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Booksellers resist Hachette firm sale

15.05.08 Graeme Neill

Hachette Livre UK has said that discussions with retailers about firm sale on backlist are ongoing, after Booksellers Association president Graham Rand warned that changes should not be imposed on booksellers.

During his presidential address at this year's BA conference, Rand said that co-operation on issues such as the environment could change if firm sale "was unilaterally imposed on backlist and justified by a green excuse". He said that BA members were "very concerned" about the issue.

"Part of any agreement would also need to address the question of compensation if risk moves from one side of our business to the other," he said. "There is a real danger that we could end up with booksellers stocking fewer books and making fewer sales--to the detriment of both publisher and bookseller." Rand added that the BA council had had "a very useful" discussion with a leading publisher at its last meeting, and the publisher "has decided to amend a number of its earlier proposals".

BA chief executive Tim Godfray later said the discussions were with Hachette Livre, which is planning to move to firm sale on backlist by the end of 2008.

One retailer said that the changes affected areas such as academic titles, backlist titles bought for signing sessions, and marketing promotions. "These are things that count as backlist but would not be stocked by booksellers if they couldn't be returned," he said. One head of a retail chain said that while he accepted the level of returns was "ridiculous", he was sceptical about the motives behind a firm sale move. "There's a touch of greenwash in recognising an opportunity to do something really significant in changing terms but dressing it up in green clothing," he said. "I believe that a move that forces improved efficiency is not necessarily a bad thing, but that comment applies to publishers and agents as it does to retailers."

A spokesperson for Hachette Livre said that discussions with retailers were continuing. "When we first announced the proposals we said that we were going to consult with booksellers," she said. "The Booksellers Association has been extremely helpful and discussions are ongoing."

At the BA a.g.m., Godfray said the council had had a "very useful exchange of views" with Hachette Livre. He added that the council had yet to discuss Penguin's plans to move to firm sale on backlist in 2009. "The door isn't closed [to Penguin] but it is a bit of a disappointment [that we haven't seen them yet]."

Hachette Graeme Neill BA Home Firm sale Graham Rand

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By Clive Keeble

The UK new booktrade has to be the most archaic and inefficient section of retail on the high street. Are the bookshops mere consignment outlets or real traders ? My motives behind firm sale are simple : I run an efficient trading business not an SOR catalogue outlet. Green issues are a factor, but only a side issue : to expect others to be responsible for one's stock is both complacent and typically arrogant.

15 May 08 08:17

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By Dinah Anderson

Mr Keeble, you are very dogmatic on this issue. I, too, run an efficient business; it's my money so I have to, but the shelf life of some titles is harder to judge than others. I try new authors for my customers due to the safety net of a returns allowance , which isn't massive by any means. Bookshops would be very different - and denuded of range - without this buffer. The chains are wasteful due to poorly thought out HO systems but why should indies suffer as a result? Are you really saying you don't return dead stock? There's a balance to be found which suits all parties, I suggest, and we should all work towards establishing this demarcation line.

15 May 08 09:25

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By Clive Keeble

Yes, I am really saying don't return dead stock. Give it some life, just like other retailers. Why shouldn't bookshops hold genuine January clearance sales or are they going to perpetuate the "damage" of Ottakar's/Waterstone's integration when dozens of pallets of books were returned to publishers (titles often re-ordered days later). As an aside, how many specialist bookshops would take the current Cherie Blair, Prescott, or Lord Levy "gossip" tomes if they were only supplied *firm sale* - this is one glaring instance when publishers themselves are guilty of abusing the outdated supply system (presumably to provide the sales opportunity for other "rights")

15 May 08 10:49

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By CM

Yes, I agree with Clive - I remember John Smith's in St Vincent Street, Glasgow, had a yearly clearance sale and I would often spend £30-40 buying books at 50p and a £1 each (alright I know it's ten years ago now), even though I worked in Waterstone's. Serendipidous book buying is made easier when you don't have to think about the price and it created a buzz in the shop as well as introduced me to a few new authors and subject areas I'd never read before.

15 May 08 12:44

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By Dinah Anderson

Ah, yes - and this will be my final post - but the appeal of dusty old backlist sold at reduced prices has lessened since the NBA went and chains began to discount frontlist excessively. This distortion of value has meant that the max retail price of an old paperback is at most a quarter of cover price. Unlike the chains, we can't demand help with dead stock - or else - we will have to pay for books we tried, promoted in good faith but which failed. Will firm sale backlist be supplied at greatly increased terms - I think not. Besides, not all returns are wasted - many of my orders are clearly recycled from other stores and they carry the price stickers to prove it.

15 May 08 12:56

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By June Austin

Speaking as an author, I am very much with Clive on this one. The idea of compensation for moving the risk from one part of the industry to another is just plain ludicrous. No one compensated me when 70 of my books were returned at the end of February - I hasten to add without consultation or permission - they were just dumped on my doorstep. I would be fair to say that this was imposed upon me, without discussion and certainly without one single thought as to how it would affect me. Why then should book sellers have the right to start claiming compensation for this when do not give us that right? If they want authors and publishers to play fair, then that needs to be reciprocal, and so far I have little evidence that it is, or they ever intend to start treating independent authors and publishers fairly. These are decisions that they make whether or not to buy books, and they should have to live by the consequences of those decisions - what has happened to personal responsibility - and more to the point, why should authors and publishers have to bear the brunt of their mistakes? This is not just about being green, it is also about fair trade.

15 May 08 17:44

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