So - the '2012: Apocalypse' Stocking-filler book is selling well. It's sold out on Amazon, and when my Secret Shopper (aka my beloved) went into the local branch of Waterstone's, it turns out they'd sold out too. Perhaps not surprisingly, she wanted to buy a couple of copies for friends for the passing spasm of commerciality we call Christmas: it's a stocking filler. It's £6.99. It's an easy buy for anyone with any curiosity about 2012 and the publishers are 100% behind it.
But no. Waterstone's is not planning to re-order any. Sorry. So We'll just have to buy them from Amazon, then?
Yup, that's about it.
Which we can do. Amazon will have them. And when I talk to the various radio stations tomorrow, I can forget saying, 'get it at your local Waterstones,' and say instead, 'Get it on Amazon.' Which I will. But it's a mighty strange way to run a book selling business...
I spoke to a friend in publishing who said, 'Amazon's the future, we just have to get used to that.' Which seems particularly sad, especially given how much hope the rest of us held out when James Daunt took over Waterstone's. I have faith that this is a minor aberration, but who knows, maybe it's some kind of weird way of creating a rush for later... when 2012 has been and gone, perhaps?
