24 April 2006
Pulp non-fiction
I was in a bookshop that specialises in flogging off remaindered stock at discount prices, but that also sells a limited selection of new and specialist books at a discount.
I was buying a stock of reading to leave as a surprise care package for my wife when I go away in a few weeks, when the spine of a book in the travel section caught my eye.
It was Beijing, my second book.
I've often wondered what it would feel like to see a title remaindered. After a few years the remaining copies of my first book China: The Silk Routes were actually pulped rather than remaindered, and the title now does a lively second-hand trade.
Beijing was the product of 18 months' work and a great deal of sweat, and remains far and away the most comprehensive guide to the city. But I've been wrangling with Cadogan for three or four years over whether a new edition will be produced or not. The company spent two or three years frequently insisting it was very interested in doing another edition when stock of the first edition ran low, but then suddenly reversed itself. However, the title is still selling well (very surprising given that it's six years old) and while a promise has been made to return the rights to me, no date has been set.
However, if a book is remaindered, it's out of print. And according to the contract if it's out of print then a formal letter requesting the return of the rights can be issued, and they must be returned within a limited period after that unless a contract for a new edition is issued.
So I asked the assistant, and he told me the book had indeed been remaindered. This came as something of a shock, although no surprise that Cadogan's right hand wouldn't even be aware than its left hand existed. (Much as I've enjoyed writing two titles for the company, planning and administration have never been its strong points.)
However, it turned out that this was no indication that the title itself had been remaindered, but merely this particular copy of the book. Distributors, I was told, often have a policy of treating all returned books as too damaged to re-issue for sale elsewhere, and so they are sold to stores such as the one I was in for a nominal remainder cost.
Cadogan knows I've been looking for another publisher to re-issue Beijing and Silk Routes in new, updated editions, but the results so far have been an illustration of the state of guide book publishing as a whole.
Cadogan doesn't want to do a new edition because it feels it has to become a niche publisher and its strength is Europe.
The MD of an American publisher had exchanged email over the years with me saying how wonderful he thought Beijing was, and had talked to me about doing China guides for his company, and sent me writing guidelines, etc. He professed to be delighted when I told him the rights were coming available, but in the end he simply said he'd changed his mind and if I'd call him he'd explain why. I thought having led me on for so long he should at least have the courtesy to make the effort to contact me himself. So I suppose I'll never know why. It was a complete waste of time.
One British publisher was enthusiastic enough to arrange a meeting, and I drove halfway across the UK for lengthy discussions at which it was said that the timing was excellent because the company also wanted to become a niche publisher, and was abanding European coverage for long-haul destinations, many of which, but not including China, it had already covered. The person I met brought a nice blank note pad to the meeting, and when he left some hours later it was equally blank. I was told by email a few weeks later that in fact the company would be issuing no new titles for the next few years. The meeting had been a complete waste of time.
Another British company was very enthusiastic by email, and had me send them copies of both books. When we spoke on the phone it seemed that my books overlapped with what they had covered of China already, but I was told that that wasn't an issue. So I sent in the books. A few weeks later I was told that the company wasn't interested because there was an overlap. Sending in the books had been a complete waste of time.
Right now I've given up, and sooner or later, unless Beijing also gets pulped, I'm really going to come across remaindered copies.
Any publishers out there want to take on guides to parts of China with excellent reviews? Just click on the Some of my books link on the right.
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