Seattle Mystery Bookshop

A Dilly of a Miscommunication

We are now being told by a publicist at St. Martin's that they have no policy of requiring any bookshop to have any set number of pre-sold copies of any given author's book in order to have their author sent to that shop. We're told it is just a 'miscommunication'.

We find that incredible.

We've known this particular author for sixteen years. We trust her completely and know her to be sharp and rock solid. That she could somehow misunderstand what she was being told and believe that her publisher would only send her to shops who could guarantee 100 presold copies is beyond belief. How could any author from any publisher 'misunderstand' so much as to come away with such specific details?

Authors who have spent a dozen years in this racket know and understand how it works. They've heard nearly everything about touring. That a professional author who has dealt with two publishers and who knows how many publicists could misconstrue what she's been told is beyond belief.

We are now being told by a publicist at St. Martin's that they have no policy of requiring any bookshop to have any set number of pre-sold copies of any given author's book in order to have their author sent to that shop. That is not the current policy. As of today. Right now. Present tense.

But that doesn't say it wasn't.

A New Twist in an Old Racket

This morning, we got a message from Dana Stabenow. Her publisher was making the offer to send her to shops who could guarantee 100 'pre-sold' copies of her new hardcover by Jan. 17, 2009. This was after we'd gotten an e-mail last week from her announcing that she'd be having the premiere event for the book at The Poisoned Pen in Feb. and directing all fans interested in having a signed copy to contact the hosting shop. This raised many questions and feelings and today's message from her sharpened them further.

 

On one hand there is the feeling of loss. We were the shop that hosted Dana's first signing for her first mystery.  In fact, it was our founder, Bill Farley, who told her she would win the Edgar with it, and his words were prophetic -- she did indeed win Best Paperback Original.  That has allowed us to feel somewhat proprietary about her, as we do all the Alaskan authors. There are many independent mystery booksellers around the country and we each have our territory of local authors. We had always felt that Alaskan authors were, as part of the Pacific Northwest, part of our territory and they our authors. Clearly, NYC doesn't give a damn about such considerations. And why should they?

But the larger issue is far more disturbing. We've been in business for 18 years and three months. In that time, we have never had a publisher put any sort of number on pre-sold books (what we refer to as reserved copies) as requirement to host one of their authors. We've had a large number of Big Names in over the years - Dick Francis, Ross Thomas, Sue Grafton, Ed McBain, Lawrence Block, Donald E. Westlake, Martha Grimes, Ellis Peters, James Ellroy, Sara Paretsky, Edgar winners, Shamus winners, National Book Award nominees, Golden Dagger winners - but we've NEVER had a publicity department dictate that X number of books have to be guaranteed sold before an author can appear. We've heard of AUTHORS doing this, but not publishers.

 

Because, to meet this level, every other shop - independent mystery or not (it's unclear whether this edict applies as well to the Big Box Stores, be it Barnes and Noble, Borders, Costco or Sams, or if it IS just the independents - a number of years ago the American Booksellers Association sued a big publisher over preferntial discounts and that win mandated that all booksellers be offered the same opportunities...) - will have to cannibalize the sales of other shops to meet the artificially set minimum. For us to reach the 100 book level, we'd have to steal customers from all the other shops trying to meet the 100. That's undemocratic. That's bush-league and we won't play the game.

 

Publishers and publicists have no right to place such demands on shops. I can understand how the expenses of author tours are eating them alive and that they need to do something different. Fine, I'd be happy to make some suggestions. St. Martin's could do what other publishers are doing: send the author to the bindery to sign all copies; bring the author to the publicity office to sign all ordered copies; send them to one shop and have other shops send their stock to that one shop to act as a signing depot. Any of those three plans would save the publisher a ton of money and give ALL booksellers the same opportunity to get identically signed copies without giving one shop the advantage.

 

But this plan does just the opposite. By establishing an unrealistic and artificial sales level, they're limiting the author's potential appearances to a handful - at best -  of shops able to gather the required pre-sales. And, as I said, I think they can do that only by robbing the potential sales and customers from smaller shops and that is undemocratic. All shops should have the same opportunity

In 1992, we had the honor of hosting Dana's first mystery author event. Since then, we've been happy and honored to host her for each book. That's 16 years of author events and selling her signed and unsigned books. We will not even try to collect the required 100 copies. We're not going to play their game. 2009 will therefore be the first year we've not hosted Dana and that is too bad. And sad.

