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| Fireworks in Malta |
As mentioned previously, two Maltese distributors who I contacted, replied to my email regarding the distribution of my first book entitled ‘A Ticket to Malta’, as I felt it would be of interest not only to those visiting the island, but also to local people.
Both of the distributors stated that they would require sole distribution rights, and so I had to decide on which one to approach first. With the airport being a good place to reach tourists, I decided to set up my first interview with the distributor who not only had a large chain of bookshops throughout the island, but in particular, was the only one with stores in the airport.
I had a very friendly meeting with their Distribution Manager who agreed to take 15 books initially on a sale or return basis. However, he explained that they would be putting a 100% mark-up on the price I sold the books to them for. I was so delighted to have the opportunity for my book to be sold at Luqa Airport, Malta, that I agreed; realising that obviously there was no alternative. Nevertheless, it meant that my book would be priced at nearly twice as much as other books of the same type being sold at the airport despite the fact that I personally had only added a few pence per copy to the actual cost price. I was concerned that it would not be purchased because of its high price, but I was proved wrong.
Surprisingly, and to my great joy, copies sold slowly; each time I visited the airport I checked on their availability and noticed that the number on display was gradually reducing. Apparently, it had also been distributed to other shops in that chain of bookstores, but I never did discover it in either of the two shops in Valletta.
After waiting for some time, I then started to ask about payment against my invoice; after all, it was obvious that at least some books had sold. Therefore, I enquired how many were still available for sale, and asked if they would like some more. I was never given an answer to either of these questions, and therefore, I still don’t know if they actually had sold out.
However, eventually after several contacts, I was referred directly to their Accounts Department, and my invoice was paid, but it came in two instalments. I did not think this would be a problem as the money was being paid in Sterling, from a Sterling Bank Account to another Sterling Bank Account, but despite this my bank decide to load charges on both payments; the reason given was that the funds were coming from abroad.
The bank charges completely wiped out the small profit I was due to make on the sales, and in fact, I made a loss. I believe that with the sale price of the book being so high, the book distributor was disinclined to take further copies, and I could see no advantage to me personally in them doing so.
But I had received some publicity from the placement of the fifteen books and, therefore, I was grateful for that. As a result of this experience, I decided I would need to find a cheaper printing process (possibly in Malta) if I wanted to distribute my books via this method in future.
Not daunted though, I still had some other ideas for marketing in Malta, which will be covered in my next post.
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