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When TSR Passed On Tolkien
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<blockquote data-quote="JLowder" data-source="post: 7808849" data-attributes="member: 28003"><p>Ryan Dancey described seeing all the returns in the TSR warehouse, especially novels. But you have to view that image in context. The returns were not there simply because no one wanted the products. When Ryan toured the TSR warehouse, it was after Random House had flushed all TSR products out of their system, because the book trade distribution deal TSR had with Random House had collapsed. RH returned all the products and demanded repayment of all the money they had paid to TSR on receiving those products--every penny paid for any product that had not yet sold--because their deal with the company was over. If RH had held on to the books, a significant portion of that stuff would have sold.</p><p></p><p>Yes, TSR had been overprinting and overshipping products to Random House, because the company got paid on ship, not sale. (And fiction authors were paid royalties months after reported sales; so TSR held the money they received from RH on a novel's ship until sales were recorded and royalties eventually issued, meaning they made interest on that money during that lag. Giving them more reason to overship.) Yes, the company was cannibalizing its market by publishing too many different game lines and, with fiction, too many individual books. Remember, though: those books were still selling, just not to the level at which TSR was shipping them to Random House. And there were people in house at TSR warning upper management this was a bad practice as far back as 1990 or 1991.</p><p></p><p>Had TSR not been, essentially, digging the debt hole with Random House deeper with every product ship in the mid-1990s--had the company set realistic sales targets and not used Random House as an ATM--they probably would not have swamped themselves financially. That's not the only reason the company floundered, though, so who knows if it would have been enough to save them?</p><p></p><p>--Jim Lowder</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="JLowder, post: 7808849, member: 28003"] Ryan Dancey described seeing all the returns in the TSR warehouse, especially novels. But you have to view that image in context. The returns were not there simply because no one wanted the products. When Ryan toured the TSR warehouse, it was after Random House had flushed all TSR products out of their system, because the book trade distribution deal TSR had with Random House had collapsed. RH returned all the products and demanded repayment of all the money they had paid to TSR on receiving those products--every penny paid for any product that had not yet sold--because their deal with the company was over. If RH had held on to the books, a significant portion of that stuff would have sold. Yes, TSR had been overprinting and overshipping products to Random House, because the company got paid on ship, not sale. (And fiction authors were paid royalties months after reported sales; so TSR held the money they received from RH on a novel's ship until sales were recorded and royalties eventually issued, meaning they made interest on that money during that lag. Giving them more reason to overship.) Yes, the company was cannibalizing its market by publishing too many different game lines and, with fiction, too many individual books. Remember, though: those books were still selling, just not to the level at which TSR was shipping them to Random House. And there were people in house at TSR warning upper management this was a bad practice as far back as 1990 or 1991. Had TSR not been, essentially, digging the debt hole with Random House deeper with every product ship in the mid-1990s--had the company set realistic sales targets and not used Random House as an ATM--they probably would not have swamped themselves financially. That's not the only reason the company floundered, though, so who knows if it would have been enough to save them? --Jim Lowder [/QUOTE]
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