Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Where did all these books come from?

My first book has been out of print for well over a year now, which means you can no longer walk into a bookstore and have someone order you a copy. A handful of online booksellers have been carrying used copies and offering "new" copies from third-party sellers. But hardly anyone had honest-to-goodness new books left. In fact, several stores, like Barnes and Noble, for example, had dropped my listing entirely.

So I was more than a little puzzled several days ago when it came to my attention that Amazon.com was again offering it new. And Barnes and Noble. And Powell's. And Books-a-Million. And Wal-Mart. And others. Everywhere I looked online, my book was once again listed. And my question was, Where did they get the books? There aren't any more books.

Well, apparently, there are. No, it hasn't been reissued by my publisher. As near as I can figure it, a distributor has discovered a stack of books in a dusty warehouse somewhere and has sent them out to all of the online stores. So it is once again available "everywhere" online. I don't know how long this will last or how many copies are out there, but I just thought I'd mention it because (a) it's yet another example of the random weirdness of the publishing industry and (b) some of you might want to buy the book. It's Finding Hope, ISBN 0-373-87223-2. If inspirational romance is your thing (or if you're just feeling adventurous) click on one of the links, above, and buy yourself a copy. I'm itching to see how long the supply holds out. Since they were sent to almost a dozen online stores (that I know of), I'm guessing it must have been a really big pile of books.

And now I'm wondering if any were sent to brick-and-mortar bookstores. If one of you happens to spot a pile of new copies in a "real" store somewhere, please give me a shout.

I don't expect to make any more money on this book. My royalty statements show the book has pretty much "earned out", meaning that the publisher has accounted for all the copies they shipped. So it would appear that whoever "lost" these books had already paid for them, and I received my royalties.

It's just odd, that's all.

9 comments:

Mikesell said...

Tristan, you did not just say you were too busy to call your mother, did you?

Hmm, you did. I forsee a nice long guilt trip in your future. Pack shorts and t's. It's gonna be a scorcher.

:P

--Chris

Anonymous said...

Chris, take it easy on the boy, his still young, he will learn ;-D
janice

Anonymous said...

I know I can't spell

Brenda Coulter said...

That's quite all right, Tristan. I know how busy you are, and I want you to live your own life, not worry about me. It's true that I cried myself to sleep that night, but my eyes weren't all that swollen the next morning, so it was really my own fault that I tripped over my bathrobe and fell down the stairs. And If I had just stayed where I fell instead of crawling to the front door and trying to open it, the doorknob would never have broken my nose when the paramedics burst in. And if I had been able to handle the pain better, I wouldn't have needed all of those drugs.

None of this is your fault, my darling. So please don't trouble yourself about calling me this week because here at the rehab center, we're only allowed to use the pay phone on Sundays between 7:30 and 7:45, anyway.

Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. And even if I'm not, my life can never again be as exciting and fulfilling as when you lived here with us, so I won't be missing much, anyway.

Love,
Your Mother

Anonymous said...

Talk about guilt trip,

Camy Tang said...

I'm really glad to hear your book is available again. Must be a weird God thing, huh?

But I must confess your comments made me hiccough from laughing so hard. You need to issue warnings for stuff like that. You don't want to injure your fellow writers and your reader fan base, do you?

Brenda Coulter said...

Oh, I figure this bunch can take care of themselves. I took off the kid gloves when I put on my Bono sunglasses.

Seriously. Have you ever noticed that the comments on this blog are more entertaining than the posts? I was just saying on an authors' e-mail loop that I seem to have attracted some of the wittiest hecklers on the internet.

Anonymous said...

I've never be called a witty heckler before, not even witty
thanks
;-D

Anonymous said...

Oh that is so cool about your books!
Sorry, I've been AWOL for a while. I was in Houston for 8 days and I've been back almost a week and am still catching up on things.
You do have some witty hecklers... just wish I was one of them. ;-)