Author! Say “NO” to Returns from Bookstores
I’ve been howling for years about the spinelessness of the US book publishing industry when it comes to “returns” from bookstores. US books are not “sold” to bookstores; US books are essentially on consignment at US bookstores.
My nonfiction books have sold in excess of 600,000 (count ‘em) copies. Yet, that is a bogus figure because, according to industry statistics, 40% of my books that were “sold” to bookstores were actually returned by the bookstores. In other words my books have shipped a lot more than 600,000 copies!
I have a “reversal of rights” for all my now long-out-of-print books, yet for years my publishers (HarperCollins, St. Martin’s Press, Berkley Books) kept accepting copies back from the bookstores.
“Reserve against returns,” that nasty little clause in contracts to which authors have to agree, assures that even moderately successful writers will have to keep eating rice out of the back of the cabinets while knowing that the publishing house is holding back cold hard cash.
Why can’t the US be more like New Zealand?
I was wandering around the blogosphere this morning and stumbled across Richard Charkin’s blog. He is the chief executive of Macmillan Limited London, England. (Too bad I didn’t notice that before I added a cheeky comment to his February 17th post! Whoops!)
Charkin was just in Auckland, New Zealand. (He’s now in Argentina and was just in Australia. Well, he is a CEO! He’s not punching a clock!) Here is an excerpt from his February 17th posting:
“When a bookshop orders a book the responsibility for selling it is theirs. If it does not sell, the cost of the mistake belongs to the bookseller not to the author.
Are there millions of unsold books washing around New Zealand bookshops? No. Booksellers have had to develop a sense of their market and they have - New Zealand booksellers are the best in the world and they sell the most books per head in the English-speaking world.”
What’s the message here?
Are publishers so intimidated by the major chains like Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, and Borders Books and the independent bookstores that publishers can’t find the spine to say: Too late! You bought ‘em. You keep ‘em. You sell ‘em.
What does the vendor contract say about the date after which books may not be returned? Who is looking the other way when these books are allowed in the back door of the distribution centers?
I remember calling my editor and asking why in the world my books were being returned years after they had shipped. The answer I got was “that’s the way it is.”
Stop it! Stop it and bookstores will pick books more judiciously. Stop it and the publishing industry will begin a long-needed self-correction.
As an author, I’d much rather know a royalty due is a royalty paid. As a publisher, I’d much rather know a sale is a sale.
March 1st, 2006 at 1:18 pm
This is a thorny issue, one of the things (like pre-priced product) that makes our industry wild and weird. I can see points of view on both sides. But I think you’re wrong to blame independents for this. Returns from independents are a tiny tiny drop in the bucket. The problem here is from the chains and the wholesalers. I buy very carefully to avoid returns–I’d ten times rather sell a book than return it. But the fact is that having returnable product makes my hyper-competitive life as an independent bookstore owner slightly easier.
Note from the Wicked Witch: For the past 18 years Park Road Books, located in Charlotte, North Carolina has been voted “Charlotte’s Best” by readers and editors of Creative Loafing, the arts and entertainment newspaper.
March 1st, 2006 at 3:51 pm
One other relevant statistic to consider: According to Avin Dominitz of the ABA, only 34% of books sold in the US are sold in bookstores. And yes, that includes Borders, B&N, and BAM. So if you’re blaming stores for returns, please cast your net wider to include jobbers who get books into (and out of) the millions of other places they’re being sold now–grocery stores, Wal-Mart, discount clubs. I’d also submit that publishers could be a little choosier in what they choose to put out, and they could print fewer copies.
Note from the Wicked Witch: For the past 18 years Park Road Books, located in Charlotte, North Carolina has been voted “Charlotte’s Best” by readers and editors of Creative Loafing, the arts and entertainment newspaper.
March 3rd, 2006 at 3:18 am
“Are publishers so intimidated by the major chains like Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, and Borders Books and the independent bookstores that publishers can’t find the spine to say: Too late!”
In the eraly 70s, William Jovanovich, chairman of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), announced that HBJ would no longer accept returns.
Bookstores retaliated by cutting back orders across the board on HBJ titles. Jovanovich quickly backed off.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing: Peter has written about movies for CineFan, Filmfax, and reviewed laserdiscs for Video Theater, where he served as associate editor (1988-1992). Mr. Winkler has also written for “PICO-Laptops and Portables” and “PC Laptop Computers Magazine.” As a computer consultant, he was one of the most popular guests on Los Angeles radio station KIEV’s program “Executive Money.” Crime Magazine describes Peter as ”an expert on the life of actor Nick Adams.”
