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Amazon, Abe books or book depository

For discussion about particular book sellers (brick-and-mortar bookstores, online book sellers, auction sites, swap sites, etc.)
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Ariadne
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Location: At the foothills of Mt. Level

Post by Ariadne » Mon September 6th, 2010, 2:51 pm

Vanessa, you're probably right, though I wish they'd say so if that's the case. It's puzzling, as I hadn't had a problem ordering Glass Painter's Daughter from BD. Oh well. I'll keep an eye on it, not like I don't have plenty to read in the meantime :D although there's always ABE. If there was a mad rush on it because of a book club, I hope they'll order more!

Last night I ordered Golden Mean from Amazon Canada since there were other Canadian titles I wanted to get. The postage wasn't too bad, considering. It is a tasteful cover, though some Americans are so sensitive about nudity that I imagine it was nixed immediately as an option.

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Madeleine
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Currently reading: "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer
Preferred HF: Plantagenets, Victorian, crime, dual time-frame
Location: Essex/London

Post by Madeleine » Mon September 6th, 2010, 4:34 pm

[quote=""sweetpotatoboy""]I can't imagine that cover (ie. the original Canadian/UK one) causing anyone here to even bat an eyelid. It's extremely tasteful and the bum is hardly the focus of the picture. In fact, I think it's a beautiful picture.
This was a book that I was already looking forward to reading; it's had great reviews here.[/quote]

I find it difficult to believe that someone would find that pic offensive, although it does remind me of the old Athena-style posters; it's quite arty and pretty tasteful, although quite an interesting pose! Perhaps one for a future covers caption poll? ;)
Currently reading "The Whitstable Pearl Mystery" by Julie Wassmer

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emr
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Post by emr » Tue September 7th, 2010, 11:10 am

[quote=""Ariadne""]Thanks, Margaret, I'll check them out!

I generally prefer the UK covers too. The UK cover for Golden Mean is the same as the original Canadian one. I suspect it didn't fly in the US because it shows a man's bare rear-end (which caused some controversy in British Columbia as well). I'm not buying it because of that, LOL, but the American cover - which has drops of blood flying off a man on horseback - is something I find totally unappealing.[/quote]

I love that UK cover. I find it perfect for a classic greeks theme. And the guy is beautiful. Out of curiosity, can you hear the horse's heart leaning like that?

The other cover, well, it's in the line of the Spartacus series with blood spilling all over the place. I guess it could fancy more to a male buyer although it doesnt seem to fit too much with the book's description.
"So many books, so little time."
— Frank Zappa

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
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Post by Margaret » Tue September 7th, 2010, 7:07 pm

I suspect it didn't fly in the US because it shows a man's bare rear-end (which caused some controversy in British Columbia as well).
That's a beautiful cover - not at all offensive, I thought, quite the contrary. Plenty of books feature women in similarly unclad but tasteful poses without a whisper of controversy!
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

gyrehead
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Post by gyrehead » Thu September 9th, 2010, 1:33 am

[quote=""Ariadne""]That's very strange. I just went and looked and it's listed as "Notify me" rather than "Add to basket" so I don't know what's going on.

Another oddity, two hours ago Katherine Webb's The Legacy was sold out, but now I see it's available, so I ordered it before it disappeared again. Wonder if it will show up![/quote]

BD has initiated a change in pre-ordering it seems. Several forthcoming titles have the "notify me" status instead of the pre-order button. It seems random. But I do think there is a trend. All the titles on my extensive wishlist are books that have almost simultaneous US release. If it is a UK publisher it is 51% off; a US publisher only 25% off (note this is strictly on the US mirrored site). In every case the 25% discounted book is available to pre-order; the 51% is locked on "notify me"

Now maybe this is all distribution issues***. Maybe. But in the past I've had trouble where a pre-ordered UK edition at 51% (or 50 or when the dollar was weaker 49%) being cancelled and then in one case the very same day was available at regular price; in others it took them a day or two to do the switch. So I have to suspect that UK editions are going to be held back until they actually have the inventory. That way they either have their US customers who can't wait pre-order at the more profitable 25% off US edition (which also means much cheaper for them shipping costs) or they have someone get fascinated with the prospect of that possible in theory 51% discount -- only to find out that they are being notified only after both the UK and the US discount is gone. Meaning once again BD wins as the customer still getting the free shipping is likely to still buy at a much, much higher price than even the 25% pre-order price offered.

There are some exceptions on my list, but of over 100 wishlist forthcoming books, all are UK editions and most than 3/4 are currently only available to notify me status.

***And I mean legitimate distribution issues not the company's apparent desire to avoid making good on the deeply discounted pre-orders that people gave them money for months in advance -- book pre-orders canceled and customers told they are out of stock and BD offers the book in massive inventory via Amazon and ABEBooks (they should realize that ABEBooks lists the available inventory on "out of stock books" in the double digits).

