Help navigation
- Friday, 25 May
Log in to TheBookseller.com
News
-
RELATED STORIES
-
Langton's in Twickenham to close
Independent bookshop Langto...
-
Kindle becoming 'Hoover' of e-readers, says SoA's Davis
Society of Authors chair Li...
-
Unbound title on 2012 Fiction Uncovered list
A title from crowd-sourcing...
-
RHG, Hachette score three each in R&J summer club
Three Random House Group ti...
-
Eason to launch own-brand e-reader
Eason is soon to launch an ...
Daunt: booksellers face same "crisis" as libraries
17.11.11 | Lisa Campbell
Waterstone's m.d. James Daunt has said booksellers are facing the same “crisis" as libraries as he called on the public to lobby politicians to protect the library service.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's "Four Thought" last night (16th November), Daunt said both bookshops and libraries have an important role to play in tackling illiteracy in the country. He said the benefit of libraries was “inestimable" in comparison to the “tiny amount" of money that would be saved by local councils closing them down. He said: "We are facing a particular and rather dramatic moment of crisis which we share with our fellow purveyors of the written word, librarians, for quite different reasons but coincidentally at precisely the same moment."
He added: "It seems to me a point of national scandal that element of our community is being imperilled and I think all of us should encourage our political masters, in whom obviously the decision ultimately resides, to recognise that this is a tiny cost to keep this inestimable benefit within our communities."
Daunt used the platform to welcome the role supermarkets play in encouraging first time readers to pick up books. “If you start buying books in Tesco you will surely end up in a proper bookshop sooner or later, so I wholly support them," he said.
While he thinks e-books have a place in the market, Daunt said he does not think digital works well across all books, in particular children's books. He said: “I think it is actually extremely dangerous within children's reading because at a mere flick of a click you can go from reading Jane Eyre to being back on Facebook and YouTube and all the other immediate attractions, let alone video games and the like. I am not sure that is a wholly healthy place to be in."
He added: “But we can do this. We can give you completely compelling physical bookshops. You can be part of an ecosystem which has digital, which has this very impersonal internet offer which is highly efficient if you know what you want—bang it can give it to you, but it doesn't give you discovery of a physical bookshop or [the] physical interaction a library gives you."
During the programme, he once again called on publishers to create beautiful physical books, saying they were “an integral part of the reading experience" and used Julian Barnes' hardback A Sense of An Ending (Jonathan Cape) as a good example.
Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.thebookseller.com/trackback/74561
TheBookseller
-
New John Murray list to revive forgotten classics: [[Subs only]]
John Murray is launching a... t.co/3NaLA76K
-
Langton's in Twickenham to close: [[Subs only]]
Independent bookshop Langton's... t.co/kfWzAMzA
-
Langton's in Twickenham to close: [[Subs only]]
Independent bookshop Langton's... t.co/sUHZGva2
©2012 Bookseller Media Ltd rights reserved.
Comments: Scroll down for the latest comments and to have your say
By posting on this website you agree to the Bookseller comments policy. Comments go direct to live please be relevant, brief and definitely not abusive. Report any "unsuitable comments by clicking the links"
Sort: Oldest first | Newest first | Readers' most recommended
Does this bloke ever shut up? I agree that libraries should be preserved and strengthened, but how can he possibly compare them to a commercial organisation like his?
And another thing. Not all publishers have welcomed the changes to W's purchasing procedures. I for one have struggled to get basic information and have been given differing versions of what should be done by different people within W's. It's one thing liaising closely with the likes of HarperC, Macmillan etc, but the publishing industry doesn't start and finish with them.
Anyone know why R4 keeps giving him a platform?
I Totally agree with you Small Publisher, being in exactly the same position as you.
We, as a small independent publishers also have been given no details of Waterstone's buying procedures other than to submit all titles for consideration to Peter North, who has ignored all of my follow up emails.so it irritating to see the over exposed James Daunt acting like the savior of book selling and, now library services, when he has absolutely no love or concern of small indies.
Because he lives in North West London along with the media mainstream. They don't like to challenge their Hampstead/Belsize Park viewpoint too much - besides they all shop in Daunt's (not Waterstones of course).
James Daunt is working hard to promote Waterstones and to ensure that the company is at the forefront when the public make book buying decisions. This is good marketing, he should be applauded for it and I wish him well, even though his company is one of my competitors. Unfortunately I have my doubts about the survival of any bookshop in the provinces unless they sell coffee or chocolates or ice cream or gifts etc, but if you do then why continue with the least profitable line namely the books.
Publishers may gripe, but I believe that they are one of the causes in the decline of the high street bookshop. It would be cheaper, for example, for my shop to purchase Penguin titles from Amazon than from Penguin direct.
I also tend to find that "small publishers" are keen on only allowing the historical "standard discount", which ended being standard with the abolition of the NBA.
In that case it is surely up to you to talk to the booksellers- if you don't know any then that's not the fault of the bigger publishers- they do events where they invite booksellers to express opinions and make aquaintences- it doesn't cost a lot to do and I can't believe that publishing has not cottoned onto the fact that Waterstone's is not just a proceedure in place to make lazy publishers money- it is made of people, places and ideas just like publishing so go out and get involved! Don't sit and wait for them to come to you- they won't.
