Please support local bookshops

From: Barry M Jones, Bixley Lane, Beckley
Rye and Battle Observer lettersRye and Battle Observer letters
Rye and Battle Observer letters

Criticism of Waterstones’ ‘Rye Bookshop’ is a tad unfair (3/3/17). Does a Bentley fly its parent’s ‘VW’ badge, or a £3,500 Omega wrist-watch the budget ‘Swatch’ badge?

Without a fair return to authors, there would no books or High Street bookshops - just confused internet drivel.

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Authors get five per cent to 10 per cent (if lucky) of their book’s trade price so, as major book wholesalers demand 50 per cent trade discount, the author may be lucky to get £1, after tax, on a £30 cover price (20p per e-book, 7p per library loan) while the bookseller could make £5 without any literary effort.

As a long-published author, I welcome any bookshop which stands in defiance of the remote, low business rate, discount warehouses (such as Amazon) to which penny-pinching internet bargain hunters flock at great damage to small traders and authors.

At least Waterstones is committed to the High Street and, along with independent booksellers’ associations, are sympathetic to authors by offering shelf-space to low volume local and self-published author’s books, unavailable from trade wholesalers.

Please support local authors and bookshops.

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