Author Joe Konrath shares the dreaded "remaindered" letter that he received from his publisher for WHISKEY SOUR. Inevitably, every author gets one of these letters. You’re given an opportunity to buy copies of your own book for a buck or two before its sold in bulk to close-out stores (like Book Warehouse, Book Market, Foogles, etc.) or the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble. I always agonize over how many copies of my own book I should buy for promotional purposes. I’ve erred by buying way too many (what the hell am I going to do with 600 copies of BEYOND THE BEYOND? What was I thinking?) and way too few. I’ve yet to strike the right balance. Though being remaindered has never driven me to the plight of the author in my Amazon short story "Remaindered" (how’s that for product placement?).
Alison has run out of some of her earlier Harlequin books, and since Harlequin series romances don’t have much in the way of leftovers, there’s been more than one occasion where she’s bought her own books off of Ebay. Occasionally, the seller will recognize the buyer as the acutal author, (Alison Kent being a psuedonym) and will add a curious note along with the book.
… and then there’s Alison’s very first book, where her author copies amounted to 10% of the total production of the book. Can’t get rid of them, won’t throw them away… My personal equivalent of a white elephant.