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Publishers have voiced concerns over ongoing delivery issues at Waterstone's hub, with some deeming the situation "catastrophic". It has emerged that Jamie Oliver's latest title Jamie's America, heavily supported by the chain, was delivered direct to stores at the beginning of September as a result of the problems.
Publishers spoken to by The Bookseller, who preferred to remain anonymous, said there were problems with delivery, particularly on backlist titles, books for events and author signings. The correct numbers of books were not reaching stores, and authors had begun to notice the gaps.
One publisher said: "Getting the September releases out has been a real struggle. I'm pretty sure my sales have suffered."
Fears were also expressed about Christmas. "If it falls apart now then it really is a nightmare for what's coming for Christmas," said one. Another added: "It's terrifying because this needs to be sorted. All of the supply problems happened from the beginning of September."
Waterstone's moved almost all of its stores to the Burton-on-Trent distribution centre in August, after the implementation of the hub had been subject to a series of delays from early 2008 onwards. The only exceptions are Gower Street in London and the chain's five stores in Ireland.
However, publishers said Waterstone's had acknowledged the problems and was working to "get them right for October", and that communication had been "very good" from the chain.
A Waterstone's spokesperson said: "Everyone across the business has been working hard to ensure we focus on the hub and communicate our progress. We've always said that launching such a substantial change is not a race and we want to ensure we get it right. We are extremely grateful to publishers, distributors and, of course, our store teams for their support throughout the process."
He added: "We continue to work directly with publishers to ensure they are kept up to date on our progress."
But, as a result of the issues Waterstone's is believed to have been more "cautious" with the number of titles ordered. Some publishers reported that sales with the chain were down. "You only have to look at its market share on certain books to see what they have lost," said one. "And these are sales that they will not get back because the publicity campaigns have already happened."