Beacause the man has good ideas and valid points- at least he is trying to turn things around for the benefit of the book itself- also the media mainstream is what people listen to so deal with it.
To Ex-Bookseller,yes, of course I speak with the book sellers and on a daily basis. Unfortunately most of them hadn't been given a clear instruction as to what the new purchasing system was or how it would operate. It's getting better, but it's a slow process. I've only been dealing with W's for just over a year and it's about the 4th time that the rules have been tweaked over that period, which has meant having to double-up on the calls each time. I take great offence at the insinuation that I am a 'lazy' publisher. Nothing could be further from the truth in fact as I can't afford to be.
As for Stuart, I would love to have been able to have had a conversation with W's about discounts, but there has been almost paralysis at their head office for several months and a big change in personnel dealing with purchasing and small publishers. As it is they purchase my books via Gardners, but this is through a convoluted route involving their hub. It can take 3 to 4 weeks for an order to result in stock being received at the branch, which is nonsense when you consider that Gardners will deliver next day to any other bookshop and at the same discounts too. And now W's have added an extra layer of management to the purchasing process. Looking from the outside it doesn't make much sense at all.
I'm sympathetic - we have noticed a slow down of getting stock from the smaller publishers certainly in my branch, but it is getting better. The 'new layer of management' just took over their roles completely the other week so things should settle down within the next few months and things will start to speed up... as others have said, once the transition settles, things will start moving better. Patience...
Am taking a deep breath and counting to ten, lol.......:)
@Jean Possibly the reason R4 keep giving him a platform is because, as an ambassador for bookselling, he has slightly more cachet and clout than most... Just a thought.
@Sigh: This sounds unbelievable to me. Your husband has a job that gets him down sometimes? Because it's hard work and he gets conflicting instructions occasionally? Blimey. I can confirm that this only ever happens at Waterstones, and absolutely nowhere else ever, at all, ever. Everyone else on the planet always skips home from work beaming and singing 'tra-lala', as I'm sure you've pointed out to him.
Just because it's so don't make it right!
epetitions.direct.gov.uk/1269 also check out my pledge www.pledgebank.com/supportsmall
Could the Bookseller quote someone else's opinions for once please? James Daunt sounds like a jolly nice man, but perhaps he should have 'Daunt's corner' and not take up the main headline page? Especially when we have great news about Gloucester libraries and need to keep the pressure on other councils?
Apologies for the overuse of question marks there.
I too used to think that Supermarkets seeded the market for books . This may well be true today in London where there are lots of bookshops . However it is not true outside and supermarket's permanent deep discounting of new bestsellers has aided the wholeseale closure of their indie cousins in the BA.
@Small Publisher are you a member of the IPG? They have good links to Waterstones and offer a collective voice and pass on information that might otherwise take ages to filter down: http://www.ipg.uk.com/ It's great for networking - if nothing else you can have a collective moan!
Small Publisher- If you have only been dealing with W for a year how can you expect to have a relationship with them that means they tell you exactly how their buying structure works? The booksellers do know, they just don't like people coming in and asking them questions- yes it is lazy I am afraid. Why don't you organise an event or reading group for one of your titles and INVITE the trade- give them something back, don't just expect you can walk in to a shop, ask questions and job done.
If business worked like that then it would be too easy.
The "extra layer of management" you refer to are people who have worked with the company for a long while- used to be buyers in their stores and are well-equipped to know what their market needs and wants.
The hub is not entirley brilliant but Daunt inherited it- he didn't create it- I am not sure where you got the 3 to 4 weeks from but it's not always the case so I will take it as a generalisation.
So, stop calling, stop asking and go in and say hi- make a connection and work with the booksellers. The industry is slow in places and sometimes it feels like you can't get in there but as you say it's a slow process and, it's not going to change. Put some efforts into POS, aquiring beautiful books that they will want to stock and give them something back, even if it's a stack of bookmarks to promote the latest title.
At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how much or little budget you have, how big or small you are, if your book doesn't appeal to their market they won't take it- and why should thay?
Er, far be it from me to criticise other booksellers (former or current) but you are being a little preachy - and a little wrong.
Despite various misgivings, book-buying power is now controlled by 'the new layer of management' centered in various stores in different regions, not the booksellers themselves. A face-to-face relationship between publishers of any size and booksellers is of course not unwelcome, but not the most productive route to getting a book into store. I'd agree the effort in POS is a good idea, but if you want your books stocked, then you need to talk to the RCM's because they do the ordering, not us, so do a bit of research before you go in trying to establish relationships with various booksellers. Also, events are again not unwelcome, but I'd understand if a small publisher can't take on the cost of holding a big and/or multiple events to promote the book.
Furthermore, not knowing who the publisher is or what books are, I'd think its also a tad presumptuous to believe that booksellers/RCM's/HO wouldn't want to order the books. There is a market for all books somewhere, otherwise they wouldn't be books to start with (self-published is a different kettle of fish). It requires creative thinking on all sides to sell books remember?
And another thing, if the hub doesn't have a book in stock, then yeah, transition times can be up to a month. So yeah...
To clarify some of the confusion on here RCMs are not in publisher facing buying roles. If you want to sell in your titles you need to speak to the central buying team. Just ring the waterstones reception and ask to be put through. Plenty of people do this and their books get bought
Post new comment