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Post by kathryn on Jan 15, 2023 11:02:03 GMT
Did the media find a queue of people waiting to buy the book, in the end? [/div] [/quote] It’s 2023. No-one needs to queue up to buy a physical copy of a book. If you absolutely must get hold of it as soon as possible you pre-order and it arrives on your digital device at midnight. If the media were genuinely looking for a queue of people at a bookshop, then that just shows that they are stuck in the last century. |
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Post by mkb on Jan 15, 2023 11:31:49 GMT
"sources", for the most part, are media editors who can't afford clicks rate to drop, and need the story to keep rolling. You see this in football every week, as well; a high profile player is 'linked' to high profile club (click, click!). One source makes the claim, the media pack picks it up, each new article develops the story a little further. No quotes, no facts, the story is only validated by referencing the wider context (which makes it plausible).
Just get the important names in the headline. And with the advertising clicks, the business model of legacy media survives another week. For the most part, I despise the way journalists operate, and some do indeed make up stories, but, generally, if they say they have "sources", they probably do. In the case of football, it will be football agents stirring the pot to elicit transfer interest or a wage rise, or WAGs (or BAHs ?) with gossip about teammates of their partners. "Sources" is also often a mask for the person being talked about themself. With the British Royal Family, for all the narrative about their keeping stoically and respectfully silent, it's truly amazing how much of what they have to say is finding its way into print via various "sources". |
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 16, 2023 7:24:13 GMT
If you note the number of people who will only use self-service cash checkouts in supermarkets (esp Aldi and Lidl), you can start to understand there is much more to it than the century.
It does seem to be half price both in the shops and online (hardback £14), so the difference is postage cost, the hope it will eventually arrive, plus willingness/ability to use debit cards in general, and in particular online. |
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Post by vdcni on Jan 16, 2023 9:55:24 GMT
It's clearly sold well, the fastest selling non fiction book of all time supposedly, so quibbling over whether people were queueing up at midnight to buy it seems a bit redundant.
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 16, 2023 11:13:32 GMT
Which territory was that, in what time frame, etc, etc?
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Jan 16, 2023 14:02:53 GMT
Which territory was that, in what time frame, etc, etc?
Didn't Penguin announce at the end of the first day? Is that accusing Penguin of 'lies, damned lies and statistics'? |
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Post by intoanewlife on Jan 16, 2023 15:49:14 GMT
If you note the number of people who will only use self-service cash checkouts in supermarkets (esp Aldi and Lidl), you can start to understand there is much more to it than the century.
It does seem to be half price both in the shops and online (hardback £14), so the difference is postage cost, the hope it will eventually arrive, plus willingness/ability to use debit cards in general, and in particular online. There was an article in the Guardian in the early hours of the day it was released and it was a midnight opening in one of the train stations and people were lined up to get the book and there were pictures and Vox pops. I doubt any of them made a special trip though, most pf them just happened to be there. As far as price gouging goes it is up to the retailer what price they are selling it for, that has absolutely nothing to do with how the book is selling or will sell and is decided long before it even goes on sale. As Amazon sells books and physical media as a loss leader, they sell all new release CD's, books, films at near cost price which means everyone else has to follow suit or lose sales. That is with every single new release not just this one. |
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 16, 2023 17:51:38 GMT
Which territory was that, in what time frame, etc, etc?
Didn't Penguin announce at the end of the first day? Is that accusing Penguin of 'lies, damned lies and statistics'? Publishers lie? Heaven forbid. How much are they paying for the 4 book deal? |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Jan 16, 2023 17:59:39 GMT
Didn't Penguin announce at the end of the first day? Is that accusing Penguin of 'lies, damned lies and statistics'? Publishers lie? Heaven forbid. How much are they paying for the 4 book deal? Will that not affect a whole host of things like VAT and taxes due and all sorts of audit issues? |
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Post by intoanewlife on Jan 16, 2023 18:19:42 GMT
So basically everyone apart from the Tory Party, the media and the Royal Family and their cronies are liars?
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 17, 2023 7:38:40 GMT
No, no, it's exactly the other way around. Rambo and Mrs Windsor are wonderful, sincere people who are being taken advantage of, and the £25 mill for a book deal is only a reasonable compensation.
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Post by samuelwhiskers on Jan 17, 2023 11:03:16 GMT
It’s honestly bizarre how obsessed you are with attacking everything to do with Harry and Meghan and this book. You clearly hate them - which is your right - but by any standard it’s obviously and undeniably a gigantic hit sales-wise.
Harry’s book has been selling a million copies per day just in the US. He sold enough books to make the top 10 bestseller list for an entire year, in just one week. It’s a phenomenal seller. Claiming it’s not selling and making snide comments just looks weirdly petty. You can dislike Harry and dislike his book while still acknowledging that it’s sold insanely well.
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 17, 2023 12:16:44 GMT
Ah yes, it's me.
I'm not keen on Penguin's self-interested promo. Might turn out to be right. The unknown is the number who want to be sure themselves about what he is saying - i.e. not relying on media. That was the theme in a BBC vox pop I saw online. In other words, having sat on the fence, there is now the opportunity for a lot of people to form a view: Victim or appalling dick, which seems healthy.
At the same time, the publishers are pushing it every which way they can, which you expect from their huge investment. What's today's promo - still about sales, or something fresh? Maybe another interview, commenting on the unfair/racist media.
It's quite the industry the two of them have created.