 

JB Dickey, owner

The Pitfalls of Print-On-Demands

    One of recent developements in the publishing world is the rise of the Print-On-Demands. PODs, as they're called, are books that are printed as they are ordered as opposed to printed in large numbers in advance and sit in someone's warehouse awaiting someone else's order.

    The benefits to this arrangement is supposed to be two-fold: first, publishers don't have to put a ton of money into printing books upfront and can wait to print them until they are demanded; and, second, anyone can now become a printed author because of the first rationale. If a publisher doesn't have to spend a great deal of money until the books are wanted, it saves them from having the expense of printing unwanted and unsold books as well as storing them.

    In some cases, this does work well for us. For instance, Random House has a program called Short Run. This allows us to order certain titles that are otherwise out of print and unavailable. We use this program to get about a dozen Nero Wolfe books, three John Straley titles and one of our bestselling paperbacks of all time (Laurie King's Califia's Daughter, as written by "Leigh Richards").

    But most of the time the PODs do not work for us or you or the author. Case in point - an author sent info on her debut mystery hoping that we'd stock it. She said we could get it from one of the wholesalers. Ingram does sell the book but, as a Print-On-Demand publication, they offer it at only a 15% discount. Here's how the economics work for us or any bookseller that would order it.

    Ingram lists the book at $15.49. At 15% discount, we would be buying the book for $14.16, making only $2.32 on the sale. The industry standard is 40%. At that rate, we'd make $6.19 on the sale. It is out of the discount - whether it is 40 or 42 or 46% - whatever the discount is - that the booksellers pay their bills. All of the operating expenses - rent, payroll, utilities, supplies, dog treats - need to be covered by the discount. 15% is nowhere near enough to meet the bills. Obviously, the higher the discount, the better for us and the easier it is to pay the bills. Indeed, it is out of those discounts that we buy the other books that we need to sell to keep the whole thing rolling.

    Another way to look at it is how much cash is locked up in the books on the shelves. The higher the prices of books, be they hardcovers or trade paperbacks or those horrid 'premium mass market' abominations, the better discount we need to keep it all moving. The more cash is tied up in a book on the shelf, the less the cash flows. And, as all know, liquidity is the name of the game.

    Think of it this way as well: for us to stock that $15.49 POD book, we would have a $14 bill on the shelf waiting for a buyer; but at 40%, it would be just a $9 bill. Still high. If this author's book was a traditional mass market at $6.99, at 40% we'd be still be making only $2.80 on the sale, but it would cost us just $4.20 to have it on the shelf. We can afford to have lots more books at that price and that discount than any other. [This gets us into an entirely different discussion of why publishers seem to be making their books as expensive as possible which means fewer can be stocked and in lower numbers.]

    Back to those Random House titles: why can we stock those after all of this about why PODs don't work? Because we get them at the standard discounts. If the discounts were lower, we wouldn't order them.

    While we would like to support all new authors and give them a chance to be introduced to our customers and give our customers a chance to see new author and their books, the economics of Print-On-Demand, in general, don't work well for us. One of the cruel ironies of the print-on-demand opportunities and the philosophy that anyone can be a printed author is that bookshops won't necessarily be able to afford to stock their book.

    Sorry, but that is the cold reality.

The Price of Death--No More Bogus Health Care Reform

We have been trying for health care reform for at least 20 years.  We have been relying on private enterprise and competition to drive down prices during that time.  Now we have a health care system that costs twice as much of our GDP as other develped countries such as France, Germany, Japan and Taiwan. 

Our health care is so expensive that people are desperate for affordable health care insurance.  This has spawned a burgeoning limited coverage health industry, i.e. health care with surprisingly limited coverage; and, even worse, bogus health care insurance companies, companies that don't even plan to pay out money for health care.  People often don't know what they are getting until they find that they have thousands of dollars worth of unpaid medical bills and no one to help them pay.

I mentioned France, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan above because these counries have universal health care, and very satisfied patients, even though they spend only half as much of their GDP on it.

We are told that the only alternative to our current health care system is the Canadian system of health care, government run health care.  That is the myth promoted by the companies making profit on health care, especially insurance companies, managed care and hospital corporations. 

