Who Needs A Contract?
The other day, I entered a bookstore--a huge bookstore, in fact. The biggest one in the area. I went up to the manager and demanded that they sell my books for me. Not for the price I'd had printed on the cover, but for a twenty percent discount. I figured that way, they would sell more because it looked like a great savings for the reader. Before the manager could reply, I ran out to my car and unloaded my stock into my grandson's wagon and asked one of the stock guys to wheel them into the back warehouse. I guess he was a little confused because he hesitated and looked at the manager. At that point, the manager asked me what in the world I was doing. As if it wasn't obvious! Duh! I said wouldn't it be a lot easier for them to ship books to my readers if they had the books immediately available?
They said they wouldn't stock them for me, and that if my books were already available in print via their website, they would forward the order to me, and I could fulfill it from my own warehouse. But I'm not very good at that kind of thing. I have another job, and kids and my warehouse, aka, my garage, is kind of messy. It might take me up to three weeks to fulfill an order. But the store--they have a huge warehouse right there! They could just slap a mailing label on that puppy and get it to my readers in a few days!
The manager's face had turned a little red by now. I wonder why? Anyway, he said to me, "Look, I'd love to help you any way I can, but we have to have a contract. What kind of terms are you looking for?"
He might have been really nice and all, but I knew what he was up to. He was trying to get me to commit to something, so I just ignored him and started approaching customers with my book. I told them that the newest one was coming out in a month and they could place a pre-order with the store. Trying to be helpful, I put a little sign on the checkout counter with the title of my book and ISBN, but no sooner was my back turned, than the girl manning the checkout register threw my sign away! (I saw it all in the security mirror. Ha! Busted!)
I couldn't believe how unreasonable this place was! I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, but the unfairness of it all was really eating at me. If I can't sell these books, how am I supposed to make any money? I sent a quick, angry text off to the president of the store, and cc'd all my author friends so that they would also know what was going on. I was thrilled to see some of them also texted the president. That will show the big bad store that you can't mess with authors! We are united!
As you can imagine, I was through being nice--I shoved all the books off the table in the front of the store and started stacking the books from the wagon--the very same books they refused to take to the warehouse, on a nice prominent table. If they weren't going to stock them, I might as well have them front and center, right? But the manager ran over and said, "Whoa! You can't do that! We have a contract with that publisher to have those books on that table. If you want that space, you have to pay for it. And we really need a contract."
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt?? You mean they are going to promote some other schmuck's book over mine? I made a big stink about it, but the manager still refused. He just wouldn't let up about that whole contract thing, but what does a contract have to do with it? These are books! This is a bookstore! A bastion of culture and all things literate. Do they really want to deprive the readers of the chance to read my books? Oh, the humanity!
The manager must have seen my distress because he said, "Look, we can put your book on the shelves, but if they need to be shipped, you have to do it, and no pre-orders. As far as terms go, we'll give you the deal that we give the other publishers, but we won't discount the books. As soon as possible though, we need to sign a contract. We can't just keep selling your books forever without one."
I said fine, but inside, I was fuming. How dare they tell me what I need to do? Don't they realize how lucky they are to have the chance to sell my books at all?
**********
Okay, if you've made it this far, you think I'm either a lunatic or...well, just a lunatic, I guess. The above is just a vivid daydream that came to me after reading another post about the Amazon/Hachette dispute.
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2014/an-open-letter-to-doug-preston/
If you are confused, please see: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2014/56299/ just one of many posts about the dispute between Hachette and Amazon.
If you're not confused, you've probably spent way too much time, just like me, keeping up with this dispute! ;)
They said they wouldn't stock them for me, and that if my books were already available in print via their website, they would forward the order to me, and I could fulfill it from my own warehouse. But I'm not very good at that kind of thing. I have another job, and kids and my warehouse, aka, my garage, is kind of messy. It might take me up to three weeks to fulfill an order. But the store--they have a huge warehouse right there! They could just slap a mailing label on that puppy and get it to my readers in a few days!
The manager's face had turned a little red by now. I wonder why? Anyway, he said to me, "Look, I'd love to help you any way I can, but we have to have a contract. What kind of terms are you looking for?"
He might have been really nice and all, but I knew what he was up to. He was trying to get me to commit to something, so I just ignored him and started approaching customers with my book. I told them that the newest one was coming out in a month and they could place a pre-order with the store. Trying to be helpful, I put a little sign on the checkout counter with the title of my book and ISBN, but no sooner was my back turned, than the girl manning the checkout register threw my sign away! (I saw it all in the security mirror. Ha! Busted!)
I couldn't believe how unreasonable this place was! I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm, but the unfairness of it all was really eating at me. If I can't sell these books, how am I supposed to make any money? I sent a quick, angry text off to the president of the store, and cc'd all my author friends so that they would also know what was going on. I was thrilled to see some of them also texted the president. That will show the big bad store that you can't mess with authors! We are united!
As you can imagine, I was through being nice--I shoved all the books off the table in the front of the store and started stacking the books from the wagon--the very same books they refused to take to the warehouse, on a nice prominent table. If they weren't going to stock them, I might as well have them front and center, right? But the manager ran over and said, "Whoa! You can't do that! We have a contract with that publisher to have those books on that table. If you want that space, you have to pay for it. And we really need a contract."
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaatttt?? You mean they are going to promote some other schmuck's book over mine? I made a big stink about it, but the manager still refused. He just wouldn't let up about that whole contract thing, but what does a contract have to do with it? These are books! This is a bookstore! A bastion of culture and all things literate. Do they really want to deprive the readers of the chance to read my books? Oh, the humanity!
The manager must have seen my distress because he said, "Look, we can put your book on the shelves, but if they need to be shipped, you have to do it, and no pre-orders. As far as terms go, we'll give you the deal that we give the other publishers, but we won't discount the books. As soon as possible though, we need to sign a contract. We can't just keep selling your books forever without one."
I said fine, but inside, I was fuming. How dare they tell me what I need to do? Don't they realize how lucky they are to have the chance to sell my books at all?
**********
Okay, if you've made it this far, you think I'm either a lunatic or...well, just a lunatic, I guess. The above is just a vivid daydream that came to me after reading another post about the Amazon/Hachette dispute.
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2014/an-open-letter-to-doug-preston/
If you are confused, please see: http://www.thepassivevoice.com/09/2014/56299/ just one of many posts about the dispute between Hachette and Amazon.
If you're not confused, you've probably spent way too much time, just like me, keeping up with this dispute! ;)
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