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Ariadne
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Post by Ariadne » Thu September 9th, 2010, 5:17 pm

Yes, I've noticed while browsing the forthcoming historical fiction content that far fewer titles are available for preorder. I can't tell, of course, if this is because I'm in the USA, but I've seen this for UK-only selections as well - like the new Justin Hill release about the Battle of Hastings that Tanzanite posted about on another thread. That one doesn't have a corresponding US edition, yet I can't preorder it, and it's listed at 25% off. I rarely buy US editions from BD because I tend to accumulate Amazon certificates (thanks to a credit card I have with them) and do my US ordering on Amazon US. The Lyon novel was an exception because of my cover preference...

Since it's not available to order at all, I wonder what purpose the 25% off serves since by the time they get it in stock, that discount could easily disappear altogether.

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Brenna
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Post by Brenna » Sat September 11th, 2010, 10:26 pm

I'm a complete Amazon.com girl. However, a lot of really great historical fiction novels come out of Europe and are not available in the U.S (although that is becomming less of the case). For the majority of the EC's books, I tried amazon.com but they only offered used that they were ridiculous prices. I went to bookdepository but they told me that they couldn't sell these books to people in the U.S. Ummmm...ok. So on a suggestion from SKP, I went to Abe books, found that the bookdepository would sell me the books I wanted through Abe but not their site. The strangest thing. Either way, I got my books and free shipping to boot.
Brenna

gyrehead
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Post by gyrehead » Sun September 12th, 2010, 4:09 pm

Brenna you might also want to keep an eye on SuperBookDeals and PaperbackShop-US. Both ABEBooks affliliates. They order in quantities of UK titles. Initially with shipping costs they are invariably steeper than using BD which at least keep up the free shipping even if their listed prices at ABE are not as deep as their own site (when they let you buy it from their own site).

But since they have a set physical inventory I've been able to get relatively new releases significantly cheaper even with paying their shipping (both have pretty high shipping per item that doesn't really spread shipping costs out nicely the more you like Strand or some of the others do). IF a book doesn't sell they want to get rid of it and since they seem to inventory in books by the 10s they can drop the price rather quickly to move such stock.

Test it by finding a book at either vendor's that you might like but don't have a pressing need to acquire. Make sure they have multi-copy inventory. Send it to your basket and then put it in the save for later section and sit back and watch the price for a week or two (this really borders on the obsessive unless you use ABE as much as I do and am in my shopping basket more than once a week. It's a small effort but I have picked up brand new UK editions for less than 5 bucks even with shipping.

rebecca191
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Post by rebecca191 » Mon September 13th, 2010, 3:08 am

[quote=""gyrehead""]BD has initiated a change in pre-ordering it seems. Several forthcoming titles have the "notify me" status instead of the pre-order button. It seems random. But I do think there is a trend. All the titles on my extensive wishlist are books that have almost simultaneous US release. If it is a UK publisher it is 51% off; a US publisher only 25% off (note this is strictly on the US mirrored site). In every case the 25% discounted book is available to pre-order; the 51% is locked on "notify me"

Now maybe this is all distribution issues***. Maybe. But in the past I've had trouble where a pre-ordered UK edition at 51% (or 50 or when the dollar was weaker 49%) being cancelled and then in one case the very same day was available at regular price; in others it took them a day or two to do the switch. So I have to suspect that UK editions are going to be held back until they actually have the inventory. That way they either have their US customers who can't wait pre-order at the more profitable 25% off US edition (which also means much cheaper for them shipping costs) or they have someone get fascinated with the prospect of that possible in theory 51% discount -- only to find out that they are being notified only after both the UK and the US discount is gone. Meaning once again BD wins as the customer still getting the free shipping is likely to still buy at a much, much higher price than even the 25% pre-order price offered.

There are some exceptions on my list, but of over 100 wishlist forthcoming books, all are UK editions and most than 3/4 are currently only available to notify me status.

***And I mean legitimate distribution issues not the company's apparent desire to avoid making good on the deeply discounted pre-orders that people gave them money for months in advance -- book pre-orders canceled and customers told they are out of stock and BD offers the book in massive inventory via Amazon and ABEBooks (they should realize that ABEBooks lists the available inventory on "out of stock books" in the double digits).[/quote]

I'm not seeing a discount higher than 25% on any book whether it is available for pre order or has the notify me button. And these are all UK only titles. I wonder if they just got rid of the 50% discount. I hope they honor the preorders already placed as I have 6 preorders already paid for at 50% off and will not be happy if they change the price and cancel my orders.

gyrehead
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Post by gyrehead » Wed September 15th, 2010, 3:56 pm

Yeah I see nothing but the 25% off as well. Still. I know it has happened before but then it went back to 50%. Not sure how long that lasted though. Hopefully they will continue to offer the great discount since with free shipping, despite their incredible odd business practice bobbles, I was able to really get a nice return on my book buying "budget". Plus it let me get books in preferred editions since the new Brit mass market books are so superior to the US in terms of sizing and font. Since I'm a bit of a miser with my books I'm not sure about how they stand up in durability. But so far they seem to be doing just fine and actually have better inking issues than most UK Trade paperbacks that have still cloudy inkings (you can smudge the page with the typeset which I loathe).

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