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Post by intoanewlife on Jan 17, 2023 17:15:44 GMT
It’s honestly bizarre how obsessed you are with attacking everything to do with Harry and Meghan and this book. You clearly hate them - which is your right - but by any standard it’s obviously and undeniably a gigantic hit sales-wise. It's hilarious, the poor thing... |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Jan 17, 2023 17:25:06 GMT
It’s honestly bizarre how obsessed you are with attacking everything to do with Harry and Meghan and this book. You clearly hate them - which is your right - but by any standard it’s obviously and undeniably a gigantic hit sales-wise. It's hilarious, the poor thing... Strange hill to die on... |
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Post by interval99 on Jan 17, 2023 18:11:55 GMT
When you have a record breaking best selling book, but the world is laughing at you.
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Post by intoanewlife on Jan 17, 2023 18:15:21 GMT
When you have a record breaking best selling book, but the world is laughing at you. Gurl... |
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Post by kathryn on Jan 17, 2023 19:45:16 GMT
Print book sales figures are not self-reported, they are collected from retailers by Nielsen BookData. They are an independent company - publishers have to pay them to get access to their data, which they use for market research and sales forecasts. The publishing industry needs that data to be accurate to be able to know what is selling well and what is not, to forecast sales in a way that allows them to manage the supply chain efficiently. Print books are sold to retailers on a sale-or-return basis and Returns are a nightmare for publishers - you’ve ended up paying to produce books and to store them in a warehouse and to transport them to and from retailers, and then you end up having to pay to pulp them when they don’t sell. Nielsen’s entire business model is based on the accuracy and timeliness of their data. So whatever you think of Random Penguin’s report of the ebook and audiobook sales, Neilsen’s Print sales data *is* accurate. www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/17/prince-harry-spare-is-fastest-selling-non-fiction-bookOf course Randon Penguin have no need and no incentive to overreport ebook and audiobook sales. Royalties are paid based on reported sales, and closely audited. Inflating sales figures would mean having to pay out more money. |
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Post by kathryn on Jan 17, 2023 21:39:28 GMT
If you note the number of people who will only use self-service cash checkouts in supermarkets (esp Aldi and Lidl), you can start to understand there is much more to it than the century.
It does seem to be half price both in the shops and online (hardback £14), so the difference is postage cost, the hope it will eventually arrive, plus willingness/ability to use debit cards in general, and in particular online. What a weird comment. All major new releases like this are sold at half price on release by the major retailers. That’s totally standard practice. You can blame Amazon for it. Amazon also has free delivery options. |
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Post by Rory on Jan 17, 2023 21:58:01 GMT
When you have a record breaking best selling book, but the world is laughing at you. Gurl... Mortifying, he's made himself a laughing stock. |
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Post by Latecomer on Jan 17, 2023 22:24:46 GMT
Print book sales figures are not self-reported, they are collected from retailers by Nielsen BookData. They are an independent company - publishers have to pay them to get access to their data, which they use for market research and sales forecasts. The publishing industry needs that data to be accurate to be able to know what is selling well and what is not, to forecast sales in a way that allows them to manage the supply chain efficiently. Print books are sold to retailers on a sale-or-return basis and Returns are a nightmare for publishers - you’ve ended up paying to produce books and to store them in a warehouse and to transport them to and from retailers, and then you end up having to pay to pulp them when they don’t sell. Nielsen’s entire business model is based on the accuracy and timeliness of their data. So whatever you think of Random Penguin’s report of the ebook and audiobook sales, Neilsen’s Print sales data *is* accurate. www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jan/17/prince-harry-spare-is-fastest-selling-non-fiction-bookOf course Randon Penguin have no need and no incentive to overreport ebook and audiobook sales. Royalties are paid based on reported sales, and closely audited. Inflating sales figures would mean having to pay out more money. Yes, I used to work for Nielsen! Kathryn is right, as usual she has checked her facts! I presented audit data to FMCG companies in the late 80s. In the days when you had graduate training schemes and final salary pensions! Better known, as a brand name, in America, where they are a household name as they also do the TV ratings…there’s even a mention of them in the movie The Rain Man, where they gain entry to someone’s house to watch TV by claiming to work for Nielsen! |
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Post by Someone in a tree on Jan 18, 2023 8:59:51 GMT
Roll up, roll up, the person best known for playing a fascist on stage let's rip  |
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Post by kathryn on Jan 18, 2023 9:04:20 GMT
Latecomer The book supply chain lectures I had to sit through during my Publishing MA all came flooding back…. 😄 It’s just funny to see people’s cognitive dissonance produce such half-formed incoherent ramblings. It’s like they just can’t face the fact that they’ve been wrong. The funnier thing is watching all the major British newspapers doing the same thing - it’s like children pouting and throwing tantrums because they haven’t got their own way. Especially as the obsessive coverage has been amazing free publicity. The book itself isn’t nearly as sensational as the press has made it out to be because the tone is so much more reflective and measured. The tabloids have surely persuaded people to read it who wouldn’t have normally.
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Post by londonpostie on Jan 20, 2023 10:11:54 GMT
So, we've had an entire thread telling us "ignorant" types how terrible the media is and how it misrepresents and lies about Rambo and Mrs Rambo. Now, we have the media reporting on sales by the media of a book ghost written for a media personality - and it turns out the media reported data (on sales) is perfect and unimpeachable.
For us simple folk, it's a little dizzying.
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Post by Latecomer on Jan 20, 2023 10:49:50 GMT
So, we've had an entire thread telling us "ignorant" types how terrible the media is and how it misrepresents and lies about Rambo and Mrs Rambo. Now, we have the media reporting on sales by the media of a book ghost written for a media personality - and it turns out the media reported data (on sales) is perfect and unimpeachable.
For us simple folk, it's a little dizzying.
Nielsen aren’t the media. They are an independent market research company who provide audit data. They sell this data. It is facts. More interesting by far is why certain sections of society hate Megan and Harry and other sections don’t. |
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