Waterstones and censoership

[MiladyBerserko]

I have been reading about concerns re Waterstones not displaying Helen Joyce's Trans book on Twitter, for example:
mobile.twitter.com/GreenFemsUK/status/1425764602722275337

I have been into three Waterstones in the last two weeks. It was not displayed in two shops and ther was one copy in the third. I asked about it in one of the no-display stores and apparently there was one in store but couldn't be found (!)

Has anyone else had this experience? If you are passing a Waterstones, have a quick check...

It doesn't surprise me. All the Waterstones round here are staffed by the woker than woke.

I know it's wrong but I suspect it's a losing battle. I bought my copy from Amazon.

They've done fully woke. It's being shoved down the throats of all the staff.

I used to work there, and it wasn't unusual to only have 1 copy at a time of books they didnt agree with and the system would automatically reorder if that 1 copy sold. But when that 1 copy went "missing" it would still register as in stock on the system so wouldn't be ordered and no staff would order more unless it was for a customer.

On Twitter, it's reported that shop staff say it's a decision taken higher up the pecking order. I'll be taking my custom elsewhere in future.

When I looked at their website it was there and in stock. If this is a thing within some stores, it's likely to be the work of some self-appointed censor. If you don't believe in the right to freedom of expression then you've no business working in bookshops, libraries, publishing, broadcasting or journalism.

Daunt didn’t have one either - much smaller range of books though. Same CEO isn’t it?

mobile.twitter.com/WeAreFairCop/status/1425713541261238275

There's a lot of it going on

mobile.twitter.com/search?q=waterstones%20trans&src=typed_query

It's definitely on display in one of the shops in Newcastle. In the "deep thinking" area or something like that.

I ordered three copies from my little local bookshop. The woman behind the counter — the owner — pulled a face and asked why I needed three 'of that?' It was £50-ish worth of order. She was clearly disapproving, so I said 'Forget it, I'll order from Amazon. They're quicker and cheaper.'

We're the kind of mugs who pay over the odds to buy locally and we probably spend about £500 a year there. But not any more. Are there any GC book shops around who wouldn't mind me purchasing from them?

I looked for it last week in Waterstones on my first trip to a bookshop in ages.
No sign in any department I looked at.
I wondered if it was deliberate and if I'd read this before I would have asked!

Well, that's one way for them to drive customers to Amazon.

If you want to avoid Amazon, Hive is excellent. I only buy from them now.

The in store staff have very little control over buying books to stock. Buying is a head office decision.

And yes the Waterstones CEO is James Daunt of Daunts bookshop, but he doesn’t get involved in buying there either.

If you want to support indie bookshops, try bookshop.org instead. Mostly price matched with Amazon but gives a % of the sale to an indie bookshop ‘pool’

@endofthelinefinally

If you want to avoid Amazon, Hive is excellent. I only buy from them now.

Well, yes, but they'll probably get the local bookshop, which may be as bad as Waterstones, to fulfil the order — so my tutting local bookshop owner would still get the profit.

Any decent women’s bookshops? I had a look at the IWD recommendations on the bookshop.org site - so guess what the icon was for that section? The Pride flag (remix version).

When I was looking to buy it, I looked at Waterstones and my local store was saying not in stock but it was at other local stores.

I was in and they did have Material Girls on the shelf.

I got mine from Hive, same as bookshop.org with a % going to your dominated local bookshop.

There are feminist bookshops but no ‘Women’s Bookshop’ per se I think. But what would their remit be? Books by women? Books about women? Books about women by women? Would they only let women buy? Down that way madness lies and considering the nature of book buying, might be challenging for any one bookshop buyer to manage.

Why not check out some majority women’s publishers instead? Persephone, Virago etc. And Other Stories had a year of publishing only female authors for a year, they might be worth checking out too.

Well, yes, but they'll probably get the local bookshop, which may be as bad as Waterstones, to fulfil the order — so my tutting local bookshop owner would still get the profit.

No it comes direct from them, with Hive you dominate the shop, I was given at least three to choose from. Hive you can have either delivered to home or the shop, Bookshop.org is just home delivery.

Yup, bookshop.org orders are fulfilled out of a wholesalers warehouse, doesn’t go near an actual physical bookshop at all.

However, if the tutting bookshop is signed up to bookshop.org they may get a teeny tiny % as part of the profit pool for signed up bookshops…. But it would be minuscule on one single copy as the pool is divided between so many bookshops. Not even pennies.

Some local libraries will order if you request or may have it in stock. I got Kathleen Stock`s book that way. It also makes sense because the library then has a copy which someone else can read. And you will be supporting an essential local service.

Seeing as they're probably busy and don't have time to order any more of her books, perhaps someone should help them out and donate a copy to your local branch.

Pop in and display her book upright on top of one of the main table displays maybe?

@LemonLymanDotCom

Yup, bookshop.org orders are fulfilled out of a wholesalers warehouse, doesn’t go near an actual physical bookshop at all.

However, if the tutting bookshop is signed up to bookshop.org they may get a teeny tiny % as part of the profit pool for signed up bookshops…. But it would be minuscule on one single copy as the pool is divided between so many bookshops. Not even pennies.

Ah, thanks, I was confusing various different orgs. During lockdown I used a service where you ordered from a central website but the order was fulfilled by the nearest independent bookshop, which in our case meant that tutting woman would have profited.

It was on the table immediately as you came through the door in my local branch - if you imagine a square table it was right on the corner on the bottom right. Caught my eye straightaway. Right next to the till. It’s a small branch in West End of Glasgow. I wanted to have a flip through Paris Lee’s book because I’m genuinely fascinated as to how she’s pulled off writing in Notts dialect but couldn’t find that anywhere (but didn’t ask if they stocked it)

So no censorship in my local branch of Waterstones I’m relieved to say.

Even if you disagree with Amazon on principle, I like the idea behind this comment on Twitter -

'Maybe i'm petty but Every time this sort of thing happens the (unsuccessful) buyer should tweet Waterstones a screen shot of their Amazon order.'

Try looking for The Satanic Verses in Waterstones. Trans activists may have taken a leaf out of many Muslims book (no pun intended) and rather than even bother to protest, either removed the book themselves or resited them at the back of others in another section.