domo@tsa.co.uk (Dominic Dunlop) (02/19/91)
[I'm posting because there may be others in the same position as myself -- a posted response would be appreciated. And would anybody posting follow-ups please direct them only to the appropriate group.] In article <1991Feb18.060800.29648@iwarp.intel.com> merlyn@iwarp.intel.com (Randal L. Schwartz) writes: > I'm very sorry that international customers are at the mercy of > Addison Wesley. A/W has the rights to all international distribution > for OR&A's books, so when an order comes in to OR&A, they must forward > it to A/W for handling. Would this explain why the credit-card order that I placed for a copy at the OR&A booth at the Uniforum show last month has yet to produce goods here in England? Still, I have got a tee short with a camel on it: I was allowed to walk away with that. (And, no, I couldn't make it to the Wednesday evening signing: I was busy internationalizing.) And, by the way, OR&A, PLEASE don't make agreements like this: you cannot be unaware of how many international mail order sales you make. We don't deal with you direct for the fun of it -- although, admitedly, it's a little more fun than with many other outfits. A-W's action seems, in the best tradition of publishing, to be designed to maximize its income from the deal without necessarily maximizing sales of the books. Which brings me on to the weird cross-post to rec.music.folk: Fairport Convention's stupid deal with Rough Trade for the distribution of their latest album means that they are not allowed to sell copies at concerts or by mail order through their fan club. They're surely losing sales as a result -- more sales than Rough Trade is gaining. But any that Rough Trade does gain mean money for Rough Trade. Moral. You gotta watch distributors! -- Dominic Dunlop
bush@prg.ox.ac.uk (Mark Bush) (02/21/91)
In article <1991Feb19.084533.2214@tsa.co.uk> domo@tsa.co.uk (Dominic Dunlop) writes: > In article <1991Feb18.060800.29648@iwarp.intel.com> merlyn@iwarp.intel.com > (Randal L. Schwartz) writes: > > I'm very sorry that international customers are at the mercy of > > Addison Wesley. A/W has the rights to all international distribution > > for OR&A's books, so when an order comes in to OR&A, they must forward > > it to A/W for handling. > > A-W's action seems, in the best tradition of publishing, to be designed > to maximize its income from the deal without necessarily maximizing > sales of the books. > > Moral. You gotta watch distributors! The word I got from A-W was that OR&A were not giving them the distribution until May. They seemed to imply that it was a hold-up on the part of OR&A that means that books are not getting over here (or to any non-US places, I guess). Does anyone have the scoop on this? I was hoping to do an order for a few people over here to cut shipping costs, but it seems that bulk orders are a no-go and shipping at $20-25 per copy is not my idea of fun. I don't want to end up with a phone bill the size of an average defense budget by phoning OR&A myself. The question, I guess, is who really *is* responsibly for the distributions? Is it really OR&A or is A-W giving me the brush-off? Mark