March 6th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Well, of course the bookstores cut back on their orders. That’s precisely what you would want and expect to have happen. Book buyers took stock and weren’t eager to order up a smorgasbord of books that they could not return any old time they felt like it.
What I bet caused Jovanovich to fold was the ducking and running of the editors whose sales projections were proved wrong and whose print orders were much too “optimistic.”
March 7th, 2006 at 8:44 am
Here’s a thought–wouldn’t making books non-returnable force publishers to put out fewer books? Because that might well be a silver lining. Slogging through catalogs from our big six (Random House, S&S, Penguin, Harper, Time-Warner and VHPS) has become an ordeal–page after page of crap, of “me too” books, of bandwagon jumping junk. The prospect of reducing the volume of pure fluff might ALMOST make me change my mind on the subject!
Note from the Wicked Witch: For the past 18 years Park Road Books, located in Charlotte, North Carolina has been voted “Charlotte’s Best” by readers and editors of Creative Loafing, the arts and entertainment newspaper.
March 7th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
I’m so naive. We frown on the woman who wears the dress once and returns it, and the grocer probably just hasn’t thought of sending the tomatos back to the farmer if they don’t sell. Our elitist books stores like Bahrnes and Nohb-el, in particular, do indeed rule the roost and people grovel to please them.
July 25th, 2006 at 7:47 am
A thorny issue? Why? The car industry created this policy and the publishers simply copied them. It works so well for the car industry - all those shiny cars you thought the dealer had on his lot (and were not his) - that surely you are mad to ask the publishing industry to try selling books, no? I mean, the car industry in America is doing so well, no?
Well, hm… perhaps not.
July 25th, 2006 at 11:17 am
When we first started out small press last October, we were told that to increase sales we needed to offer returns. What we soon learned was that returns could put us out of business; bookstores were ordering generously, then returning the unsold books when their invoice came due. It killed our bottom line and became an accounting nightmare. In April we changed to a no return policy. Buy what you think out can sell. No need to buy 100 or 200. Order 10 or 20. Sell what you buy and we’ll make more. To echo Lynne, we would rather know that a sale in a sale.
Kevin Watson
Press 53
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:43 am
[…] The Publishing Contrarian: Publisher, Editor, Author! Say “NO” to Return from Bookstores “US books are not “sold” to bookstores; US books are essentially on consignment at US bookstores”. […]
August 22nd, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Here’s an update from my previous post: Barnes & Noble is now carrying our book, “The Land Breakers,” by John Ehle, even though it is nonreturnable. Score one for the little guy.
Kevin Watson
Press 53
November 12th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
The returns policy will never change. And if you polled authors, I believe most would vote in favor of returns than
not. Why? Returns actually can help authors reach the masses because bookstores will take a chance on them knowing they won’t get stuck with a lemon should that happen. Bookstores offer availability and access to authors; they favor no book other than the popular book. And while, yes, it is the bookstore’s mission to sell their wares, it is equally the mission of the author and publisher to ensure sales as well.
Any author fortunate enough to have 600000 copies of a book out in bookstores should be working his/her tale off to make sure those copies sell. Only a few rare authors can write their books, see them published, and sit back for the royalty checks to come in. These days an author’s “sweat equity” in addition to the publisher’s commitment and the bookseller’s venue make up the magic equation for “low returns.”
Without that returns policy, we would publish fewer authors and bookstores would become gift shops and cafes.
Drop to your knees and thank your higher power for returns.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: How much do I disagree with you? Let me count the ways! Thanks, Tana, for dropping by. We should publish fewer authors. Bookstores should be more selective and then push their product. Oh, I forgot, it’s not “their” product, it’s consignment issue! If a book sells, great. If it doesn’t, so be it; just pack it up and return it. Oh, and what about that ”reserve against returns” that publishing companies keep in their coffers. This is money that should be paid out ASAP to the authors or at least applied to repayment of the advance, but no, that money is a cushion for the publishing company. I’m for NO returns. Ever. Period. I do agree that authors and publishers should pitch in to promote. Unfortunately, publishers only give a book a few weeks to show a pulse, and most authors don’t have any skill whatsoever when it comes to book promotion, nor do they wish to learn.
