In the wild and wonderful way that publishers sometimes have of doing mysterious deeds, my US publisher of the Isles of Glory trilogy decided to remainder the middle book, Gilfeather. Which has meant that it has quickly become unavailable in some places.
And it has lead to the inevitable – indignant fans who bought book one and now want to read on… I do apologise.
Fortunately, it is still available at odd places in the USA for a reasonable price, although you may have to hunt a bit or buy online, so matters aren’t urgent there, but over in UK (where the books have never been published) the price of Gilfeather is now over 16 pounds sterling on www.amazon.co.uk, or $33 USD – over 4 times what they sold for new in the USA.
So where can you buy them in the UK without paying a ridiculous sum? Try this online store: http://www.resonancestore.com/glendalarke/
It is run by a friend of my daughter, situated in Glasgow.
In addition, all the books are still available in Australia, where they are still in print and can be found in or ordered from any Australian bookstore, or they can be bought online from Australian bookstores.
This happened to me with Wen Spencer’s Ukiah Oregon series…book 2 was out of print and very, very hard to find (I paid over $20 for it), but book 1? In print. How publishers think this works…. (Now Spencer’s 2nd book seems to be more available–dunno why!–but still OOP, judging by Amazon.com.)
Anyway, I’m glad I bought all 3 of your trilogy at once! U.S. folks should first yell at the publisher, then look locally (I found an OOP SF book new at Borders, surprising me AND the author ;-)…THEN I recommend, if not found at local stores, trying http://www.bookfinder.com. This site searches a bunch of used sites (including Amazon, Alibris, et al.).
But SHAME on your publisher!
Beyond beyond beyond bizarre. I pull hideous faces in their direction.
By all means, purchase from the reliable folks at Galaxy and Infinitas here in Sydney. Because yanno, when you buy secondhand if new is available, not only does Glenda not get any money, but it doesn’t reflect the true popularity of her work to the publisher — who can only chart sales of new books through the booksellers.
Personally, in Brisbane, I’m having trouble finding books 2 & 3 of the Glory Isles, or book 1 of Mirage Makers (although books 2 & 3 of MM easy to find). Consequently I have come to a screeching halt in my reading (and buying).
Joanna: Order them from your local bookseller. It won’t cost you a cent more than usual, although you will have to wait a few days for them to be delivered.
Kendall, that site is invaluable, especially when looking for out of print books.
As an author I have to endorse what Karen says – secondhand bookstores are not fair on authors of current titles. We get not a penny for all our efforts.
For out of print works, of course they are worth their weight in gold.
I agree, that’s why I said to look locally first…but sorry, I was unclear; I meant, “look at new bookstores locally.” I suggested bookfinder as the last choice for U.S. readers because of what the U.S. publisher did and your comment that it’s becoming unavailable.
(If I misunderstood, let me know; I took ‘remaindered’ to mean ‘going out of print’.)
Remaindered is when the publisher deliberately gets rid of all their warehouse stock. This can be done two ways: they can rip the covers off and send them for pulping, or they can sell them in bulk very very cheap (usually so cheap the author gets no royalties.
When Havenstar was remaindered because the UK imprint closed down, I believe they sold their stock in bulk cheaply to a buyer who then distributed them very cheaply as new books in the USA.
When Gilfeather was about to be remaindered, I was informed (as is a requirement of my contract – this is standard practice). However, my agent queried it. After all, that particular publisher does seem proud of the fact that they keep books in print, and are thus – although their advance may not be as much as others – offering a more favourable deal to authors.
My agent was told not to worry, it was only a partial remaindering. The implication being that for this particular volume, they had overestimated the print run and wanted to scale down their warehouse stock. Fair enough, we thought.
Hmm. Well someone made a mess of the figures if that was all they intended, and they have ended up shooting themselves in the foot.