This mailer was also delivered to households nationwide. They send them out about twice a year. But it's still a great deal!

Fifty percent off any paperback fiction! Yay, indeed. But try finding a novel you actually want to read there.

A place where you can occaisionally find good fiction (and non-fiction) very cheaply is - The Warehouse. No kidding. Earlier this month, I bought a swag of Penguins et al for between $2 and $8, including 'The Pedant In The Kitchen' and 'Gunpowder Plots' in hardback editions. Earlier in the year, I scored dozens of NZ Penguins at low prices. The writer in me grieves for fellow-authors, but the bibliophile alongside chortles & rubs it's hands -

"The writer in me grieves for fellow-authors..."

Yes, all those NZ books that are sold at cheap prices at the Warehouse have been bought off the publishers at a huge discount because they demand it and under standard publishing contracts the poor old author gets not a percentage of the sales price but a percentage of what the publisher gets. So your royalty might work out at .75c per book or less. I'm not kidding. Please don't buy NZ books from the Warehouse! Shout an author a coffee and buy them somewhere else!

Sorry Rachael, I'll keep byuing there as funds allow...I am acutely aware of how little writers get anyway, but the fact of the matter is- it's largely publishers who are getting rid of titles they deem not to be selling sufficiently fast. The bigger publishers tend not to keep a backlist these days, and will remainder books as early as 9 months after publication...

And when a deal cant be worked with firms like the Warewhare, remaindered books can be pulped (and the writer gets absolutely nothing in that case.)

incidentally, I've had royalties that worked out less than your .75c (one book of poetry was co-published with Hale & Ironmonger in Oz, and my return was - 50c per copy.)

True what you say about remaindered books, or backlist titles, but it happens with current/brand new titles as well.

When that happens, it is a matter for both the NZSA and continuing education of newbie writers (NZSA does have good resources, available to all (members pay less.))

Tho' even mid-career writers like self can get shafted by cunning contracts-

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