MAD WORLD

It’s been a funny old week – and it has only just turned Thursday.

The short story submissions are coming in thick and fast! Thanks to everyone for taking part. An anthology can only be as good as its writers, and we’ve had some outstanding stories so far. Great to see there’s a good number of flash fiction coming in too.

I spoke to one of the sales reps today, who has had a meeting at WHSmith about having three new Tonto titles stocked on a national level. It had been my mission since day one to get stocked there ‘proper like’. Our biggest success was getting ‘Sin Cities’ into WHS Travel Retail – airport stores. Other than that, MetroCentre store bought direct from us, sold out immediately and never bothered to phone to re-order (or to pay). This ’hiccup’ was only discovered when I called into the store to hassle them, armed with a Tonto catalogue, to be told ‘people had been asking for most of these, but we didn’t know how to get in touch’.

Eh? A little alien in the 80s could communicate with another planet by using a Speak and Spell, some bike parts, string and an umbrella, but no one thought to get online and have a quick scoot around. Another NE store didn’t even know how to use their ordering system! I called in a number of times and got the same response. During the height of The Burglar’s Dog buying frenzy, they did actually phone to order direct, but  never did get round to making it happen. They were the only bookstore in Newcastle not stocking the biggest-selling book in Newcastle at the time. I think you’re getting the idea.

So just as the sales team were poised to see the three new titles go to WHS UK-wide… they hit a slight snag. Autumn titles cannot be stocked there unless the publisher pays a fee. The fee/ransom is high, and it is for each title they take on. So – if you want to get on their shelves, you have to show them the money. What’s more is that the ransom just means that your ‘couple of books’ will just sit on a shelf as it usually would in any other store. To be positioned front of store, in a window, have any posters, etc, will set you back around the same price as a nice flat in Jesmond. Apparently, this ransom only has to be paid for titles being taken on in autumn - ie, that will be on the shelves over winter – the best time of the year for book sales. The cynic in me realised that it was a way to squeeze money out of publishers desperate to get their books placed on a shelf for Christmas. The cynic was right.

Where does this leave the indies? The small publishers who struggle to make a living at the best of times have to fork out just to get stocked, while the big lads keep paying the huge fees because they can afford to, and in return they are promoted. It’s pretty obvious where the industry will end up if this continues to happen. There is less choice on offer every time you enter a store and more stores are becoming cautious. Small publishers will continue to get pushed out of stores and out of business. I’m waiting to hear what the outcome is about getting stocked nationally. If the choice is paying a large amount of money for them to fulfil their obligation od stocking a book like every other bookstore in the land, then they can fook right off. We know this goes on, but do we have to put up with it?

Another mad one – one big store in Leeds was presented with ‘Dirty Leeds’. The clue is in the title. It is a football book, same target audience to ‘The Damned United’ and even has a cover testimonial from David Peace. It’s being launched in Leeds, has loads of promo set in Leeds and is released prior to Christmas when people in Leeds will probably buy books about Leeds for their relatives who are Leeds fans. ‘I’ll take a couple,’ said the buyer. What can you do, eh? Makes you wonder why you bother.

For love – that’s why. And if you love books, why not have a gander at the Tonto Summer Sale. No doubt it’ll go on for the rest of the year, because of companies like those above.