I've been howling for years about the spinelessness of the US book publishing industry when it comes to "returns" from bookstores. US books are not "sold" to bookstores; US books are essentially on consignment at US bookstores.

My nonfiction books have sold in excess of 600,000 (count 'em) copies. Yet, that is a bogus figure because, according to industry statistics, 40% of my books that were "sold" to bookstores were actually returned by the bookstores. In other words my books have shipped a lot more than 600,000 copies!

I have a "reversal of rights" for all my now long-out-of-print books, yet for years my publishers (HarperCollins, St. Martin's Press, Berkley Books) kept accepting copies back from the bookstores.

"Reserve against returns," that nasty little clause in contracts to which authors have to agree, assures that even moderately successful writers will have to keep eating rice out of the back of the cabinets while knowing that the publishing house is holding back cold hard cash.

Why can't the US be more like New Zealand?

Richard Charkin, former CEO of Macmillan Limited London, visited New Zealand bookstores, and when he returned to the UK, he wrote in his blog:

"When a bookshop orders a book, the responsibility for selling it is theirs. If it does not sell, the cost of the mistake belongs to the bookseller not to the author."

"Are there millions of unsold books washing around New Zealand bookshops? No. Booksellers have had to develop a sense of their market and they have - New Zealand booksellers are the best in the world and they sell the most books per head in the English-speaking world."

What's the message here?

Are publishers so intimidated by the major chains like Barnes & Noble, Booksamillion, and Borders Books and the independent bookstores that publishers can't find the spine to say: Too late! You bought 'em. You keep 'em. You sell 'em.

What does the vendor contract say about the date after which books may not be returned? Who is looking the other way when these books are allowed in the back door of the distribution centers?

I remember calling my editor and asking why in the world my books were being returned years after they had shipped. The answer I got was "that's the way it is."

Stop it! Stop it and bookstores will pick books more judiciously. Stop it and the publishing industry will begin a long-needed self-correction.

As an author, I'd much rather know a royalty due is a royalty paid. As a publisher, I'd much rather know a sale is a sale.

Posted by: Lynne Scanlon