On the day we heard that one publisher's difficulties with Baker &
Taylor were happily resolved, we learned of another publisher that had
just received the kind of shipment from B&T that has frustrated
many small- and medium-sized publishers.
(A quick refresher course: When Koen Book Distributors filed for bankruptcy this past summer, it lost control of its assets. The bankruptcy court sold Koen's book inventory to B&T, which has been returning some of the books to publishers for full credit. Around the same time, some non-book assets were sold to Levy Home Entertainment, which teamed up with former Koen Book owner Bob Koen to set up Koen-Levy Book Distributors, which has no connection to the old Koen Book Distributors or B&T.)
Earlier this fall (Shelf Awareness, November 9), B&T returned some $23,000 worth of books to John T. Blair, Publisher, Winston-Salem, N.C., that were part of Blair's stock at the old Koen warehouse. Blair had long discussions with B&T and last week received a check from B&T that "paid for everything that was due and took off all the old credits for Koen books," a happy president Carolyn Sakowski said.
But B&T continues to engage in a practice that many find ethically if not contractually wrong. Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p of sales and marketing, at Diamond Book Distributors, Timonium, Md., reported to Shelf Awareness that Diamond, which specializes in comic books, graphic novels, manga, anime and other pop areas, has just received a sizable amount of returns from B&T that came in the original Koen boxes.
Liang said that his company had spoken with B&T after the November 9 Shelf Awareness story and was assured that such a thing would not happen. B&T also told Diamond that the problem had involved only small publishers in its VOR program.
(A quick refresher course: When Koen Book Distributors filed for bankruptcy this past summer, it lost control of its assets. The bankruptcy court sold Koen's book inventory to B&T, which has been returning some of the books to publishers for full credit. Around the same time, some non-book assets were sold to Levy Home Entertainment, which teamed up with former Koen Book owner Bob Koen to set up Koen-Levy Book Distributors, which has no connection to the old Koen Book Distributors or B&T.)
Earlier this fall (Shelf Awareness, November 9), B&T returned some $23,000 worth of books to John T. Blair, Publisher, Winston-Salem, N.C., that were part of Blair's stock at the old Koen warehouse. Blair had long discussions with B&T and last week received a check from B&T that "paid for everything that was due and took off all the old credits for Koen books," a happy president Carolyn Sakowski said.
But B&T continues to engage in a practice that many find ethically if not contractually wrong. Kuo-Yu Liang, v-p of sales and marketing, at Diamond Book Distributors, Timonium, Md., reported to Shelf Awareness that Diamond, which specializes in comic books, graphic novels, manga, anime and other pop areas, has just received a sizable amount of returns from B&T that came in the original Koen boxes.
Liang said that his company had spoken with B&T after the November 9 Shelf Awareness story and was assured that such a thing would not happen. B&T also told Diamond that the problem had involved only small publishers in its VOR program.