The Writers Tale: The Final Chapter
- Thread starter DimesDan
- Start date
So? This is 2010 and I'm a consumer with money to spend. And I have options. The days of people sitting idly by waiting months and sometimes years for product to show up in their end of the world ended the moment the first online retailer with international distribution came along. The fact the distributor has clearly screwed up (there's been no indication of a production problem, a date of Jan 21 had been publicized, there's been no huge blizzards closing airports in the UK that I know of, ergo distributor screw up is the only answer) is their problem, not mine. And using a 12-year-old example, while enlightening (it explains why the supply of Doctor Who novels stopped completely with a number of them never showing up over here at all) doesn't really apply to the current market attitudes.
I'm also unclear what makes shipping the book out a month later any more cost-effective than shipping it out on Jan. 17 or 18, (prior to orders being filled for Jan 21) or Feb. 1 for that matter.
Do you really think people in Canada or the US who are interested in, say, buying the Dreamland DVD would wait the extra 3 months between next week's release in the UK and the North American release in May if there weren't those Region codes on DVDs? Of course not (same of course for product that isn't being released over here, whether that be The Six Million Dollar Man or the Audrey Hepburn movie The Secret People). Thankfully, books (real books, anyway - don't know about e-books) don't have region codes so in the end I really don't give a damn and in fact I'm happy to find Book Depository has Writers Tale because I'm even saving a few bucks in the deal.
I never expected to see Writer's Tale in my local Indigo or Chapters on Jan. 21. In fact, since I started buying online I haven't bothered even looking for new-release Doctor Who books at the retail level. If they did bring them in on a more timely level, that percentage of my discretionary income would go to a local retailer instead of Amazon or Book Depository. And while I should feel a little guilty about not supporting local business, considering the majority of new-book options these days in my part of Canada are big chains with huge inventories, rather than mom-and-pop independents, I find it harder to cry over ordering Writer's Tale from Book Depository which I'll be reading come next Tuesday, rather than waiting 2 months or more for Amazon Canada to get it, or six months if not longer for it to eventually trickle in to Indigo (that said I have only ever seen one copy of the first edition of Writers Tale in a retail store, and that was a special order that came into a comic shop, so as far as I know it may never show up at Indigo).
Alex
Alex, I can't tell you why the distributor decided that putting the books on a boat was the most effective way to go with bringing across the Doctor Who books. Probably because there's little margin in doing it any other way.
I'm not sure why that's something to get your knickers in a twist over, however.
I'm not sure why that's something to get your knickers in a twist over, however.
1) I'd imagine it's more cost-efficient for the distributor to send them all out at once, rather than time what ones need to go out at certain times to get to certain places at the same time.
2) The majority of buyers are not bleeding-edge fanboys and probably don't care if they get something a month after it comes out in the UK. Heck, I am a bleeding-edge fanboy, and I don't care if I don't get it until late February.
I ordered this months ago from Amazon.com. Twice, I've gotten an email saying it's been delayed, and if I want to keep the order active, I had to "click here".
I finally have a "good news" email ... It's shipped. I should have it by Wednesday. And they've charged my card for the 13.49 price. (it's 19.77 if ordered now)
I'm looking forward to finally reading this massive tome.
Anyone else get their shipping notice?
I finally have a "good news" email ... It's shipped. I should have it by Wednesday. And they've charged my card for the 13.49 price. (it's 19.77 if ordered now)
I'm looking forward to finally reading this massive tome.
Anyone else get their shipping notice?
You were more patient that I was. I ordered mine from the UK when I realized Amazon was going to push it back.
Yep it looks like I'm going to have to order it online. None of the stores in my area are getting any copies of it in. Damn it. I ordered the Torchwood Encyclopedia.
I saw online that a Chapters downtown Vancouver has two copies in...hopefully they will still have them in when I go there in a couple of weeks. Might have to call them and ask if they will hold one of them for me. It seems though I'll finally get a copy!
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