Le Guin at National Book Awards

[CommonReader]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best way to get back at her for this atrocity is to not buy her books.

I shall deprive myself of reading her books because she says nasty things about a bullying, tax-avoiding, multi-billion Dollar company?
This is getting absurd.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Isn't remaindering for books a function of a change in the tax laws?

AIUI, time was that one could defer any payment of tax on unsold inventory until such time as the item was sold --- this was changed in the late 70s or early 80s requiring taxing of the inventory each year.

I distinctly remember a news article about Librarian associations picketing Congress over this --- any accountants care to weigh in w/ facts?

To an extent.

But a bigger reason is that the returns system means bookstores stock books on consignment so they have very little to lose by overordering. As the recent catfight proved, publishers take weeks to fulfill an order and if a store runs out of stock on a book they will likely lose the sale. So they overorder and return the unsold books.

Publishers are then faced with the cost of transporting, sorting and either warehousing or pulping the return books or letting them be remaindered at a much lower price. Remaindered books save them the return costs.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

I shall deprive myself of reading her books because she says nasty things about a bullying, tax-avoiding, multi-billion Dollar company? .

"Deprive" assumes the books are necessary and irreplaceable.
For most people, LeGuin books are neither. She is hardly a household name and even household name authors are far from necessary and irreplaceable.

[CommonReader]

She is certainly much less replaceable than Amazon itself. And I don't particularly care if an author is a "household name". Otherwise authors like John Grisham etc. would represent the height of literary achievements.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

To an extent.

But a bigger reason is that the returns system means bookstores stock books on consignment so they have very little to lose by overordering. As the recent catfight proved, publishers take weeks to fulfill an order and if a store runs out of stock on a book they will likely lose the sale. So they overorder and return the unsold books.

Publishers are then faced with the cost of transporting, sorting and either warehousing or pulping the return books or letting them be remaindered at a much lower price. Remaindered books save them the return costs.

Publishers do not receive the returns. The cover is ripped off and the book disposed of. It's a HUGE waste, but long ago publishers decided it cost them more to have the books shipped back.

A few years back, B&N was moving about a block in NY. They "returned" all the stock they hadn't sold by ripping the covers off, doing the paperwork as returns and ordered all new stock for the new store. This saved them money because they didn't have to move the books. This was reported because the garbage bins in the back were full of books with no covers.

It's wasteful and stupid, but it is generally the way returns are handled and have been handled for a long time. "Remainders" are sold under a different agreement with publishers to avoid "pulping" as the cover ripoffs are called. The author gets no money from remainders.

[arjaybe]

How much of this discussion is about what she said and how much is about personal dislike/like of her public persona and how much is about personal dislike/like of her fiction? I'm getting confused by the intemperate mingling of these disparate lines of thought. Although, I do realize that this is the normal trajectory for many threads on this forum.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The best way to get back at her for this atrocity is to not buy her books.

You've been doing that for years. Pre-emptive strike?

[BearMountainBooks]

Bookstores often don't stock indie books because there is no return policy (there is sometimes depending on how they order). But in general when a bookstore decides it wants to replace a book with some other book, they just make room--by destroying the book they don't want. Since there is no cost to them, they can destroy a book and reorder if they need or want to. Depending upon how a store is managed, the destruction and reorder of books can be quite egregious.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by CommonReader

I shall deprive myself of reading her books because she says nasty things about a bullying, tax-avoiding, multi-billion Dollar company?
This is getting absurd.

Very absurd. And among the absurd things is accusing her of wanting to sell her own books. She was talking about art and arts place in society.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

"Deprive" assumes the books are necessary and irreplaceable.
For most people, LeGuin books are neither. She is hardly a household name and even household name authors are far from necessary and irreplaceable.

Really, I thought she is maybe the most famous author that also write fantasy and sf. I even saw a quote from her at the screen at an airplane. She is often mentioned as a possible candidate to get the Nobel price.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tompe

Very absurd. And among the absurd things is accusing her of wanting to sell her own books. She was talking about art and arts place in society.

The problem is that her "art" is a business. A big one. The two are interlinked and inseparable. She wasn't talking about art and art's place. She was criticizing aspects of the business/industry that allows her to support herself with her art. Why? Because she's not just about the art. She just wants it to sound like she is.

I don't want anyone to "deprive" themselves of her (or any author). I'm just tired of hearing childish cries of; "Literature is going to die because Amazon!" It's fearmongering, and it's silly.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Publishers do not receive the returns. The cover is ripped off and the book disposed of. It's a HUGE waste, but long ago publishers decided it cost them more to have the books shipped back.

A few years back, B&N was moving about a block in NY. They "returned" all the stock they hadn't sold by ripping the covers off, doing the paperwork as returns and ordered all new stock for the new store. This saved them money because they didn't have to move the books. This was reported because the garbage bins in the back were full of books with no covers.

It's wasteful and stupid, but it is generally the way returns are handled and have been handled for a long time. "Remainders" are sold under a different agreement with publishers to avoid "pulping" as the cover ripoffs are called. The author gets no money from remainders.

I thought it was only paperbacks that got the covers ripped and hardcovers returned, with some being sold to liquidators and rest destroyed?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tompe

Really, I thought she is maybe the most famous author that also write fantasy and sf.

Geirge R. R. Martin might have something to say about that.
Neil Gaiman and Stephen King among others, too.

On the fantasy side alone there is also a lady named Rowling.
I doubt LeGuin cracks the top ten these days.

[WillAdams]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I thought it was only paperbacks that got the covers ripped and hardcovers returned, with some being sold to liquidators and rest destroyed?

Actually, not just paperbacks, but only the smaller / standard-sized ones (mass-market?) AIUI.

One of my favourite authors books no longer appear in that size, which really annoys me, since I started w/ his books in that size when they first appeared in 1982 or so, and the non-strippability was apparently one factor in that, instead I have my choice of hardcover or the larger trade paperbacks (which won't fit on the shelf where his books are stored).

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Geirge R. R. Martin might have something to say about that.
Neil Gaiman and Stephen King among others, too.

On the fantasy side alone there is also a lady named Rowling.
I doubt LeGuin cracks the top ten these days.

Is Geirge going to finish The Game of Thrones for George? I hope so, maybe it will get done quicker.