Elonka wrote:
Paperback: The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms:
Well, I just got word from one of my fans, that at least Walmart.com has my book in stock, as my fan was able to receive it by ordering through walmart.com.
I have yet to hear of any actual brick-and-mortar store carrying it though. The stores are telling me that the book showed as "released", and that any walk-in customers can special order it for a 3-7 day delivery. The stores also say that they've ordered "shelf copies" several weeks ago, but haven't received anything yet. Their records show that hundreds of copies are just sitting in the warehouses and not shipping for some reason.
My "scam antennae" are starting to wave. On Amazon, there are now *17* "used and new" copies of the book selling through discount sellers, who are officially undercutting Amazon (and Walmart's) price by about a buck, but then of course putting on a hefty Shipping & Handling fee.
I have to wonder though -- Where are all of these "used" merchants getting their copies from, considering the book hasn't even shipped yet, and the stores are reporting *trouble* with getting their copies? What it looks like, is that the "used" sellers are people in warehouses, who are diverting the copies of my book from the bookstore sales, to their own inventories, and doing it in such numbers, that it's preventing bookstores from stocking the book.
Is this just my paranoia talking? Or has anyone else ever heard of such a problem? I'm just bewildered by how bookstores aren't carrying the book, but the quantity of "used & new" copies is going up dramatically. And, is this a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, intuitively, it would seem to me that to sell more books, it would help if the bookstores actually had them ON THE *(@*#& SHELVES. Especially since I've got major press coming up within the next few weeks -- a column in an upcoming issue of "Discover" magazine, plus an upcoming article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As I've been trying to explain to my publisher, if the book's getting press, it might help to sell a few copies if it was actually available in stores?
(grumbling and ranting),
Elonka
You may want to see how many advance copies your publisher sent out for review. This may account for some percentage of the used market.
