Tuesday, January 31, 2006

"They just break even..."

Mes Amis

I haven't really popped over to Tess Gerritsen's site before. One of the girls where I work has read and enjoyed her work, though, and she's generally very astute when it comes to books. That and with Gerritsen up for an Edgar award, I figured I'd check out what its all about.

And imagine my surprise to discover that she's been blogging about UK book sales (amidst the exploits of her recent UK book tour) and distribution (one of my favourite gripes as long term readers might know). She mischaracterises Tesco's a bit. Its not a grocery store; its an empire of retail which is trying to muscle in on every sector it can. And then there's the fact that they buy in such a small variety of titles... But she's amazed by the deep discounting practice and, as she cleverly points out, the problem with such a thing is that the customers come to expect that (in essence as consumers we start buying the deal not the book which I'm not sure is a great move with literature or any form of entertainment).

And she talks about haggis (having ventured up to Scotland during the book tour). A well done haggis is indeed a treat. A poor haggis is like eating something from the rubbish bin... but a nicely prepared, well treated haggis is like heaven. Especially with neeps and tatties... mmmm... and then she mentions lamb chops... I love my lamb... darn you, Ms Gerritsen, I'm supposed to be watching what I eat and not thinking about food!

Au revoir

Russel

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