Why I Really Hate Barnes & Noble

13 July 2008 by The General Published in: Civil War books and authors 17 comments

We stopped in the nearby Barnes & Noble superstore today. Susan was looking for some magazines, so I wandered over to the Civil War section. It seems to have stabilized at its measly two shelves. However I didn’t see a copy of One Continuous Fight: The Retreat from Gettysburg and the Pursuit of Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, July 4-14, 1863 on the shelf. Susan checked the computer, and it wasn’t even listed as being available for order through the Barnes & Noble website.

Now, I can kind of understand not having a copy on the shelves. There are, after all, only about 30 titles in stock there, although they do have William Marvel’s new book, Lincoln’s Darkest Year: The War in 1862 on the “New Releases” table. However, I find the fact that it doesn’t even appear in the database as being available for order unfathomable and unforgivable, all at the same time.

Therefore, I made a decision today. While I will go in that store, I will never, ever buy anything there again, even if it means spending more money somewhere else. They won’t give a damn, but it will make me feel better, and it will be my little protest. If any of you wish to join me, then by all means, please do so. And Ted Savas, when you see this, if there is anything you can do to find a way for it to be made available for purchasers, I would really appreciate it.

Barnes & Noble sucks. Bottom line.

Scridb filter

Comments

Jim Schmidt

Sun 13th Jul 2008 at 8:12 pm
Eric – I had no problem finding “One continuous Fight” on B&N’s website. Perhaps you should alert them that your name is spelled as “Wittenburg”…but if you do a title search, it came up fine.

Jim Schmidt
Jim Schmidt

Sun 13th Jul 2008 at 8:14 pm
I’d add that I bought “Plenty of Blame…” in a bricks-and-mortar B&N in Oklahoma City.
Ted Savas

Sun 13th Jul 2008 at 9:07 pm
Hello Eric and all

Here it is a Sunday, and I am reading Google alerts. Go figure.

Barnes and Noble put in a large buy for “One Continuous Fight,” and the book has done very well through this chain. We cannot guarantee where the book goes, or how it is listed in their system, but many of our customers have purchased it there and have told us so.

Go back and read my earlier blog on Borders, and you will see your anger is likely misplaced. We need at least two viable chains for competition if for nothing else; Borders’ inept management, unfortunately, makes it easier for B&N to slide in other important areas we all care about.

But if you can convince legions of buyers to purchase directly from the publisher or author, I am all ears. LOL

Back to the baseball game with my son.

–tps
Savas Beatie LLC
http://www.savasbeatie.cpm
Simon Mawson

Sun 13th Jul 2008 at 11:18 pm
I usually find more of your titles at barnes and noble than any other book store. Even though barnes and noble usually has a smaller selection, I usually find that their History selection is much more appeling to me. Also from a buyer’s perspective I appreciate Barnes and Noble’s prices, and their large selection of bargan books
Brett Schulte

Sun 13th Jul 2008 at 11:44 pm
Eric,

I joined your protest long before you ever started it! 🙂 I haven’t bought a book from B&N or Borders in over two years. If I like the publisher (Savas Beatie, Ironclad, University of North Carolina Press, Morningside, Camp Pope, and several others) I try to buy direct. If I don’t, I’m headed to eBay, Abebooks, or asking for a review copy. It’s worked well for me so far.

Brett
Steve Basic

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 12:11 am
Eric,

I go to the local Barnes and Noble here once a week, and have yet to see a copy of OCF either. The store here seems to be focused on the new Lincoln books that are coming out ad nauseum recently. I understand that, but would have thought a book on the Gettysburg Campaign released at the anniversary of the battle would be on their shelves.

Best I can say is that those who read CW books know where to find them and buy them. Also shows where this Country is mind wise, as a best seller here is Valerie Bertenelli’s memoir of losing weight.

Sad ain’t it??

Hope all is well.

Steve
Caswain

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 5:41 am
Sounds like the issue is more a regional aberration than a company wide trend. I have seen “One Continuous Fight” in the local B & N.
Michael Aubrecht

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 9:55 am
Eric, I have found many of your titles including “Rush’s Lancers,” “Plenty of Blame,” and “One Cont. Fight.” at our Borders here in Fredericksburg. They carry a lot of Savas-Beatie books. However, our Civil War section has been cut down to one side of the history section.
Paul Taylor

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 12:37 pm
Eric,

I am amazed that I have yet to see the book on any store shelf here in southeast Michigan — and I’m in all the chain stores on a fairly regular basis. Frankly, it’s become my general observation that if an ACW book does not have something to do with Lincoln, Gettysburg, or slavery, it stands little chance of ever seeing the light of day on chain store shelves.

Paul
Sean Dail

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 2:58 pm
I have always avoided the chains. If it’s a book I don’t want to buy online (usually only because I don’t want to wait) I buy from my local independent bookstore. I see no reason to support the mammoth corporations who are the sole reason that good bookstores are all but extinct.

Sean
Sarah

Mon 14th Jul 2008 at 10:40 pm
Let it never be said that you haven’t lived up to your blog’s title.
dan

Tue 15th Jul 2008 at 8:42 am
Eric,
I understand that shelf space to accommodate Miley Cyrus’ biography caused American history titles to be “temporarily removed” at most all the major chains. While only Lincoln titles and “Black Confederate” titles seem to get much shelf space in the history section, the major chains continue to stock H.L. Mencken and George Orwell. This may be a cautionary on the part of some deviant intellectual in the corporate hierarchies of the big retail book sellers.

Don’t lose heart Eric, the “Hannah Montana” thing will surely run its course by the time the sesquicentennial rolls around (it is hoped).
8^>

Yours Truly,
Dan
Mike Nugent

Tue 15th Jul 2008 at 9:17 am
I happened to be in the Borders in Portland, ME yesterday and was appalled to see that their already dismal US history section was still smaller than when I last stopped in. The Civil War section was primarily devoted to the aforementioned Lincoln and slavery subjects with the obligatory Chamberlain titles since this is Maine afterall. OCF wasn’t on the shelf but was at least in their database and was listed as being available in their Bangor and Boston locations.
Kent Dorr

Tue 15th Jul 2008 at 1:45 pm
Eric…. I too accessed the B&N website and found many of your titles. They also have a search stores location feature which show the title you referenced as being available at my local store in Mansfield and in Columbus at the Polaris store.
Bob

Fri 18th Jul 2008 at 1:17 pm
Eric: Maybe it’s time you apologize to B&N. You obviously are mistaken as to why you’re book wasn’t on the shelf. BTW — every B&N store has limited space for inventory. It appears they do not have enough shelves to fill your ego.
The General

Fri 18th Jul 2008 at 1:36 pm
Bob,

With all due respect, if I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it. And I have no recollection of asking for it.

Eric
Joe Bradarich

Wed 13th Aug 2008 at 2:22 pm
Eric,

Generally share your position on B&N, that is why I was pleasantly surprised to learn of its place on the shelves at the least likely of five stores in the greater ST Louis area. Membership and an additional 15% discount prodded me to check again and lo and behold! Since I just reverted back to and finished “Gettysburg 101” that Coddington wrote some years ago(I had a three year burn-out hiatus from reading on the campaign) I thought your book would be a good linkage to his interpretation of events 7/4-7/14.Looking forward to it., best regards, JB