Hah!

[telophase]

Went into Borders at lunch to snag Bleach 8, and what should I see but lots and lots of Fruits Basket 11 and Saiyuki Reload 1 out on the shelves in direct contravention of the street date that the employee swore to me last week they wouldn't ever, ever think of breaking.

XD

Comments

[mscongeniality.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked. Shocked and appalled.

uhhh...yeah. Dorks...

[marith.livejournal.com]

It would probably be immature to find the employee and wave the volumes at them, wouldn't it. darn.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yes.

But I thought really hard about it.

[octopedingenue]

I went to Waldenbooks last night specifically to look for those and nada. CAPSLOCK OF ANGST

[telophase.livejournal.com]

WOES

[octopedingenue]

I'm going to Maryland this weekend and will have to hunt in bookstores there, since apparently all the Reload in Texas has gone to visit YOU.

Particularly funny/unfunny was the way, when I went in the same store Monday looking for them, that the omnipresent teenage clerk tried to wow me with her l33t Saiyuki anime skillz but didn't know there was a Reload manga that the anime was based on. Facepalm. Just hand over my snarky boys, Waldenbooks, and nobody gets hurt.

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

they must pay for this transgression with their lives.

you should perhaps say something politely. ^_^

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Hee. I've pretty much thrown my hands up in despair at what-all's going on in everyone's minds. I just want consistency!

[moonlit-page.livejournal.com]

I just want consistency!

*tries desperately not to laugh at your foolish mortal desires*

[telophase.livejournal.com]

A girl can dream!

[literaticat.livejournal.com]

Welll - there is a difference between a street date and a LAYDOWN date.

Thing is, a LAYDOWN date (such as with, oh, Harry Potter) means that the book is embargoed, and it is illegal for anyone (including Amazon) to sell the book before the date.

A STREET DATE, on the other hand, usually means the date that the pub expects the book to be available nationwide. Some people may get it sooner, especially in big markets.

The reason for the laydown date is so that the little booksellers (like me) will have a fighting chance to compete with big booksellers (like B&N). That is nice. The PROBLEM is that the rules are not industry standard. So HarperCollins, for example, has laydown dates only on certain special titles, with street dates for the other ones, but stuff can go on sale before that if you have it. Random House, on the other hand, puts a streetdate of Tuesdays on EVERYTHING, and NOTHING can be sold before the tuesday that it is supposed to come out (not even dumb stuff like travel guides, and not even on Amazon).

So, it is confusing, and most people at the basic bookseller / clerk level, especially in huge bookstores, don't know/understand/care about the rules, which causes even more confusion.

The rule of thumb is, look it up on Amazon. If Amazon is selling it, it is OK to sell. If Amazon says that it "hasn't been released yet" or you can "pre-order it", it is NOT for sale. If Amazon is wrong, and we sell the thing anyway, it is Amazon who has the bigger problem, because they are obviously selling it too.

Does that make sense?

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Somewhat. I was looking over her shoulder last week when she looked up the books, and there was only one date available on the screen - 8/9. I don't remember if that column had a title or not. So I don't know what that means - or is supposed to mean - to them. That particular employee was sure it wasn't supposed to be on the shelves until then, but obviously others didn't have that same idea.

[the-z.livejournal.com]

Those weren't supposed to be out until next week! Those bastards! XO

[telophase.livejournal.com]

But I've got my shiny, shiny copy of Bleach 8, so all is temporarily well with the telophase world.

[pzb.livejournal.com]

I have a little hole-in-the-wall anime store that does that with a lot of the English dubs. What they told me is that the release date, at least concerning DVDs (not sure how much of this crosses over into the manga, though I'm sure must be somewhat similar) is the date they expect it to arrive at, say somewhere like Suncoast; this is after going through the warehouse. Somewhere like this little place, that doesn't have a warehouse, gets it two weeks early, and justs throws it out on the shelves, regardless of a release date. Obviously, Borders have warehouses, but it's possible they got their shipment earlier than expected...? Maybe?

[viridian5.livejournal.com]

I know a Borders that has Reload out, but Waldens and Barnes & Noble don't.

Why can't they contravene the release date on Hands Off! volume 4? ::whine::

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

According to bordersstores.com, Hands Off! 4 is out at Wall Street and 32nd and 2nd.