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Old March 10th 05, 01:42 PM
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gmenchen wrote:
Betty Hall wrote:
Well, Actually I thought the reason for clipping a book's

dustjacket was
when the book has not been selling and the book seller wants to

send
a part of the book back to the publisher to get some sort of

percentage
rebate.......the publisher gives a percentage rebate for the book

not
selling.

And then the book seller still has the clipped book to sell at his


discretion..
if he can.

Maybe I'm wrong but that;'s what I always thought.

Betty



I don't believe so. I worked in a bookstore from 1975 to 1985 -
publishers then certainly would not give credit for a clipping from a


jacket, and I don't believe things have changed since then. Think of

the
possibilities for fraud. Mass market paperbacks, however, are a bit
different; there the common practice was to return the entire front
cover for credit. The remaining book could not be (legally) sold, it

was
supposed to be destroyed.


Ms. Hall and gmenchen are referring to "stripping a book", which
is much different from clipping a price.

There was the perfectly ethical practice of clipping prices from
new hardcovers whose suggested retail price had been increased by
the publisher. Many coffeetable/art books would even be released,
in the fall, say, with two prices printed on them. [Ex: $45.00
$50.00 after Dec. 31]. When I worked for a chain bookseller in
the 70s and 80s, flitting about the store with a sheet of price
changes sent from corporate, and a sharp pair of scissors, was a
regular event. Nowadays I would suppose that doesn't happen as
much, as the stock is likely to be returned quickly.

It was infuriating to order a new hardcover from a wholesaler
or publisher, get invoiced at that price, and when receiving the
book find that you had been shipped stock with the old $22.50
price on the jacket. Now, this could mean that you had been sent
a first that the warehouse didn't know it had, but if the buyer
wasn't a collector, he was going to want the book at the lower
price. So...snip!

Then when your customer came in for the book, he sometimes was
a collector, and was peeved that the receiver had clipped the price.
You couldn't win! Of course, a used and rare dealer wouldn't care
about the publisher's SRP, but trade stores would.

One other thing about book club editions that I expect most
everyone here knows: I've been told that the paper stock used
in many of them was often inferior to that in the trade
editions. A BCE printed on high-acid paper can sometimes be
distinguished by yellowing and chipping that has not yet started
to degrade the corresponding trade. The physical dimensions of
the two types are also often different, which is not important
in a reading copy, but can tip you off if someone is trying to
sell brass at gold prices.

Kevin

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