Posts by Ngaire BookieMonster
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Know-it-all!
I love you, Andre, I hope you know that.
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Yes, hardbacks, oversized books, etc. will cost more. But remember, I was talking about the average $24.95 NZ novel.
A couple of years ago, I measured the thickness of a bunch of $24.95 novels. It turns out that the typical novel has to have more than 300 pages to exceed the 20 mm thickness (when combined with a waterproof wrap and envelope).
That's actually a longish novel (most publishers seem to aim for a page count in the 200s) and so the average $24.95 novel can fit into a C5 envelope and be posted for $1.80 -- I assure you. The rest of the $2.50 in p & h is for the envelope, waterproof wrap, and labour at $20/hr.If you actively produce books to be within limits to keep shipping costs down then that's a different story, but not every publisher is going to do that at the author's request.
From someone who is doing this every day on a daily basis with a huge variety of books, at the cheapest rate possible (because I know very well that cheap shipping rates work best for books) you simply can't post most books for letter rate.
The majority of the books we have sent out have had to go as parcels, partially because we know that customers are picky and like to have their books protected (which is easily and cheaply achieved with bubblewrap or cardboard, both of which add considerable thickness) particularly new books (secondhand buyers will give you a bit more leeway, provided it's not a collectible) but even minimal protection can take it too close to the limit for NZ Post.
This is part of the whole customer service consideration. Authors who want to take this on and want to be successful are going to have to deal with many members of the public, and that takes a huge amount of time, patience, speed and politeness to have customers happy day after day after day. And if you introduce a public feedback system into that also - oh boy, believe me that just produces a whole 'nother pickle of fish.
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There are some douchey publishers, but by the same token there are some douchey authors too. Low-paid publishing go-fers get to see them all! :D
Having said that though, I think it would be fair to say publishers and authors do have a particular sort of relationship - but then it's also a relationship that can involve a lot of rejection and criticism of work that both sides are emotionally invested in, so that's not really surprising.
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What's frustrating is the frequency of talking to people who won't buy books on line.
Yes! Why is that? Books seem to me to be one of the easier products to buy online.
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I've personally posted out more than twice that amount of books at a cost of $2.00 per book (that includes packaging and my labour in handling). My computer reads in my emails from Paypal -- and then prints off the day's receipts and address labels at the press of a button. I pick up a book, put it in a bag, put the bag in an envelope, slap the address sticker on the envelope, and bung on the stamps. Takes about a minute.
Unfortunately, unless the book plus packaging comes to a thickness of less than 2cm then NZ Post charges parcelpost rates. The cheapest parcelpost rate (postage only, no packaging included) is $2.40 - which covers MOST A format paperbacks, the next rate up is $3.00, hardbacks and very large formats then go up to $4.20.
This is standard basic post, no tracking. NZ Post tracking adds more, then if you move to courier you have to charge depending on area of the country, and account for extra rural delivery charges.
Most authors would only be posting out one type of book of course, so could easily determine that in advance, but not every book is going to be shipped for $2.
Having posted out 13,000+ books in the last 3 years I'd have loved to have been able to send every single one of them for just $2 p&h. Unfortunately it's not quite that simple.
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Despite a few reservations and many questions (!) I would totally do this.
But, as Islander says, it would all hinge on being able to buy stock at trade discount (which is getting squeezed more and more too). You'd be better off setting up a site that bought directly from publishers/distributors at trade discount, but distributed a large percentage of selling profit to authors.
And to be honest you want to be selling lots of books, right, which is going to put a lot of pressure on authors to send out books and send them correctly and be engaged in "customer services" type operations, not to mention take into account cost of shipping and packaging (you won't get many books shipped for $2.50 sorry, even at cheapest NZ Post rates), and there is a huge potential for pitfalls there.
But if you weren't looking to become Amazon (i.e. make millions for "founders" or investors or list on an exchange), then all you'd need would be someone who could talk nicely to publishers, authors and customers, who had experience carrying small amounts of stock and in shipping within New Zealand and in book blogging and online sales, administration and financials, who was willing to work for a salary to support her family, rather than maximising as much profit for skimming by investors... well, and startup money.
*cough*
:D
But it could seriously put other retailer's noses out of joint.
On self-publishing -
The problem with self-publication - especially of novels - is that it takes away a layer of filtering. There are far, far more books written than published, and realistically? Most of them are crap. Which is why I am wary of the self-published.
This. There are some serious problems with MOST selfpublished books. Really good, well produced and not-in-need-of-serious-editing self-published books are still the minority.
There is one thing that is lost in self-publishing and print on demand. Production values. I have to admit I have a very soft spot for books as objects.
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Does anyone else compulsively (but discreetly) go to parties check out their host's bookshelves, records and DVD collections? Don't know if I entirely trust people who don't have a book in the house.
Books - All. The. Time. And often from a "I wonder if I can borrow this" perspective. Book people are often awful people to lend books to though. I am very guilty of book stealing by forgetting to give back lent books, which I feel bad about in my weak moments. Then I remember all the books I've lost through lending them and not getting them back and figure it's a circle. A ciiiircle of liiiiiiiife.
Records - yep, a lot of the time!
DVDs, not so much. -
I want the 8 year old's book shelves! Those Nancy Drew's take me back too.
There is something about physical book shelves filled with books - it's like looking at art. It induces a feeling that is quite hard to describe to those who don't get it.
"Why don't you get a Kindle and you could keep them all on that!"
"What the???!!" -
with an understandable lack of explanation.
Honestly, I think if that is the case then it's less understandable that they don't want to make a public statement (couched in more flattering terms of course). Seems like this would be exactly the right time to announce no republish and a stop to any further sales of warehouse stock?
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Ever seen anyone take to a penguin with a chainsaw?
Haha, I totes LOLd. (yes, there is a 12 year old in my house).
This whole story is now fumble upon bumble upon stuff up upon making up a pile of poos.
The plagiarism that wasn't. The "less than 0.4 percent" that wasn't. The buyback that wasn't. The republish that wasn't.
Remember when he said "But with The Trowenna Sea, I have always tried to be on the cutting edge of fictional devices..." - now we know what that means!