As the very public dispute between Amazon.com and Hachette Book Group enters its fourth month, Shelf Awareness spoke with a range of booksellers around the country about how the stalemate has affected customers, affected them and affected sales. At some stores, sales of titles from Hachette--and others--are up significantly; at all stores we spoke to, many customers are showing a new awareness of Amazon and the issues brought up by the dispute.
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| Kerry Slattery | |
"I do think that usually the public isn't that aware of publishers," said Kerry Slattery, general manager and co-owner of Skylight Books in Los Angeles, Calif. "Internal publishing negotiations are not something most people on the street are normally aware of, but it's different right now."
She continued: "There does seems to be much more awareness of independent bookstores and buying local. People are used to the convenience that they've developed with Amazon. I think a lot of them didn't realize that there are other options for books, and maybe now some of those people are investigating other options."
Slattery didn't think there had been a significant increase in sales of Hachette titles since the start of the dispute, but she reported that sales have been up generally during that same period. She noted, however, that Edan Lepucki's debut novel, California, which Sherman Alexie turned into a pre-publication bestseller by plugging it on the Colbert Report, has been huge.
"In addition to the national publicity, Edan used to work in our bookstore," Slattery explained. "We did the book launch for it; we talk about her as our staff member."
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| Robert Sindelar | |
Robert Sindelar, managing partner of Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park and Seattle, Wash., also reported very brisk sales of California, selling nearly 60 copies. "For a normal debut novel, selling five copies in that same amount of time would be considered successful," he said.
Earlier, Third Place Books did a widely publicized promotion for The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling), offering to hand deliver copies on pub day to customers who ordered it in advance. (The New York Times even led with it in a story about Amazon and Hachette on the front page of the business section.) In part because of this, Sindelar and staff members have heard more comments from customers about the importance of shopping local and changing buying habits. Overall, though, he's seen a minimal change in Hachette sales compared to this time last year.
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| Anne Holman | |
Anne Holman, the co-owner of the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, said the store has sold "dozens and dozens" of copies of California. Before it showed up on the Colbert Report, Holman admitted, the book hadn't even been on her radar.
"We're a small store in Salt Lake City; we didn't really think something like that would hit everywhere," she explained. But sales have been "surprising and delightful," and throughout the nearly three-month-long dispute, Holman and her co-workers have had frequent discussions with customers.
"This is the first time in my experience that customers are actually starting the conversation about what's wrong with Amazon," she said. "It's given us the opportunity to talk about Amazon without coming off as if we're complaining. It's more of an educational conversation. In my mind it's a positive."
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| Daniel Goldin | |
Daniel Goldin, owner of Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee, Wis., said he has seen a bit of an uptick in Hachette sales. The store's top three bestselling hardcover fiction books last week were The Goldfinch, California and The Silkworm, and sales of Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath in the month of June were double those of April and May.
"We haven't been that aggressive about using the controversy for promotion, but we do have a table of Hachette books right up front as you enter the store," Goldin said. He has also tried to include at least one Hachette title in every new release blog and every e-mail newsletter roundup of recently published titles. "In the end, I think we've seen a pop, but we probably haven't worked it as hard as some stores."
Boswell Book Company hosted Edan Lepucki on Friday, and the event garnered an article beforehand in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Without the ongoing dispute, Goldin guessed, his store would probably not have received that coverage.
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| Lucy Kogler | |
Talking Leaves, Buffalo, N.Y., has seen steady sales of California, a title manager Lucy Kogler had not originally intended to order--before the Colbert bump. Otherwise, she has not seen much of a Hachette bump. Her staff has had some conversations with customers about the ongoing dispute, and she has mentioned it on the store's website, Facebook page and e-mail newsletter.
"We haven't done anything like what Robert Sindelar did with The Silkworm; we don't really have the population for something like that," she said. "But we do try to keep all of this stuff in front of our customers, in the sense that this is about the preservation of all sorts of things, not just whether Hachette will cave in or not."
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Kris Kleindienst |
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Kris Kleindienst, owner of Left Bank Books in St. Louis, Mo., reported that business overall has been up in July--usually a flat month--and she's seen a better sell-through on California than any other debut novel she can remember. She said it seems that she's reordering Hachette titles more frequently, but acknowledged that she might just have that impression because she's paying more attention to Hachette books. For booksellers, she added, the whole dispute has been one big "teachable moment."
"It feels like the conversation has reached a whole new group of people," Kleindienst said. "It's tapped into folks who have never really thought about this."
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| Matt Norcross | |
"The awareness of our customer base has been really surprising and fun and exciting," said Matthew Norcross, co-owner of McLean & Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey, Mich. His store has put up a few Hachette displays, and he's discussed the issue with book clubs and other customers. "The fact that Hachette had someone like Colbert touting it makes a huge difference."
Although California has not been "a wave maker" at his store, Norcross reported large increases in sales of Hachette titles over the last few months. Hachette books were up 20% in May alone, and a huge 28% in June. Part of that, Norcross cautioned, is the result of several major events in May and June with popular Hachette authors, including children's authors Kate Hannigan and Peter Brown. But, he continued, those events also can't account for the entire increase on their own.
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| Mark LaFramboise | |
Mark LaFramboise, the head buyer at Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C., said he's seen more sales of Hachette titles, but he attributes that in large part to the store's prominent Hachette display. It includes frontlist titles as well as backlist, and quotations from authors who have spoken out about the issue. California has also been moving very well--Politics & Prose was one of the stores that Stephen Colbert mentioned on-air when urging viewers to pre-order the book from an indie bookstore. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and The Silkworm have also performed very well this summer.
Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose, wrote a column about the dispute when it first became public, but has not written another piece. "People seem very aware of the controversy without further help from us," he said. "Given all the national publicity about it, we haven't felt the need to say anything more about it unless asked."
One amusing side effect of the very public dispute, LaFramboise added, was a significant bump for Brad Stone's The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, another Hachette title. "We put it back out on the table, and that gave it a whole new life." --Alex Mutter