Dragaera

Map and RPGs

Rachael Lininger rachael at daedala.net
Wed Jun 5 06:48:01 PDT 2002

On Jun 5, Scott Ingram said:

>Okay, still getting used to this email list; I responded to a previous email
>directly to Mr. Brust, not the list.
>
>I gather by 'jobbers and wholesalers' you're referring to small bookstores
>and their ilk? 

Erm, no. I'm pretty sure Steve means the middlemen, who used to not be
Ingram. The problem is that publishers don't sell their books directly
to stores; they let the wholesalers do the distribution to retail
outlets, like bookstores. The number of distributors has been shrinking.
Now, if you can't get Ingram to carry something, you almost can't sell
it at all.

> I can understand why this upsets people, but I don't
>understand how this would affect paperback sales. Is it the case that the
>larger chains are pushing the top-ten authors (Clancy, King, etc...) and not
>stocking the lesser known authors? Or is it that their increased buying
>power is forcing publishers to sell their wares at a lower price?

We are getting what is politely called a monopoly. Minneapolis just lost 
its regional distributor:

http://www.bookmen.com/

http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:ROCXDSJDP-oC:www.startribune.com/stories/535/2616257.html+bookmen+wholesaler+minneapolis&hl=en&ie=utf-8

Rachael

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Rachael             From the Dilbert Newsletter:
   Lininger              "You should talk to her. 
     rachael@                   She is a minefield of information."
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