Julie Bindel’s book not in Waterstones?

[IsabelGowdie]

Went into local Waterstones on Wednesday and they had no copies of Julie’s book in the hardback new releases display.

Asked at the counter and the assistant informed me that they had none in stock and that they were only keeping a small number in the central hub. She reckoned that it was because there was only going to be a small amount released.

I ordered one. I hope to buy it from this shop as our town need a bookshop and I want to show them that there is a readership for JB.

However, no news yet. I can get one from Amazon by 10pm tonight if I click ‘Buy Now’.

Are they hiding it? Tbh the have some very random books in the hardback section and I know that this book has had pretty big reviewsin the Times and the Guardian, and possibly other mainstream outlets.

Is there a misogynist high up in Waterstones’ distribution?

Central buying has only ordered a small amount of copies. For whatever reason. It has been well reviewed but that’s not guaranteed when they’re making the buying decisions months in advance. They’ll probably catch up if there’s demand now - Little Brown’s sales team will be on it.

It’s prime Christmas publishing season. The books they’re buying a lot of stock of in advance are going to be Jamie Oliver and other big cookbooks, celebrity biographies, the latest releases by bestselling fiction authors, etc.

It’s not a conspiracy. It’s just publishing reality. And also perhaps some prejudice against Bindel higher up vs approval of Shon Faye - but that’s just a hunch.

Either way ordering it via your local branch is absolutely a great thing to do. The more orders they get the quicker they are to rectify stock issues and send to more branches.

Thanks for that. I really hoped that it was not some kind of conspiracy, but I'm afraid it's where my mind went to.

I will wait for the local store to give me a call then. Thanks again!

The thing about seeing it immediately available in Amazon vs it not being in shops in Waterstones is that both will follow the same pre-order months in advance, potentially not huge quantities. But because Amazon doesn’t need to worry about anything being visible - you click, they dispatch, they reorder from publisher/distributor according to demand - it’s all much speedier than Waterstones reacting to demand and getting books into physical stores.

Do chase them up if they haven’t got back to you.

If you want to check stock, use the website link and click on ‘check store availability’ - that tells you where it’s in stock closest to you:

www.waterstones.com/book/feminism-for-women/julie-bindel/9781472132611

Using that link tells me that of 4 Waterstone's within 5 miles of me 2 are low in stock and 2 have plenty available.

You're asking the wrong question.

It shouldn't why aren't Waterstones stocking it.

The real question is why don't women want to read it?

You've confused a shop not stocking or displaying a title with the book not being mainstream.