Distribution question.

[mythfish]

I work for Barnes & Noble, and I try to make sure we at the Madison East store carry a selection of good d20 products. From my admittedly limited experience, Goodman Games products tend to be pretty good. Sold a few copies of DragonMech already...anyway, getting away from my point already.

I've been trying to get copies of the Compelte Guide to Rakshasas in the store, but for some reason it doesn't seem to be available to us at B&N even though pretty much every other Goodman Games product is. I've tried looking it up by title, author, publisher, and even ISBN but it just doesn't seem to be listed in our database at all.

Now I admit I don't really understand the details of how distribution and such works, so I don't really even know if this a problem Goodman Games needs to fix, or if it's something the people at B&N Corporate would have to fix. But I figured I'd start here since it's more personal to you.

[Reese]

hmm...

slightly related, my sister works in a subsidiary of borders group, they ahve the DM setting (on thier shelves, even, i saw a copy ther not two hours ago)

no sign of the shardfalls adventure, though...
(admitedly, i never saw the DM setting until a month ago)

will/should Borders Group be carring the other DM books as they come out?
(i know they carry a lot of swords and sorcery books from whitewolf)

[mythfish]

I just looked up the adventure while I was at work tonight, and while it is listed in B&N's database, it says it is out of stock and unavailable to order.

[LVSUBARU]

I noticed that my local B&N has the DM core book, but no SFQ also.

[goodmangames]

Ugh... the simplest answer is "don't ask"!

The DragonMech line, which is distributed by Sword & Sorcery Studios (part of White Wolf), should be readily available to any store serviced by the book trade, includng Borders, B&N, and Waldens. Shardsfall Quest should be available in these stores.

However, it then gets more complicated. Some chains distribute certain products only to certain stores. So you may have a buyer who sends book X to store A, but not to store B.

Even in these situations, you should be able to special-order the book for your store, through whatever method you normally do.

Now, the rest of the Goodman Games line, which is not distributed by Sword & Sorcery Studios, is a different animal. We have distribution into the book trade, but, again, it depends on the buyer's whims. Some books go to store A but not store B, book X of the Complete Guide series may get carried while book Y does not, and so on. It's very inconsistent.

As for Complete Guide to Rakshasas, it should show up when you search by ISBN. That's weird that it doesn't. If you want to special order it for your store and just can't seem to get it through normal channels, e-mail me and I'll see if I can get it through the morass for you.

[mythfish]

Okay, that's more or less what I thought.

The Rakshasa book doesn't show up in the B&N system even when you look it up by ISBN. It's just not there, and since every store uses the same databse, no store would be able to get it. But I've often believed that a lot of B&N's buyers don't really know what they're doing. Ah well...I already have a copy, but I was hoping to be able to sell it to other people I know.

The Shardsfall Quest is another matter. It's listed in the B&N system, but says it's not in stock and not available to order. The system therefore won't even let me try to order it. This is normally only the case when A) there are no copies in the warehouse and B) the publisher has been contacted and has told B&N there are no more copies available. Though I notice now that BN.com says it is available, so perhaps I'll try ordering that one at work again this week.

Anyway, seems to be a B&N-based problem, which is what I suspected, but I thought you might be interested in knowing.

[mythfish]

Okay, just an FYI for anyone who is following this thread: Shardsfall Quest is now available through B&Ns throughout the country. I don't know what their deal was, but they have it in stock in their warehouses now.

Complete Guide to Rakshasas is still another matter, though.

[Reese]

heh, unfortunately for me, SFQ and the mech manual aren't even in the border's bookseller database

(in case you're curious, i took a list of ISBN numbers with me to the borders store and searched them on teh computers there... either the goodman games website has the wrong ISBNs listed, or they simply don't exist as far as borders group is concerned... surprising, to me, considering that's where i picked up the DM core book)

[goodmangames]

heh, unfortunately for me, SFQ and the mech manual aren't even in the border's bookseller database

That shouldn't be the case. I'll look into it.