Anybody had a similar experience to this recently?
You order a book from Amazon, specifically a trade paperback. It arrives in a bubble envelope with bubbles that are pretty flat. You open the envelope to find the book damaged.
The damages can vary. Corners are usually bent no matter what other damage there is. The cover and some or all of the pages have a crease running the length of the book. The crease may or may not be noticeable at a casual glance.
I’ve had all of these happen in the last several orders. The one that takes the cake, though, is the issue of Occult Detective Magazine that arrived with a broken spine. I don’t mean the spine was cracked along its length because someone opened it too wide. The crack was across the spine. In other words, the spine had a bend in it of about fifteen to twenty degrees. The pages were torn on the inside; they were layered like a partially shuffled deck of cards.
I wish I had taken a picture before I sent it back.
The replacement copy was creased across the lower right corner. The copy of Renegade Swords III that arrived yesterday had a crease down the right hand side, cover and some interior pages. Neither of these were worth the aggravation of trying to get a replacement copy.
It didn’t use to be this way. There was a time where the worst thing about the ‘Zon’s packaging was your book might arrive in a flimsy cardboard box with no packaging.
So, I’m going to start actively looking for alternatives to Amazon, at least for paperbacks. Trade published books I can order from B&N, which has its own set of problems, but I can have the books delivered to the store.
Any ideas about indie and small press print books, such as where I might be able to get them without going through Amazon? I know Lulu is an option for some products, but not all. Suggestions would be appreciated.
Oh yeah. Bad enough when they stopped the shrink wrap and boxes. The padded envelopes might be all right – if they would be careful. Instead they’re just shoving the books in.
As few years ago, it seemed worse. Not only was a getting creased books, the also were coming with black stains on them from grimed fingers or whatever.
B & N weren’t much better. I ordered a large hardcover from them a few years ago, and I was pleased when it arrived in a proper box. So happy, I ordered my next paperback from them. They put it in an envelope. Not just any envelope. One of those “it’s ALL glue on the inside” envelopes. Clearly designed for shrink wrapped products like CDs or DVDs – NOT paper.
Luckily, it wasn’t the heat of summer or the book would have been glued to the envelope.
So, good luck wherever you try!
(I do need to be better about going direct-to-publisher for stuff, especially small press – if they offer.)
Suggestions. It depends on the titles, of course.
I think Moonstone are pretty good and in some cases, you can only order some of their books from them.
Unfortunately, some small presses print through Amazon only. (this is where Airship 27 and Pro Se Press fall.)
Meteor House I think do all right. ERB Inc does a really good job.
It’s money over the top, but I’m thinking if you can get to Cons with some of these presses, it might be better to buy direct in person. Because you know for them to get a pile of author’s copies, Amazon would have to have shipped them by box.
Thanks, Paul. Cash flow is putting a crimp in my con attendance, even without COVID. I’m going to be looking at the catalogues of book dealers like Mike Chomko more closely and ordering direct from publisher when I can. I’ve noticed the small presses tend to do a better job with the packaging.
As far as B&N, the last couple of things I ordered from them (after not ordering from them for a few years) didn’t have any issues with packaging. But B&N didn’t charge my debit card for 10 ten days. Then they shipped the books. That type of customer service is a major turnoff.
There are a couple of possibilities: Zeising Books in California and Dreamhaven Books in Minneapolis. Both have websites. Zeising doesn’t list on the big web book services like ABE Books and Biblio. Not sure about Dreamhaven since I’ve only ordered directly.
Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis is getting on their feet after their store was torched in a riot, but I believe they are also selling some new titles now.
Thanks, Randy. I’ll check them out.