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...

@IncludeWomenInThePrequel

Haven't been in my local branch since they did a trans bedtime story thing during Pride Month last year. Basically a guy in some cheapo Ann Summers crap reading a bedtime story to little kids.

They can fuck off with normalising that shit.

Fuck that shit

This book is no 8 on the Sunday Times bestseller list today. It's not some obscure vanity published thing.

Actually Daunt bookshop in Marylebone High Street W1U 4QW has the most eclectic and fascinating selection of books I have seen in years. I rarely get there so I don't know if they stock "Trans". Next time I get a chance I will look.

@Fiddliestofsticks

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.

Sounds a lot like stealth censorship, they are just creating another reason why physical bookshops lose custom to online

Waterstones havent been stocking radical feminist books for c 15 years.

lemon thinks that suddenly in this one instance numerous water stones don’t stock a top 10 bestseller or can’t seem to work out if it goes in the best sellers display at the front? And I’m the Queen of Sheba.

@mollythemeerkat

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.

This is an excellent point. If you go onto your local library website you ought to be able to request it as a stock item if it’s not showing available to borrow - librarians respond to demand so please do show there’s demand for it. It’s the sort of book where library sales/orders will make a difference.

Every time a book is borrowed authors earn money - it’s called PLR (Public Lending Right) - so it’s a great way to both spread the word and support financially if you can’t buy a copy. Literally anyone can request their library stocks a copy - free!

@timeisnotaline

lemon thinks that suddenly in this one instance numerous water stones don’t stock a top 10 bestseller or can’t seem to work out if it goes in the best sellers display at the front? And I’m the Queen of Sheba.

Honestly - it’s not as unlikely as it sounds!

Book retailing is a weird business. I’d almost guarantee online is driving the bestseller list on this occasion. Waterstones will be playing catch up.

As the observer reviewed it, albeit a bit snarkily, it is available via the guardian bookshop. Might be worth a pint going via that - would also make a point.
I’m waiting for mine from my local independent and will enjoy using my fully stamped discount card when it turns up. Oddly they had several copies of Kathleen Stock’s earlier and reasonably well displayed but have had Paris Lee in the window.

If you want to order from a feminist bookshop, try news from nowhere in Liverpool - they deliver anywhere.

Yeah i miss a blue rinse. Wheres Molly Sugden these days?

Oh my lord on the anime thing, i saw this american teenager on youtube who offensively adopted an east asian accent, got an anime blue haircut and wanted be ID'd as korean.

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.

I wish they would inscribe this over the door of every institution training or employing people for those occupations.

Thanks for the backup @NoSquirrels, it really IS a weird world!

And no Milady I don’t, I work in publishing & have done for the last 25 years. Hence I know A LOT about how one gets books into Waterstones (& how many never even make it past the hallowed doors)

@LemonLymanDotCom

Thanks for the backup *@NoSquirrels*, it really IS a weird world! And no Milady I don’t, I work in publishing & have done for the last 25 years. Hence I know A LOT about how one gets books into Waterstones (& how many never even make it past the hallowed doors)

Yup. One or two copies in weird places in a selection of stores and Waterstones can say they’ve ’got it widely available in store’.

There is absolutely no doubt an element of individual booksellers not promoting it - so d imagine even if you are a gender critical bookseller you’d be extremely reluctant to put your head above the parapet when we all know how woke the rest of your colleagues are likely to be.

I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, I think it’s largely typical of how tough book retail is for authors and how depressingly predictable the response from individual stores/booksellers is.

Also @timeisnotaline, it's not this one instance. A particular example springs to my mind, which was on the ST bestseller list for 4+ months and could a copy be found in 3 branches of Waterstones I popped into to check? Could it heck.

@PickAChew

Yep, was just thinking that if I wanted a hard copy I would check Blackwells first. Used to spend hours in the Newcastle store.

Blackwells is a very fine alternative to Waterstones, and this book is right in their zone for stock choice. I’d be more surprised if they weren’t stocking it in all branches.

If your library doesn't have a copy, call in and ask, or put a message on their online form to make a stock suggestion. The library service I work for has a wokey blokey on the team who chooses the stock, and I see there is not one copy on our entire catalogue. If there's enough demand from the public they will most likely have to order some in.

I’ve been using Blackwells online throughout the pandemic and I have been satisfied with the service and no delivery charge. I avoid Amazon and will now avoid Waterstones too.

I received my copy of Trans a few days ago. I recently listened to a podcast in which Helen Joyce named Blackwells as a good place to buy from if I remember rightly. I think she said that they had asked for signed copies to sell and order several batches already at the time of the podcast.

I have My Period by Milli Hill on pre order from Blackwells too, hopefully arriving next week.

So I went into our nearest Waterstones with DP the other day. We hunted high and low for two books, including Helen Joyce's one, and a politics book by a well-known politician. Nada.

They don't even have a Politics section any more. And not even a suggestion of anything to do with feminism, women's rights or women's history.

They do have huge sections on military history, Anime/Manga and horror, with shelves and shelves of those bloody comic books.

Also, ‘bestseller’ can be misleading. Most bestselling lists in stores are curated, otherwise every top ten wall would end up featuring the Highway Code!

And the Bible!

I couldn't find it in the branch I was in, when I asked I was told it had sold out and was on re-order.
I did find the new Identy section, because that's where they had put Akala's book Natives that I was looking for. When I asked why it was there and how long they have had that section, staff member said it's fairly new and some stuff is getting put there just to fill up that section.

I couldn't find it in the Huddersfield branch but that's probably because it was my first time in, in years. The assistant found it for me near the front of the shop and there seemed to be a few copies there.

That is my dull but true Trans story.

👏