There is an alternative, which is a public/private partnership running the health care system, using private hospitals and doctors, like France, Germany, Japan and Taiwan.  However, we won't get that until we insist on it.

I wrote The Price of Death to illustrate how the diversion of funds to profit affects us all.  It's not just the uninsured.  It also affects us by causing what care we do receive to be delivered by overworked and harried doctors and nurses.  I think that it is hard to believe that if people die because of this diversion of funds those in charge wouldn't change the system.  It is one thing to hear that 98,000 people die prematurely of medical error, it is another to see it happen in real (or fictional) life.  So read The Price of Death and tell Congress that we want the health care system fixed.

SJ Robinson

Knee Deep in the Blood and Guts

Did the title get your attention? I'm not literally knee deep in the blood guts. But I did spend 7 years researching my new novel, The 7th Victim, with the FBI profiling unit. Not only did I make many, many trips to Quantico over the years, but I also conferred via phone and email with a couple of the profilers in between visits. One of the profilers would always sign his emails, "Knee Deep in the Blood and Guts." I finally asked him about that--I had a sense of what he meant by it, but I asked why he closed all his messages that way.

He told me he only signed his emails to me that way. It was his admonition to me to "get it right." He wanted me to respect the victims and respect the work the profilers did. Because although I was writing about it fictionally, he really was living it--he was literally knee deep in the blood and guts, studying the crime scenes and autopsy photos, watching the videos these killers made of their handiwork. After a while, it got to you emotionally. In The 7th Victim, I tried to capture the sense of the emotional turmoil law enforcement experiences when investigating violent crime. These are characters you care about, in a story that holds your interest all the way to the last page.

As I sit here at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop meeting my readers, I can't help but talk with excitement about the novel and my experiences working with the profilers. The movie rights have been sold and I've spoken with the producers about staying true to the source material as much as possible. I hope you enjoy the read! 

Before I sign off, hop over to my website, www.AlanJacobson.com (or the book's site, www.the7thVictim.com) and pick up the free 21-page personal safety booklet I co-wrote with one of the FBI profilers. It contains valuable information on staying safe...and out of the crosshairs of criminals. Totally free. Very important.

Best,
Alan Jacobson

Sometimes they get it right!

    We have been known to carp about the lousy cover art that too many publishers put on their books. And it is always fun to listen to authors do the same. The car in the story is cherry red but the art department made it royal blue. Why is there a group of Arabs on the book when no such group appears in the story? That's the wrong kind of aircraft for this plot. There are no sled dogs in this story and, anyway, that's a wolf, not a sled dog. Even though the cover paintings are beautiful, most people think the books are Westerns, so we'll  dumb down the art work to stop confusing the dummies... There have been a couple of times where the artwork even gave you the solution to whodunnit!

    But sometimes a publisher will surprise us and Academy Chicago Press has with their first reissue of the Charlie Chan books, The Chinese Parrot, actually the 2nd of the Chan books from 1926 ($14.95).  It's stylish and elegant and striking and achieves that rare look of appearing both of that period yet not feeling pretentiouslykitchy. It is a nice homage and not the least bit self-conscious.

     Congratulations to the painter, Chris Rahn, and to Academy Chicago Press.

Just be Original!

No pressure or anything they said...just be original. Since my second Ursula Marlow mystery, The Serpent and The Scorpion, came out a couple of weeks ago I have been on book tour and so the thought of anything original actually coming out of my brain at the moment is a daunting one. Luckily, my protagonist, Ursula, is never short on words. As an Edwardian feminist and militant suffragette she isn't the sort of character to remain quiet or demure. Some writers scoff at the thought of characters taking over or 'becoming real' off the page but I find that Ursula is always with me (of course my husband remains convinced that she is me!). I must confess I sometimes covet her lifestyle - money, servants, exotic travel - what's not to love? - but I have to remind myself she is a woman of a bygone era.

I was drawn to the late Edwardian period because I could meld the privileged with the turbulent. It is a time when everyone knows that war is approaching, when the so called 'merchants of death' are arming all sides and militant suffragettes and socialists are causing mayhem in England. I love getting the opportunity to illuminate a period of history few know much about and to cast a forward-thinking, spirited woman like Ursula against such a rich background. Unlike me she can be a true original of her time - she can learn how to fly the early airplanes, get to run her father's textile empire and (in her spare time) pursue justice as she investigates two murders: the first being a good friend and wife of a Jewish financier of settlements in Palestine; the second a young factory worker at one of Ursula's 'model' factories. Ursula gets to be a woman both of her time and unique for her time. That's more original than I can ever hope to be. 

