Going Out of Print

[TheAuldGrump]

Legally speaking it doesn't matter if they are being taken home by employees or given to customers, it is considered theft. (As is the store giving away stripped newspapers, the publisher isn't getting any money for them.) On the other hand destroying the books give me a shudder.

Mr. Butler, have you considered selling them to a book remaindering service?

The Auld Grump

 

[Jim Butler]

Mr. Butler, have you considered selling them to a book remaindering service?

I've considered it, but I'm not aware of any that exist that focus on gaming products. A few companies have contacted me asking for terms on what is essentially remaindering, but that means I get to pay for shipping, wait for payment (assuming it ever comes at all), and not be able to write the books off on taxes. In short, all expenses and no benefits....

We tried to deep-discount the books to allow hobby stores to pick them up for a significant discount and got orders for 8 copies (in 2 months) from distributors. The RPG business has become so front-list driven (where retailers and distributors only care about what's coming out *this* month) that older products languish until finally the costs of storing them outweigh the benefits for keeping them.

I'd love to find another solution...

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

Why is it no one uses book liquidation services anymore?

Places like Altantis Book Warehouse here on the east coast specialize in this. You sell off the excess stock at the end of the book's lifespan, usually at around $0.25 on the dollar of retail value and they sell the books off to the public in their own warehouses at 35% to 70% off the SRP.

It's a perfectly valid alternative to deeply discounted sales to consumers, allowing consumers to gain the capacity to get the products at steep discounts and its also something that I have yet to hear a retailer complain about.

 

[Jim Butler]

Why is it no one uses book liquidation services anymore?

Places like Altantis Book Warehouse here on the east coast specialize in this. You sell off the excess stock at the end of the book's lifespan, usually at around $0.25 on the dollar of retail value and they sell the books off to the public in their own warehouses at 35% to 70% off the SRP.

It's a perfectly valid alternative to deeply discounted sales to consumers, allowing consumers to gain the capacity to get the products at steep discounts and its also something that I have yet to hear a retailer complain about.

If there was a liquidator that could handle all of the extra products from the RPG hobby, I'm sure there would be more publishers looking to use them. As for retailers disliking them, that all depends if there's a game store near a book liquidator warehouse...

I'm guessing that you're referring to the Atlantic Book Warehouse. I did a Google search on them and found a few references, but no official website and no contact information. I'll look into this some more, but I'm not entirely hopeful.

I'm also not convinced that dropping large amounts of unsold product into the marketplace doesn't harm retail stores, but that's another issue...

 

[Brother Shatterstone]

The RPG business has become so front-list driven (where retailers and distributors only care about what's coming out *this* month) that older products languish until finally the costs of storing them outweigh the benefits for keeping them.

I guess that would be true now that I think about it... Seems like there should still be sales, though obviously not like the beginning of the life span, as new costumers are discovering RPG everyday.

Wish I had the money to spend, I hate seeing stuff I might not ever be able to find again…

 

[JoeGKushner]

Another thing to consider is that by allowing these books to go out of print, it opens up the door to re-releasing them updated to 3.5 in a different format at a latter date.

Monsters underwent some radical changes that brought them very close in line to PC's in terms of abilities and powers and some deep changes would be necessary for full compatibility without a lot of prework by the GM.

With the e-minions, creatures from Oathbound and other sources, I have no doubt that Bastion could put together a massive monster book in hardcover format for '04.

 

[d20books]

Liquidations

I'm also not convinced that dropping large amounts of unsold product into the marketplace doesn't harm retail stores, but that's another issue...

As an online retailer, I don't see how liquidating stock with such an entity does any harm.

If it isn't selling and everyone had an equal chance of selling it to begin with, dumping the stock doesn't lose anyone any money on the retail side.

You can't lose revenue when there was no revenue to begin with

Everyone is also right about retailers being "front-end". I'm bad about that myself. My customers want to know what is coming out and when. They make a decision to buy it then or very soon afterwards. That's why I had my rant about release dates.

 

[Voadam]

Are there still plans for making old products like Arms & Armor and Alchemy and Herbalism into pdfs?

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

The contact info for the Atlantic Book Warehouse closest to me is:

Atlantic Book Warehouse
1660 Kings Hwy N
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034-2302
Phone: (856) 354-8554

Calling that location, they should easily be able to put you in contact with the chain's buyers. But they only deal with the midatlantic states with 10 warehouse stores in the region, so don't be expecting them to liquidate the entire remainder of your stock. You'll need to locate more book liquidators in other regions as well for this procedure to be truly effective.

And for anyone living in the area, Atlantic Book Warehouse is a great place to buy books on historical and mythological subjects at dirt cheep prices. I picked up a copy of "The Dictionary of Imaginary Places" there for $6.00

 

[Jim Butler]

As an online retailer, I don't see how liquidating stock with such an entity does any harm.

If it isn't selling and everyone had an equal chance of selling it to begin with, dumping the stock doesn't lose anyone any money on the retail side.

That's defintely one way of looking at it.

Another faction believes that lowering prices on old stock drives down desire for gamers to buy your latest releases at full retail, instead teaching them to wait for it to go 'on sale.' It likewise convinces retailers of brick and mortar stores that they need to order lighter on your product line, lest they get stuck with unsaleable product that will be deeply discounted in the near future.