Monday, December 19, 2011
the Cassandra Sydrome
The Last Samurai is, for the time being, well and truly out of print. Not because sales of a paltry few hundred a year had caused its publisher to lose heart. No. How to gesture at the situation without aggravating?
Faithful readers of pp may remember that I did not want to publish the book as a first novel, because a debut novelist is in a weak position; I thought permissions would be a nightmare, copy-editing would be a nightmare, typesetting would be a nightmare, and in short I felt I could do a better job of defending the book if I were in the position of, say, Salman Rushdie. Jonathan Burnham (editor), Steve Hutensky (friend who showed the book to Jonathan) and Larry Shire (lawyer recommended by Steve) pooh-poohed these fears to a man. Suffice it to say that it was the fate of Cassandra never to be believed.
It's at times like this that the old Secondhand Sales Donation comes into its own. New copies, as new copies, very good and good copies are available on Amazon Marketplace. A very good copy, for example, is available from Bacobooks for just $2.50 plus $3.99 p&p. Easiest thing in the world to buy this very good copy for a friend, send the author a $1 royalty-equivalent, and make TWO people happy. (Acceptable copies start at $0.24, but these are probably not gift-standard editions.)
Even when the book was in print, readers who generously sent a donation after buying the book secondhand were doing as much to pay the author's rent, and so give time to finish new books, as those who equally generously stumped up for a new copy. So thank you, thank you all. New readers can try out the PayPal button in the sidebar if so inclined.
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9 comments:
Dear Ms. DeWitt,
I would consider myself lucky to be able to purchase a few copies of Last Samurai every month for at least the next year, for distribution to friends and strangers I meet who might appreciate your work, maybe not as much as I do, but still... If I can do so with the maximum percent of the purchase price going to the author, I would consider myself all the more lucky.
Is there a way to do this circumventing PayPal? My account there is totally screwed up and not usable. If not, I will (try to) figure out a way to create a new account and (try to) follow the "Secondhand Sales" instructions on paperpools.
I do try to increase my stock of Last Samurai when I can, and I was surprised to find that I was able to purchase a copy recently at my local B&N (tribeca), but not at the Strand, where I have been on a waiting list for some months. There was a second copy available at B&N, and when I had put together, again, the purchase price and gone back to acquire a copy for a friend, it was no longer available, so I derive from that that when Last Samurai shows up, even in unexpected places, demand is so great that it's off the shelves quickly.
If the most expedient, and beneficial to you, way is simply to buy through amazon's secondhand dealers, I will certainly do that. If there is some other way more beneficial to you, that would be my preference.
Beyond all the mechanics of acquisition, I can only say
I am not able to properly express my gratitude for your having written Last Samurai (and LR), nor my appreciation for the words you have sent out into the world
Dear Queries0
This is very kind of you. If PayPal has disowned you, the only alternative I can think of is a check (for reasons that are not entirely clear, this seems crude in a way that clicking on a PayPal button does not, but so it is); if you would like to send one, my address is Postfach 61 30 39, 10941 Berlin, Germany. I'm very glad you liked the book, and also to hear that it is still for sale in some places; perhaps these difficulties will be resolved and it will go back into print . . .
Thank you, I will figure something out...
Is The Last Samurai really that scarce? I got it from Amazon's main store just last month, but I was surprised to be buying a brand new first edition hardcover for only $10. At that price, Helen, are you receiving any portion at all?
Jim-- When I gave a reading in Boston back in October the bookseller said he couldn't get copies from the publisher. My guess is there were still tiny pockets of unsold stock out in the world (he did manage to find a couple of copies after a lot of scouring around). Since then other booksellers have said they couldn't get copies from the publisher either.
I think these bargain books on Amazon might fall in a different category. A few years ago Miramax told me they were getting rid of most of the unsold hardbacks to a firm that bought excess stock at heavily discounted prices; Amazon might have been able to get in a supply from this firm if the publisher didn't have any. I don't remember getting anything off the discounted bulk sale (I think they offered to let me buy copies myself at $2 apiece), so these may have fallen under some special clause in the contract. But this is, admittedly, pure speculation.
Well, the Kindle edition is still available, if that's any comfort (here). Although I have to say I haven't bought that edition myself, and am slightly worried about the damage to the text that formatting it as an e-book might have caused (given my general ex per ience of re-a-ding on a Kindle).
Do you get a decent revenue on any such sales?
Thanks, Helen. I'll have to familiarize myself with PayPal...
Also, your book made me think of this (youth staging of Seven Samurai):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_oPwkDF35g
Have you considered using something like Kickstarter to self-publish your next book?
Hey
Thank you so much for posting this. Anyway, the thing is I kind'a like the last samurai because of the very nice action scene.
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