James Daunt is a controversial figure in the book world. Although less so lately, he has for many years been a perennial fixture at book fairs and conferences. And whilst his passion for books has won admirers, as has his desire to empower booksellers to do what they do best and curate interesting collections for their branch of his giant chains (Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, the eponymous Daunt, and various independently labeled stores under the same umbrella).
ALLi News Editor Dan Holloway
But he can seem to change his mind a lot and has constantly rubbed indies up the wrong way, particularly in the very rigid way his stores handle inventory, which makes it hard for us to get our books into his shops. My own experience of working with Waterstones a few years back was representative. I ran a series of highly successful events at my local store. The sellers there all wanted to sell my books. They couldn't work out a way to actually do so, though, because their inventory and logistics software couldn't figure out how.
The Print-on-Demand Problem
In a fascinating interview in Publishers Weekly, he opines in a way that brings all the frustration back to the fore. It's not that he hates indie publishers, he says. He loves indie publishers, but he won't deal with print-on-demand. He wants instead to deal with publishers who are part of recognized distribution networks. I'm not quite sure where to begin, but suffice to point out: indie publishers includes indie authors; print-on-demand titles are part of recognized distribution networks. What he means is he wants to be able to send back returns.
It's frustrating for us. And every commentator on the future of the industry realizes that carbon and sustainability targets mean at some point print-on-demand will become the primary mechanism for bringing books into the world, and retailers will have to find a way to manage, as every other industry does. But it looks like the many of us who would love to have our books on his shelves may have a little longer to wait.
Streaming Platforms Embrace AI
In other news, Spotify is, as those of you who subscribe will know, raising its prices. Premium will go from $11.99 to $12.99 a month. And for the privilege, listeners will get AI playlist-generating tools. And on a similar note, YouTube will soon let you use an AI version of yourself to create videos.
Thoughts or further questions on this post or any self-publishing issue?
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