Robin Pilcher

I read an article the other day about Peter Mayle never expecting his first book A Year in Provence to become a phenomenal best seller. And neither, it seems, did his publisher. The initial print run of the book was 3000, yet eventually it sold one million copies in the UK and six million copies worldwide. I just wonder though how his publisher might have reacted when he realized that he had a winner on his hands. Did he gleefully call out, ‘Quickly, let’s print more copies!’ or did he take a similar course of action to that of another publisher recently?

Willie Robertson’s first book On the Milk came out at the beginning of October last year. Being written about a young lad’s adolescent years in Dundee at a time when the town was in industrial decline, it was thought the book might be a bit limited in its appeal. The reality was quite the opposite. Demand was such that the book sold out completely. Just before Christmas, no book retailer, not even Amazon had a copy. So what do the publishers do? They say ‘sorry about this, but you’re going to have to wait until June now when the paperback comes out.’

Now, I’m sure the publisher has a first rate explanation for all this, but to me, it seems to fly in the face of all good marketing practice. If a supermarket sells out of, say, potatoes, they go out to buy more – immediately, from whatever source possible – because they know that potatoes are selling and they want to cash in on their popularity. They certainly wouldn’t put up a notice saying to their customers that they were going to have to wait until the next growing season before they are able to buy more. In the intervening period, customers would simply have to learn to do without potatoes or, more likely, find an alternative. Once the new batch of potatoes come in, then the market will have declined and a vastly expensive ‘product confidence’ programme would have to be initiated to restore interest in the potatoes. Then, at this stage, after financial evaluation, some might say, ‘Actually, what’s the point?’

I’m sure it’s very frustrating for Willie Robertson to understand this, especially when Amazon are putting up the message ‘We are no longer able to offer this item for sale. Our supplier has informed us that this item has been discontinued and is no longer available.’ There is no mention of the reason for it not being offered for sale (ie. it’s actually sold out!) nor does it mention that, in five months’ time, the book will be available in paperback.

I suppose it all boils down to priority, and that the reprint of the memoirs of a past celebrity who has just mastered the basic art of ice dancing on television would satisfy the present literary market more than Willie Robertson’s extremely funny and nostalgic social commentary.

Dammit, I was being quite objective up until that moment!