Today, on Tuesday 27 October, readers around the world will walk into bookshops to buy A Court of Splintered Harmony (ACOSH) by Sarah J Maas on publication day. In many bookshops in Aotearoa NZ they cannot. Our embargoed stock will not arrive until tomorrow at the earliest, while larger retailers and online platforms sold the book from the first minute of release, at midnight.
Independent Bookshops signed the embargo and followed the embargo to the letter. They took the pre-orders, promoted the launch, rostered extra staff and in many cases planned events. Then their booksellers stood in bookshops unable to fulfil orders or requests and instead had to tell our customers we didn't know when the book would arrive.
This is not the first time. I write today because this keeps happening, and each time it does, it quietly moves our customers somewhere else. Uncertain supply erodes our credibility with our customers and undermines our entire business.
What a late delivery costs bookshops
A major release is not just one sale. For an independent bookshop, it can be the busiest trading day of the season, and the sales it brings in help carry the slower titles, the local authors and the community work that make our shops worth visiting. For specialist bookstores, these releases can make or break them. When the stock arrives late, the implications reach beyond the walls of the shop and far beyond the trade of the day. For example:
- Lost sales we can't recover. Customers who came in on release day bought the book elsewhere, usually online or at a chain. Most will not come back for it a week later.
- Broken pre-orders. Customers who trusted us with an early order were let down. Some cancelled; others waited and told us they probably won't pre-order with us again.
- Damaged trust. Our business runs on relationships. Telling a loyal customer "we don't know when it's coming" makes us look unreliable, through no fault of our own. In the case of ACOSH, many stores took on the huge risk of ordering 96 copies in order to get ‘party packs’ containing tote bags, stickers etc. You incentivised big orders and incentivised bookshops to take on additional risk. Failing to deliver doesn’t reward risk, but punishes it.
- Wasted costs. We paid for extra staff, window displays, marketing and, for some of us, launch events that went ahead without the book.
- Reputational Damage. Every missed release teaches readers that the reliable place to buy a new book is somewhere other than their local bookshop. An inability to manage distribution equitably is the best way to teach our customers to shop elsewhere.
An embargo only works if everyone starts from the same line. Right now, they don't.
Large retailers and online platforms receive stock earlier as they are classified as 'distribution centres'. Independent shops are often at the end of the delivery run, served by shared freight, with smaller orders that get lower priority when supply is tight or shipments are delayed. While we appreciate the logistics of book distribution in a country as geographically spread as Aotearoa NZ, we know it is absolutely possible. With an international release and months of preparation, this is simply not good enough. In the case of ACOSH, the ‘aforementioned ‘party packs’ were received by stores exactly 1 week before release date on Tuesday 20 of October.
The result is a system where the rules are identical but the outcomes are not. We carry the same embargo obligations as everyone else, and the same penalties if we break them, but none of the guarantees that the stock will actually be in our hands on the day. A fair embargo needs a fair delivery.
What we are asking for
The success of the book industry depends on an open and honest working relationship between booksellers, publishers and distributors. We want to work with you, not against you. We are asking for a fair distribution system where every bookseller who honours an embargo has a fair chance to sell on the day. Some suggestions:
- Guaranteed delivery windows. Embargoed stock should reach every retailer, regardless of size or location, a set number of days before release, for example 5 working days.
- Equal priority in allocation. When supply is limited or delayed, independent orders should be filled in proportion, not after larger accounts.
- Early warning. If a shipment is going to be late, shops should be told as soon as the distributor knows, with a confirmed delivery date, so we can manage our customers honestly.
- Accountability when it goes wrong. Clear remedies when stock arrives late: credit, extended terms, freight refunds or returns flexibility.
- A seat at the table. A standing forum where booksellers, publishers and distributors review major releases and agree on improvements.
None of this is complicated. It asks only that the system treat the bookshops with the same care as the biggest accounts and 'distribution centres'.
We invite Bloomsbury Publishing and it’s representatives to meet with us by the end of November to discuss these proposals, and we welcome the support of other booksellers, authors and readers who share our concern.