November 18th, 2006 at 2:51 am
Lynne–
I still disagree with you, but your points are well taken. I,too, hate returns. you get big orders and you think “well, I’ve really got something here.” You take it as a sign that your book is on the radar. Then most of the books come back. Why?
You supply the answer yourself in other topics–the marketing savvy of the publisher, editor, and writer will reduce the number of trucks making their way to your warehouse with your books in tow.
If you can get booksellers to order 80000 or more copies of your author’s book, then you have work to do…and you better have an author who is willing to get off his/her arse to ensure those books are sold.
Book promotion must start as soon as an author commits to an idea for a book. That’s the kind of cover letter I want to see from an author, one that shows me he/she is already “targeting the intended readership” for her project. She knows where her readers are and has good ideas about how to reach them. she’s profiled them to the extent that she understands what they want to buy from her. And she takes pains to prove it to me. This marketing savvy combined, of course, with a good book idea already reduces the number of return trucks on the road.
Branding a book by generating design and jacket copy asap is another way to reduce returns. (and, yes, editors should let advertising experts write the jacket copy–ad people understand buzz words, know how to profile a reader and come up with a scheme to get their attention.) Publishers are reluctant to invest in an author’s market too early because they publish too many books by too many “hopefuls.”
Yes, I agree there are way too many authors being published. But is this the bookseller’s fault? Your “no returns” penalty blames the bookseller instead of the publishers who are turning out all this drivel. Booksellers are in no position to critique the product and determine which are diamonds and which are cubic zirconia. The promise of sales drives the bookseller to order books.
I used to spend 3 (sometimes more) months putting together a marketing plan for each of my featured books as well as for my list. I researched like crazy and paid calls to book reviewers constantly to update my knowledge about the market. I depended on reviewers, who’d read excerpts, drafts, etc., and supply feedback–which I’d synthesize and pass on to the author. My stint in marketing and sales made me the kind of editor that I’d crave if I were an author.
In short, I still insist on applying the penalty to the real criminal here–the publisher, not the bookseller.
November 18th, 2006 at 3:05 am
And, P.S.—
Charkin’s viewpoint strikes me as both arrogant and antiquated. Who wants to depend on a bookseller to sell one’s books? Booksellers provide an attractive venue for the transaction, period. They’ll advertise as best they can based on their understanding of the product and on the publisher’s promotional support. But Charkin’s statement suggests that the publisher’s work is done once the bookseller orders his books–what author wants to hear something like that?
January 21st, 2007 at 6:25 pm
As a small press, we could easily be bankrupted if several bookstores ordered large numbers of books, then returned most when the invoice came due. Before we implimented our “no return” policy, we had a couple of larger bookstores order 50-100 books, of a couple of titles, then they sold what they could in three months and returned the rest. Our no return policy kept us from being forced out of business. There are pros and cons to each argument. Each publisher has to decide which policy works best, as does each bookseller. A no return policy is something we can live with.
Note from the Wicked Witch of Publishing ™: A publisher with guts! In New Zealand bookstores do not return books at all. Actually, it was Richard Charkin, CEO of MacMillan UK, who mentioned that in one of his first postings on his personal blog. I left a comment in which I suggested he use his clout to institute the same thing with their books. NO RETURNS. A SALE IS A SALE, not a consignment. No answer. It’s complicated, of course, and the bookstores have such a cushy deal now that they would fight a no-returns policy with everything they’ve got. That said, how much power do they have in their feeble fists against a MacMillan? Publishers in the US who have tried the no-returns policy in the past have folded under pressure. Of course bookstores want to be able to take all the risk out of ordering books. And the poor author—literally and figuratively? All those reserves held against returns. Jeez.
June 9th, 2008 at 5:16 am
As old as this argument is, I still thought you should know that it’s complete bollocks that bookstores in NZ don’t return books. We have the same model here as you do in the US, with some publishers offering a sale or return policy and some firm sale only, with most offering a mix of both depending on the format of the book and whether it is frontlist or backlist.
Even Macmillan over here accepts returns, although they are more strict than most. Anyway, I just thought I’d correct the misconception. You’ll have to look for your book utopia elsewhere I’m afraid!