From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 06/18/01-06:36:43 PM Z
On Mon, 18 Jun 2001, Pam Niedermayer wrote:
> until you've batched enough sales to make it worthwhile to package and
> ship, paying by check (God, what a pain), paying twice what Amazon and
> other resellers charge for shipping books (no way I'd pay $12 for
> anyone to ship me a book unless it's worth a small fortune and
> insurance costs are high, or maybe if it's currently residing in
Pam, you read too quickly. First, I said the book comes packaged from the
printer. Second, the $12 was the discount to the bookstore, the amount
they get off the $24 when they order the book. That is, money Dan, for
instance, DOESN'T get from the sale. The price to the customer is the
same. Finally, my GUESS at the charge for shipping was $5 to $6, which
would probably be the same at both, all, or most vendors.
For instance, I have a recent invoice from Hacker Art Books. Shipping was
$5.50. I don't know what Amazon charges, but the fact is they're losing
money & looking for ways to not lose money... What do they charge for
shipping now? Would you be stunned if it went up?
> foreign lands and I must buy it); but our customers never were. As a
> very active reader and book buyer, I prefer paying by credit card over
> the phone or net, receiving an ordered item within a week at the most.
For all I know Dan processes his orders every single day, maybe every
hour, if this silly discussion is going to go into such points, but Dan
does take credit cards.... (Only Post-Factory in the known universe does
not.)
> In general, I'd agree that the book publishing industry is rotten,
> right up there with the music industry, when it comes to rewarding
> creators for their work; but I'd suggest that it's not fair to lump in
> good resellers with the bad. If Amazon pays relatively promptly and
> Borders does not, then why tar Amazon?
Again, you didn't read right. I didn't "tar" Amazon. I'm the one who said
they're pretty good, remember? The POINT of this discussion, and the
reason I got into it at all, is to say that it's better for the
self-publisher, such as Dan, to buy the book from him than to buy from
Amazon or any "reseller." This should be particularly meaningful
when the author is a member of our own community.
There's also the fact that when amazon or whoever orders one at a time
(which they do often with small press) there's shipping to pay on that
order AS WELL. I'm not familiar with that end of the business, so I'm not
sure who pays it... but speaking of SPEED, it's obviously speedier for the
book to take one trip, not two. Do we know for a fact that Amazon has
Burkholder in stock? They tend to order one at a time from Midmarch.
Oh and PS: I myself MUCH prefer paying by check to putting an item on the
charge card. Many reasons, but suffice to say I find it simpler and safer.
It is of course not quicker, since I send the check by mail. But then I
have plenty to do in the meantime.
And PPS: now I want to know what Dan is going to do for me for all this
publicity.
Judy
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| World Journal of Post-Factory Photography > "HOW-TO and WHY"
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