Clare Langley-Hawthorne

The Kill Zone blog

Sex and Havoc

Seattle Mystery Bookshop and Eclectic Theater Company have teamed up, creating a thrilling experience for me in Seattle--one I hope others will share. SMB is carrying signed copies of my novel Women of Magdalene, a Southern gothic tale set in a post-Civil War ladies' lunatic asylum. ETC is presenting a West Coast premiere of my Southern gothic drama, The Little Death, set in the steamy 1880's French Quarter of New Orleans. The play runs from October 10 - November 1, 2008, at the Odd Duck Studio. I invite anyone interested in a sensual story and the havoc caused by passions in conflict to come to the theater and the bookshop. My thanks to SMB, ETC, and Seattle for providing a warm welcome to a Southern writer.

Rosemary Poole-Carter

National Bestsellers

Independent Mystery Booksellers’ Association Bestsellers for Sept., 2008

Hardcovers

1 – Dennis Lehane, The Given Day, Morrow

2 – Kathy Reichs, Devil Bones, Scribner

3 – Elizabeth Peters, The Laughter of Dead Kings, Morrow

4 – James R. Benn, Blood Alone, Soho

5 – tie

     William Kent Krueger, Red Knife, Atria

     Ann Littlewood, Night Kills, Poisoned Pen Press

7 – tie

     Alafair Burke, Angel’s Tip, Harper

     Carola Dunn, Black Ship, St. Martin’s

     Ian Rankin, Exit Music, Little Brown

     Brad Meltzer, The Book of Lies, Grand Central

Trade Paperbacks

1 – Jennifer Lee Carrell, Interred With Their Bones, Plume

2 – Gyles Brandreth, Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder, Touchstone

3 – Arnaldur Indridson, Voices, Picador

4 – Charles Finch, A Beautiful Blue Death, St. Martin’s

5 – tie

     Tana French, In the Woods, Viking

     Carol Goodman, The Night Villa, Ballantine

7 – tie

     Michael Dibdin, End Game, Vintage

     Michael Harvey, The Chicago Way, Vintage

     Catherine Aird, The Stately Home Murder, Rue Morgue

     Noah Charney, The Art Thief, Washington Square

     Chris Knopf, The Last Refuge, Permanent Press

Mass Market Paperbacks

1 – Rhys Bowen, Her Royal Spyness, Berkley

2 – Diane Mott Davidson, Sweet Revenge, Harper

3 – tie

     Ian Rankin, The Naming of the Dead, Little Brown

     Ann Purser, Sorrow on Sunday, Berkley

5 – tie

     Donna Leon, Friends in High Places, Penguin

     Steve Hamilton, Night Work, St. Martin’s

7 – tie

     Iris Crawford, A Catered Christmas, Kensington

     James Swain, Midnight Rambler, Ballantine

     PJ Parrish, South of Hell, Pocket

     Rebecca Drake, The Dead Place, Pinnacle

     Leo Bruce, Furious Old Women, Academy of Chicago

Yellow Moon--Murder in Louisiana

I love Seattle!  Especially Seattle Mystery Bookshop--where warmth, kindness, and the atmosphere of good books makes me feel alive. 

Interested in Louisiana culture, Marie Laveau, and womanist spirituality and "things unseen"?  Try my voodoo series--VOODOO DREAMS, VOODOO SEASON, and YELLOW MOON. If you're fans of Anne Rice, Barbara Hambly, and James Lee Burke, you'll probably like my work.  Give my words a try--send me an email--let me know what you think.

Cheers, bookl overs!  Happy reading.

Love,

Jewell

Exit Music

Greetings from cool and rainy Seattle, where they still serve you grunge music with your breakfast at the 5-Spot Diner (where I once drank a beer with Earl Emerson).  I'm here with Exit Music, which MAY be Rebus's Last Stand.  I'll tell you later, once I've decided...

