I cannot help but be over excited about the Angus & Roberston SCANDAL that has hit the news. Most of my reading public is either still chained to and/or finally free of that company that once told my boss to fire me cos they didn't like me. If you have not seen the letter(s), then check this out.
http://blogs.smh.com.au/entertainment/archives/undercover/014948.html?page=fullpage
Oh GOD I believe in karma. Its not strange that a company who hires psychopaths and incompetents, and who also believe that fair pay for fair work for minimum wage earners is a ludicrous idea would be so forward as to make demands to small distributors! I remember when we couldnt get books sent to us because Angus & Robertson wouldn't pay their bills! Remember when we did not get any backlist titles for months because the SAP installation did not work and they had to turn off the ordering system? Remember CLAIRE? Who decided that she did not like Flynn and essentially fired him by forcing him to leave the company cos she gave him no shifts? And she decided this before even really meeting him? Remember that she got promoted? Remember they fired an entire store because they did not want to organise jobs for us in other stores even though some of us had been with the company for years? Remember they wanted to fire me for breaking company policy about ordering a company banned book? This company made me go through HELL and treated most everyone I love like dirt. Thank you Michael at TOWER for doing this! Its incredible!
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3 comments:
I used to work for A&R in the 90's in Brisbane, one of my first jobs in my late teens.. I've no time for australian bookstores n' publishers due to their limited selection and exorbitant prices and 'tariffs' and get all my books online, mostly from America, some small press from England.. usually remaindered books... www.bookcloseouts.com was excellant for a few years. I do not like giving local sellers the flick but in terms of quantity and quality of annual reading, the benefits have been vast.
Mookie
Thanks for the comment and I heartily agree with your sentiments. I will check out the links you sent. Thanks.
I am currently working with an independent bookseller and I see the merits of independence because they get local authors approaching them all the time to stock self-published books on their shelves. Most of these go up on the shelf. The opportunity to browse such an individual and unique collection as this is amazing.
you can balance things around. I'm pretty sure copyright laws have changed in America and remaindered hardcover books have to be pulp like their mass market paperback counterparts. I personally can't abide australian made books from Griffin Press, the amount of acids in the paper has to be carcinogenic.. the paper goes yellow in no time and i keep sneezing whilst reading. when i go to a time share in Missouri i take one large empty suitcase with me because when I go to Branson outlet malls the size and range and prices of the remaindered bookstores is staggering. kid in a candy store. bookcloseouts lost my interest quite a fair bit when they stopped selling books published and distributed by Simon & Schuster and Donald A. Wollheim's imprints. each to their own. thanks for being more grounded and reasonable than silly Spescha too.
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