HarperCollinsUK you should be embarrassed!

Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper. — Francis Bacon

Last week we forgot to mention Paulo Coelho’s brilliant new book Aleph. — HarperCollinsUK

HarperCollinsUK can you hear us? Aleph needs a better launch. — Paulo Coelho

Any publisher would have done a better job than HarperCollinsUK with the distribution and marketing of Aleph. — Priya Sher

Let’s wait and see if HarperCollinsUK is aware that they are the publishers of Aleph in England. — Paulo Coelho

How could HarperCollinsUK have forgot that Paulo Coelho had a new book Aleph out on the first of this month? But forget they did.

– Paulo Coelho in Waterstone’s and the author the publisher forgot

Is Paulo Coelho the only person whose phone News Corp has not hacked?

How can a publisher forget that one of their most important writers has a new book out? A writer most publishers would be fighting tooth and nail to sign.

How could a publisher forget a book that has proved to be an international best-seller?

Go into most bookshops and you will be very lucky to find Aleph on display. I thought this problem was resticted to Waterstone’s that is was simply an illustration of their low pay staff on minimum wages. Yesterday I found not so.

I visted One Tree Books in Petersfield, selected as official bookseller to the Guildford Bookfestival 2011, Independent Bookshop of the Year 2010. It was depressing. They did not have a clue what was Aleph. I had to spell it for them twice. They had a copy they said, after looking it up on their computer system. It goes without saying no window display, no in store display. They told me yes, they know who Paul Colelho was, they had a selection of his books. Not true. They had a single copy of The Alchemist. As for the Aleph which their system told them they had a single copy, they did not know where it was.

In Istanbul I found Elif on display in every single bookshop. They knew what it was, who the author was. Probably explains why it was No One within days of publication.

This failure of bookshops not to know of the existence of an international best-seller is in part a reflection of the bookshops themselves, but it also has to be down to the publisher Harper Collins UK failing to ensure they know.

Aleph is No One in all countries of publication, bar one, UK. Could this be because the publisher HarperCollinsUK forgot to tell the bookshops?

Maybe News Corp has more important matters to deal with, like how to keep the Murdochs out of prison.

HarerCollinsUK is owned by News Corp.

Tags: Aleph, HarperCollinsUK, News Corp, One Tree Books, Paulo Coelho, Waterstone's