Renee Rowland
Association Manager
Booksellers Aotearoa NZ on behalf of the undersigned bookshops:
Aurelia Books, Wellington
Bookety Book Books, Wanaka
Books & Co, Otaki
Books for Kids, Hamilton
BookHub, online
Bruce McKenzie Booksellers, Palmerston North
Carson’s Bookshop, Thames
Chapters Bookshop, Marton
Chapter Book and Tea Shop, Auckland
Dorothy Butler Bookshop, Auckland
Fleet Street Books, Devonport
Enamoured Books, Remuera, Auckland
Emma’s at Oxford, Oxford
Hedley’s Books, Masterton
Lamplight Books, Parnell, Auckland
Mangawhai Books, Mangawhai Heads
Marsden Books, Wellington
Martinborough Books & Post, Martinborough
Matakana Village Books, Matakana
McLeod’s, Rotorua
Muirs Bookshop, Gisbourne
Onehunga Bookshop, Auckland
Page and Blackmore, Nelson
Petronella’s, Tekapo
Poppies Howick, Auckland
Schrödinger’s Books, Petone
Scorpio Books, Christchurch
Tawa Books & Post, Tawa
The Booklover Bookshop, Milford
The Grimoire, Wellington
The Ink Pot, Dunedin
The Next Chapter, Wanaka
The Nile, online
The Page and Prose, Geraldine
The Picton Bookshop, Picton
The Village Bookshop, Greytown
Time Out Bookstore, Auckland
Timaru Booksellers, Timaru
Tomodachi Bookshop, Frankton
UBS Canterbury, Christchurch
Unity Books, Auckland
Wardini Books, Napier & Havelock North
XO Books, Wellington
Bookshop Testimonials
Enamoured Books, Auckland
Ross (Sales Rep) has been working hard with us since we found out we would not be received hardbacks for a week or so after release date. Since stores opened this morning, he has been travelling all over Auckland to ensure we can have enough books for our pre orders and also a few spare copies for our event tonight. After our Trade paperbacks also weren’t delivered he has now also been sourcing these where he can. We are incredibly thankful for this, and the Paper Plus stores which have kindly lent us stock however this should not be how we have to manage today. Despite us being able to get stock by the end of the day we have still had to turn people away.
The Grimoire, Wellington
Is it 5.43pm (Tue 27 Oct) and we haven't received any paperback stock. Our sales rep drove all around the lower North Island (Whanganui, Fielding etc) to get some hardback stock for us and was able to deliver it just after 4pm today. This is in response to the missing stock from the last 10 days. Orders have been cancelled because they haven't shipped, so they (the customers) are opting to go into store and purchase from a chain as it is guaranteed.
Tomodachi Bookshop, Frankton
It affected us so much.
The Picton Bookshop, Picton
We all saw it coming. We all deserve way better.
Muirs Bookshop, Gisborne
Paper Plus Gisborne have had their books since Friday. The Warehouse Gisborne is happily selling theirs from early this morning. It looks like, according to Book Hub - all the Indies were missed. Tonight we have a party planned, and my girls have put in a huge amount of effort and cost to make it a book launch success. Fortunately, we have the nicest people in our local Paper Plus and they have dropped in a box of their stock for our party. I spoke with both my rep for Allen & Unwin and our courier driver on Thursday to make sure out boxes came in on time. I was assured they would be.
Books & co., Ōtaki
We have fielded phone calls all day from customers. The desperate ones are off to buy it at one of the big chains - Warehouse or Whitcoulls which are not only selling stock they received early but also at cheaper prices than the RRP because they can!
The Martinborough Books & Post, Martinborough
This book publication/distribution has been a colossal trainwreck for all independent bookshops in New Zealand, some of whom have shown the publishers extra-mile support with parties involving other providers, extra staff and tremendous decorating and promotion effort. They have done this in a hostile economic environment where the promise of a big seller may have lifted spirits as well as turnover only to have to sit on the sidelines and watch the big chains, the discounters and the smug 'distribution centres' lick all of the icing off the ACOSH cake.