Not a single person walks into a bookshop without a question in mind, even if that question is ‘Where are the nearest ‘public toilets?’
Here are some of the more commonly asked questions.
Why don’t you have [book published in 2014]?
When I first started at the bookshop, I was taught that books generally have a six-month shelf-life. There are lots of reasons for this (and lots of exceptions) but mostly it’s because shelf space needs to be freed up for new releases. No bookshop, especially a little one like us, can physically keep copies of every book that was ever published: between 500,000 and 1,000,000 new books are released every year (add self-published authors, and that total rises to around 4,000,000).
When an author has a new book, often bookshops will order in their backlist, so that book from 2014 might make a reappearance, but unless it’s part of a series, core stock or a ‘classic’ you won’t find many old titles on the shelves. We can order it in for you, though…
Why does it take so long for books you order to arrive?
When we order books for customers, we let them know it can take 2-3 weeks. Most Australian book stock is warehoused in the eastern states; even local publishers like Fremantle Press are distributed through suppliers based in the eastern states. Books are heavy. They need to be freighted by train or truck, and to save on shipping costs (for you and us), suppliers will send a box rather than a single book.
There is one road and one railway linking the east and west of Australia. Just one. So when bad things happen like flooding or accidents, it can take time to restore the freight channels.
When a book is physically present in the Eastern States warehouse, it takes 2-3 weeks because the orders have to be confirmed by the bookstore and sent to the distributor. Usually, this is done daily, but if things are super busy, it might take a couple of days. The warehouse receives the order, collects the book, packs it with other orders and sends the box to the freight company, where it is added to a larger shipment, then driven/trained across the country (possibly stopping to deliver boxes along the way).
When it reaches the West Australian freight depot, the boxes need to be sorted, distributed to smaller trucks/couriers, and delivered to the individual stores. The boxes need to be invoiced, and the books need to be unpacked and stickered. Individual slips for each order are printed and matched up with the book. Then, (between serving customers), someone will call you to say your book has arrived.
If the book is coming from America or print-on-demand, then you can turn that 2-3 weeks into 2-3 months!
I can get that cheaper at Kmart. Do you price match?
Yeah, na. You can read my longer response to this question here: https://shannonmeyerkort.com/2023/10/05/secret-life-of-an-author-bookseller-why-bookshops-are-more-expensive/
TL:DR – most of the books you can find at heavy discount in the department stores are being sold cheap, because the stores didn’t pay much for them in the first place. Suppliers provide books at large discounts because department stores can sell large quantities. But that discount comes at a cost, and that cost is usually borne by the authors and illustrators. (Seriously, read my blog post here).
You’re also paying extra for service. I love Kmart, don’t get me wrong, but no one there has the knowledge or provides the level of service a bookseller can. The bookshop is also paying wages, rent, insurance, and a million other things. We can’t price-match, or there would be no bookshops left.
Why can’t you get a book from the Dymocks store at [somewhere other than where we are]?
Dymocks (of which there are around 50 nationwide) are a mix of company-owned and franchises. Dymocks Subiaco is owned by the very dapper Tim Thomas, who loves wearing waistcoats and is very handy with a sword.
Because the shops are individually owned, it means the books in each store have been paid for by the individual store. For us to get a book in from another store would add a whole layer of complexity. The customer would pay us, but then we’d need to pay some of it to the other store because they originally paid for the book. Who would pay to ship it from one shop to another? Would we split the profits or does the store who makes the sale get it all, even though the first store did most of the work? Aghhhh.
What we can do, though, is tell you when a book is stocked by another Dymocks store, and often we will even call them and ask them to find the book and put it aside for you. Free.
What’s out the back? Why does it take so long to find a book?
I can’t speak for all bookstores, some may have hot tubs and salad bars out the back, but at our little shop, ‘out-the-back’ is full of trusty Ikea Kallax bookcases with what we call our ‘overstocks’. That’s all the books that don’t fit on the shelves in the shop, and while some sections might only have a dozen spare titles, some, like crime and children’s titles, can have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of books packed in three deep and stacked on top all the way to the ceiling.
When we go ‘out the back’ to find a book, it involves going through each cube, removing stacks of books one at a time and looking for the title we’re searching for. It can take time. Please be patient.
Will you stock my self-published book?
This is very much up to the individual store, but at Dymocks Subiaco we do our best to support local authors. If you’re going to ask a shop to stock your book, make it as easy as you can for them. Remember, a bookshop is a small business, they need to be able to make money so they can pay staff, rent, insurance and top up their salad bars (kidding).
So help them. Bring the book so they can look at it. Have a piece of paper with all your details (contact, social media etc) and all your book’s details (publication date, wholesale/retail costs etc). I’d also strongly recommend including a one-line summary of your book (it helps the booksellers know how to sell your book).
Be prepared to leave a copy and the info behind. If you catch the manager at a busy time, they won’t be able to give your book the attention it needs.
Remember, most bookshops are small businesses and very much influenced by the community they are located in. The books they stock (and sell) are dictated by the local book market, and sometimes your book just won’t fit with the local customer base. Don’t give up though!
Why do you have so many ‘mainstream’ and ‘American’ titles?
Recently, a customer was most upset recently that the top shelf of our New Release wall was all by American authors and that we didn’t stock a title by a Perth author published in 2013 [please refer to Q1]. She was quite rude and stormed out (don’t be rude to your friendly bookseller, they have feelings too!).
It didn’t seem to matter that half the titles on the second shelf of our New Release wall were by Australian (even Perth) authors! It didn’t matter that we have entire sections dedicated to Australian fiction and non-fiction reads. She didn’t care to notice that we have a special Local Author display right at the front of the shop supporting the many brilliant West Australian authors. She was upset that lots of New Releases were American.
Well, bookshops are businesses and we need to sell books. People like big-name authors. People like proven series. Bookshops like the promotion that comes with a big new release, the buzz, the media stories, the radio interviews, the magazine promotions – it brings people into bookshops. Imagine if English and American bookshops refused to sell books by Pip Williams, Trent Dalton or Jackie French just because they were Australian. There’d be an uproar. Besides, we’re not in the business of banning books.
Why don’t you have the latest [Booker/Miles Franklin/Pulitzer/Nobel Prize] winner?
Most major literary awards are announced in the year following the book’s publication. Therefore, it is possible that the book’s ‘6-month shelf life’ is up by the time the award is announced. As soon as awards are announced, we typically try to get those books in (taking into account our local customer base and what we think will sell), but then we’re competing with every other bookshop in the country for limited stock until the publisher prints more stock (usually with a lovely shiny gold medal on the front).
Where are the nearest public toilets?
Across the road in Crossways shopping centre, between the health food shop and the Bottle-o.
shannonmeyerkort.com 
hahah, love this, how annoying.