Going Out of Print

[Jim Butler]

As of October 1st, 2003 the following Bastion Press products will no longer be available for order.

BAS-1000: Minions: Fearsome Foes. This 96-page, full-color book details wondrous monsters that are sure to add a spark to any campaign.

Minions Link: http://www.bastionpress.com/Products/minions.htm

BAS-1001: Arms & Armor: A collection of weapons and armor for any d20 campaign. One of our best-sellers. 96 pages, full-color.

Arms & Armor Link: http://www.bastionpress.com/Products/minions.htm

BAS-1002: Villains: This is an assortment of bad-guys perfect as foils for heroes of any fantasy world. 96 pages, full-color.

Villains Link: http://www.bastionpress.com/Products/villains.htm

This liquidation of titles has nothing to do with the changes in the d20 license; it's just a normal part of us clearing out older products to make room for 2004 releases on retailer shelves and in distributor warehouses. As of October 1st, any remaining inventory will be destroyed, with a few copies saved for special promotions.

 

[thundershot]

*whew*

Fortunately, I have all three of those books.

However, I don't understand why you would destroy the books just to make warehouse space. Is it really cheaper than donating them to whatever causes or organizations?

In any case, I look forward to whatever new products are on the horizon!


Chris

 

[Jim Butler]

However, I don't understand why you would destroy the books just to make warehouse space. Is it really cheaper than donating them to whatever causes or organizations?

Bastion Press has always given our game products to conventions and other organizations that serve to strengthen and support the gaming community, and we'll continue to do that as part of our ongoing marketing efforts. These products are nearly 2 years old at this point, and we've widely distributed them to such causes.

While warehouse space is a concern (we do have to pay for that each month), it's also an issue of how much of our products we expect retailers to make room for on their shelves. And all products have a lifecycle, and these titles have reached the end of theirs (meaning that we're selling so few as backlist that it can be challenging for their own sales to pay for their storage fees).

I know it's painful to hear that good game products are going to be destroyed, but all publishers have to make adjustments like this. I just wanted to give everyone a final chance to pick up these titles before they're gone...

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Just out of curiosity, how many units are we talking about here? And, since they are going to be destroyed:
(A) wouldn't it be better to offer them at a substantial discount (60-75%)?
(B) wouldn't it be better to donate them, having the party interested pay for shipping? Perhaps conventions (large and small), game clubs, or even sites such as this one, could use them as prizes or giveaways, thus giving your company more promotion.

I mean, if they're gonna be destroyed anyway...

I used to work at Barnes & Noble, and every so often they did something similar to clear space, except they would rip off the cover only, leavig the rest of the book intact and free for the taking. (I read many good books like that.) Are we talking something similar here, or is it total destruction? Do these books get recycled in any way?

Like I said, just curious

 

[Arnwyn]

Just out of curiosity, how many units are we talking about here? And, since they are going to be destroyed:
(A) wouldn't it be better to offer them at a substantial discount (60-75%)?
(B) wouldn't it be better to donate them, having the party interested pay for shipping? Perhaps conventions (large and small), game clubs, or even sites such as this one, could use them as prizes or giveaways, thus giving your company more promotion.

Just as an aside, in some cases there are tax implications that must be considered when deciding what to do with "obsolete" inventory. Further, distribution expenses and logistics also play a role. Thus, (A) and (B) above may not be the best options.

(Just my accountant side wrestling it's way out...)

 

[JohnNephew]

I used to work at Barnes & Noble, and every so often they did something similar to clear space, except they would rip off the cover only, leavig the rest of the book intact and free for the taking. (I read many good books like that.) Are we talking something similar here, or is it total destruction? Do these books get recycled in any way?

Holy smokes.

I don't know if you realize this, but this was ripping off the publishers.

Book chains almost always buy on a returnable basis. They can sell books back to the publishers for full credit. So they don't need to destroy books, or mark them down -- they can just send them back and demand a credit toward the new releases (or even a check).

For mass market paperbacks, to save money on shipping (and since the publishers are likely to have to destroy a lot of the excess inventory themselves), it's customary for the bookstores to strip off the covers and just return the covers to the publishers for full credit, with a promise that the book itself was destroyed.

This is why books sometimes say something about missing covers in the fine print on the legal page, or even something about it being illegal to sell the book without its original cover.

If a book store is giving away those stripped-cover books for free, it's not the store being charitable -- they're giving them away at the publisher's expense, since they've sent back the covers to get credited for the value of the entire book, promising that the book is destroyed, not going into circulation. They're stealing from the publisher, and giving the books to their customers (getting free goodwill for themselves). Those people who are getting those books for free are then NOT spending money to buy them, thus depriving the publisher of revenue (and the author of royalties).

 

[Crothian]

These are good books, I have them all. But as an alternative to destroying how about donating some to the many Game Days being planned? It seems we have more then a few in different stages of planning in the General Forum.

 

[Jim Butler]

Just out of curiosity, how many units are we talking about here? And, since they are going to be destroyed:
(A) wouldn't it be better to offer them at a substantial discount (60-75%)?
(B) wouldn't it be better to donate them, having the party interested pay for shipping? Perhaps conventions (large and small), game clubs, or even sites such as this one, could use them as prizes or giveaways, thus giving your company more promotion.

We don't offer them at a discount because doing so really irks the retailers that invest in our products. Some might have copies sitting on their shelves that they bought at full price, and those will be the ones that send me nasty-grams asking how they can receive their discount on older backstock. It puts retailers in a bad position because they supported our product, and I don't want to do that.

As I mentioned before, we've already been donating these products over the last two years. We still have plenty of products to donate to conventions and game days, even after these older titles are gone.

I used to work at Barnes & Noble, and every so often they did something similar to clear space, except they would rip off the cover only, leavig the rest of the book intact and free for the taking. (I read many good books like that.) Are we talking something similar here, or is it total destruction? Do these books get recycled in any way?

I think John Nephew summed up my response to this pretty well. And that's why many game products aren't strippable any more; book trade stores have to bear the expense of returning the full product to us.

 

[Jim Butler]

Just as an aside, in some cases there are tax implications that must be considered when deciding what to do with "obsolete" inventory. Further, distribution expenses and logistics also play a role. Thus, (A) and (B) above may not be the best options.

(Just my accountant side wrestling it's way out...)

It's true that we're better off in getting Cerificates of Destruction on products rather then trying to donate all of the books (since the freight costs incurred in shipping all these products out is an expense you'll have to pay, versus destroying and recycling them, which generates some small amount of cash).

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Thanks for the answers, Jim.
And John, I failed to mention that the ones taking the stripped books home were the employees, not the general public. Don't know if that changes your perception of what I said, but I figured I'd mention that detail I forgot.