Most booklovers have mildly troubled consciences when they visit remaindered shops and see, for example, hardback copies of novels being sold for a fraction of the cost of the recently-issued paperback.
Whilst in the Canterbury branch of The Works this afternoon, I was particularly troubled (on Darren Shan's behalf and on behalf of booksellers trying to sell Shan's backlist at full price) to see Book 9 of the Shan Saga being sold for 99p. This title, published straight into paperback in February, finds itself remaindered just five months later. What a ridiculously narrow window this leaves the poor author for earning his well-deserved cut on the full cover price.
Without knowledge of Shan's contract with HarperCollins, it is difficult to comment, beyond making the obvious point that an author or agent should seek a contractual agreement on a minimum timelapse between initial publication and remaindering.
The Canterbury Art Gallery has been hosting the Beatrix Potter to Harry Potter exhibition of children's author portraits, so I was able to catch up with that again, having seen it previously in London. The exhibition runs in Catnerbury only for the remainder of this week, until AUgust 2nd.
