First of all, I am not taking Natalie Choate to task, but I am glad to know
other people feel the same way about this supply issue. I said, "I know this
is a book distribution issue that authors may not have control over, but I
feel bad when I want to grab a title fast, and then I can't!"
I feel BAD for her because I can't give her the sale and I really wanted to.
I was trying to buy the book "yesterday" because I need it fast. Since I
could not get it fast because I can't use a credit card for my Government
library, I had to get it from a Interlibrary loan, which makes her no money,
which believe it or not, I feel quite bad about.
Once I get a title ILL, the initial need dries up and the chance of me going
through another round of paperwork to buy another copy drops dramatically
just because I am off on something else by the time it comes in.
I know it is an Amazon problem. I just get quite frustrated when I have to
wait weeks because I have to prepay by check for an item. It is not like the
county is going to go away or stiff the person in the long run and that is
not the fault of the Author, but the fault of my government procurement
system.
The small publishers should note that I would even pay a bit MORE on Amazon
for a book if it meant I could get it in the time slot I need it in.
I wish someone with more clout than me or one author individually could
create a way for the smaller law publishers/authors to band together and
compete with Amazon and let me get these smaller ones on a monthly account.
Perhaps your npo, or some other attorney related organization, could set up
a web site at which these smaller authors could sell to me and other places
with no credit cards through a set up similar to amazon's corporate account.
However, I know that is a fantasy too!
Lorelei A. Broskey, MLS
Director of Library and Information Services
Lehigh County Law Library
455 W. Hamilton St
Allentown, PA 18101-1614
610-782-3308
fax 610-820-3311
The web site for the
Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County is:
www.lccpa.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Carey, Elisabeth [mailto:CareyE@tht.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 1:24 PM
To: Law-Lib (E-mail)
Subject: RE: [Law-Lib] Open letter to the Authors of those smaller Law
Boo ks n ot Published by the GIANT Publishers.
Unless the author is self-publishing, there is no "maybe" about it; the
author has ZERO control over how their book is marketed or sold. Beating up
on the authors about it may be emotionally satisfying, but has absolutely no
possibility of making the slightest impact on the problem.
Only the publishers can do anything about this. You need to convince the
publishers that they are losing sales by not listing their books on Amazon
if you want to change their practices.
BUT, if the author is self-publishing, or if the publisher is a very small
publisher, with only a few books a year (at most), you then run into the
problem of the large discounts Amazon demands. This is a real problem for
very small publishers. In what I laughingly call my free time, I'm a member
of a non-profit that publishes 4-10 new titles every year. Our books are
listed on Amazon, but we can't afford to give Amazon the huge discount they
require to actually stock our books and put them high up in the results
lists for people searching for those kinds of books. So people who really
want our titles can find them on Amazon, and Amazon will supply them by
ordering copies from Baker & Taylor as needed. This gets us more sales than
not being on Amazon at all, but not nearly as many as if we could afford the
Amazon discounts for inhouse stocking and prominent placement. And yet we're
a relatively _large_ operation, as small presses go.
Natalie Choate, OTOH, (to use your specific and immmediate example) I
believe is self-publishing, producing only that one title, and revising it
every couple of years. It's very likely she doesn't even know where to start
in learning the non-trivial intricacies of getting her book listed on
Amazon, or if she does, has concluded that the time and energy involved is
more than she's prepared to deal with. And since, in real life, she's a
lawyer, not a publisher, and is publishing less than one title per year,
this is not unreasonable. My non-profit has several people who devote
substantial amounts of time to mastering the intricacies of the business end
of actually being a publisher, but a)this is the largest single source of
income for the organization, something that's surely not true for Ms.
Choate, b)it's not _one person_ contributing all of that time, and c)we're
not taking that time out of activities that we would otherwise be billing at
what Ms. Choate probably bills her time at.
I have now gone on much longer, probably, than anyone would have wanted me
to. I apologize; people taking authors to task for things beyond their
control is a particular hot button of mine.
Elisabeth Carey
Testa Hurwitz & Thibeault
125 High Street
Boston, MA 02110
(617)310-8273
careye@tht.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Lorelei Broskey [mailto:loreleibroskey@lehighcounty.org]
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 1:02 PM
To: Law-Lib (E-mail)
Subject: [Law-Lib] Open letter to the Authors of those smaller Law Books
n ot Published by the GIANT Publishers.
(Dear Law Libbers, Does anyone else experience the problem I'm ranting
about?Anyone want to loan me the 2003 5th edition of Natalie Choate's Life
and Death Planning for Retirement Benefits??)
Dear Law Books Authors,
If you want me to buy your law book and add it to my public library
collection, which--if it is under $100.00 and is not going to be expensive
on updates--I may do rather then go through the hassle of an interlibrary
loan, please make every effort to sell your books on Amazon.com THROUGH
Amazon.
I can't get a credit card for my county library, and checks take weeks to
cut and send, but I have an Amazon Corporate Account and can ORDER Fast and
at Will from Amazon.
BUT I cannot use the Corporate Account on used books or OTHER Sellers, only
through "Amazon" herself.
If it's on Amazon as one of their "new" selections, it has a far better
chance of getting in my library collection when a patron asks me if we have
it. If not, the hassle factor may just kill what could have been a sale
with Law Library exposure for a title that was new to me.
I know this is a book distribution issue that authors may not have control
over, but I feel bad when I want to grab a title fast, and then I can't!
Lorelei A. Broskey, MLS
Director of Library and Information Services
Lehigh County Law Library
455 W. Hamilton St
Allentown, PA 18101-1614
610-782-3308
fax 610-820-3311
The web site for the
Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County is:
www.lccpa.org
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