Cheers,

Ian

Local Reader becomes Author

I'm not going to try to sell you my book here; I'd like to share the experience of crossing over from reader to published author.  I've been wandering the aisles of independent bookstores like Seattle Mystery Bookshop for years, blissfully anonymous under coats and hats.  But recently I've entered the realm of American 21st Century public author, sitting to sign my debut novel, Just Deceits, in a lovely overstuffed chair behind a Meet the Author sign.  Strange that something so solitary as writing becomes by the alchemy of commerce a public event.  The staff here is so friendly and warm that I can enjoy this, and be grateful.  I'd rather be writing - or reading - with a cat perched on my keyboard, but a few old friends showed up and we had a nice chat.

In the end, in any century, the book is still the book.  Each reader gets to take it away to their cozy place, to their study or kitchen table or bed or bathroom, and follow the words to another world.  I think that the time we spend curled up with a good book is sacred time, and I take seriously what I put between the covers.  Not stuffy, but stuffed with life and humor.

We need to protect our independent bookstores.  There's little $ in this; it is mostly a labor of love.  These booksellers are guardians of civilization, the monks of our time.  Please don't click Amazon; get up, go out onto the street of your town, and visit your bookseller.  I'll bet you'll learn something, make a connection, and have some fun.

Thanks to my dear wife Carol, to Bill, JB & Marie at Seattle Mystery Bookshop, and to all who have shared with me this intoxicating journey.  Peace be with you!

~ Michael Schein, www.michaelschein.com

Our September 2008 Bestsellers

Hardcover

1 – Kathy Reichs, Devil Bones, Scribner

2 – Elizabeth Peters, The Laughter of Dead Kings, Morrow

3 – Ann Littlewood, Night Kills, Poisoned Pen Press

4 – Carola Dunn, Black Ship, St. Martin’s Press

5 – Carolyn D. Wall, Sweeping Up Glass, Poisoned Pen Press

6 – tie

      Clyde Ford, Precious Cargo, Vanguard

      Mary Daheim, Vi Agra Falls, Morrow

      JA Jance, Damage Control, Morrow

     Alafair Burke, Angel’s Tip, Morrow

10 – Susan Hill, The Man in the Picture, Overlook

Trade Paperback

1 – Inger Frimansson, Good Night, My Darling, Pleasure Boat Studio

2 – LR Wright, The Suspect, Felony & Mayhem

3 – Susan Hill, The Various Haunts of Men, Overlook

4 – tie

      Gyles Brandreth, Oscar Wilde and a Game of Murder, Touchstone

       Jennifer Carrell, Interred with Their Bones, Plume

      Tana French, In the Woods, Viking

      Arnaldur Indridason, Voices, Picador

8 – tie

       James R. Benn, Billy Boyle, Soho

      Alice Sebold, Almost Moon, Back Bay

      Inger Frimansson, The Shadow in the Water, Pleasure Boat Studio

      Noah Charney, The Art Thief, Washington Square

Mass Market

1 – tie

      Diane Mott Davidson, Sweet Revenge, Avon

      Ian Rankin, The Naming of the Dead, Little Brown

3 – Dick Francis, Dead Heat, Berkley

4 – tie Kate Wilhelm, Wrongful Death, Mira

      Jo Dereske, Index to Murder, Avon

      Donna Leon, Friends in High Place, Penguin

      Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain, Murder She Wrote: Panning for Murder, Obsidian

      Patricia Cornwell, Book of Death, Berkley

9 – tie

      JA Jance, Justice Denied, Harper

      Mary Daheim, Scots on the Rocks, Harper

      Ridley Pearson, Killer Weekend, Jove

      Jayne Castle, Dark Light, Jove

      Lee Child, Killing Floor, Jove

Tess in Seattle

I always love coming to Seattle, even if my last visit was fraught with trauma.  It was 9/11, 2001, and I ended up stranded here for a week.  But during that week I learned to truly adore this city, and especially to appreciate what a bookloving place it is.

I also have such a great time coming to visit Seattle Mystery Bookshop, where I am at this very instant, blogging for their site.  I brought "Fred," my little visual aid who travels in my suitcase everywhere I go.  Otherwise known as "Fred the Head," he's what I use to demonstrate the process of making a tsantsa -- a shrunken head.  The group who gathered here to see me got a little lecture about head shrinking as well as mummification.

You never know what you're going to learn when you show up at one of my signings. 

Now it's time to pack up Fred and head for San Francisco.  I can't wait to come back to Seattle.

Tess

And here is Tess' blog about censorship, if you're interested.