Manuscript Found in Accra in Top 30

Manuscript Found in Accra No 28 in WHSmith

Manuscript Found in Accra was officially published in UK last week (Thursday 28 March 2013), though many bookshops, including Waterstone’s had it on display before the official publication date as the publisher had neglected to embargo.

Note: Published today (2 April 2013) in US.

In WHSmith it opened last week at No 28 in their charts.

This week it should be No 1, or would be if WHSmith got their act together.

It is all too easy to see why bookshops are failing.

I asked in WHSmith the day before publication, as I knew it was already available. The idiot I spoke to had not a clue what I was talking about.

I tried the next day. Could not find with the Paulo Coelho books. I was about to ask, when I found it on display, and to my pleasure was on offer at half price. I asked was these two copies all they had? No they had three, and they found a third copy hidden away.

But it was unbelievable, an international best seller, on offer at half price, the first day of publication, and all they had was three copies!

I went and talked to the manager, and suggested they got in more copies and put on display.

A couple of days later, a different branch of WHSmith, with some difficulty I found they did have Manuscript Found in Accra. Two copies! I asked why only two copies. I may as well as talk to a brick wall.

Today I went back to the first WHSmith. Thinking, maybe naively, they would have ordered and got in more copies. They had one copy!

I again asked, the same idiot I had spoken to before, why only one copy. I may as well have spoken to a brick wall.

If selling something at a discount, then you pile ’em up high, shift a lot.

An international best seller, especially when on offer, especially when first published, you have on display in the window.

If you have something on special offer, you make sure your customers or potential customers know about the offer, that way you sell more, that is why you have it on special offer. Though in the case of WHSmith I suspect it is more a case of a failing chain desperate for cash flow.

Can anyone imagine WalMart or Tesco having a product on special offer and then keeping quiet about it, just in case they might actually sell more?

Then people wonder why bookshops are failing.

It is not simply they know nothing about books, they also know nothing about business.

Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 in Barnes and Noble on day of publication. Maybe unlike WHSmith, they made it readily available.

Note: Manuscript Found in Accra, opened at No 2 on Amazon. Which only goes to show the demand and where it could be in WHSmith if they got their act together and actually sold books!

Note: When Aleph was published it was a complete and utter fiasco, not on display, staff did not know. And Aleph too was an international best seller.

Tags: books, bookshops, Manuscript Found in Accra, Paulo Coelho, WHSmith