Question about Fishpond.co.nz

I am an interloper. I beg your pardon for that.

I've horned in because I wanted to ask some Kiwis about Fishpond.co.nz , for instance whether it is on the level, what other (fiction) authors' experiences have been with it.

Apparently, they have over 1,000 copies of my book Knight's Fork in stock. I am aghast. That's appallingly unrealistic for futuristic romantic humour, and how can it possibly create any urgency to buy when they have so many?

Thank you for any advice.

Rowena Cherry

I'd presume that as a mail order places "in stock" means "our overseas distributor has it in stock and we can get it to you pretty damn fast". I know that they pretty much offer any book you can also get on Amazon, so I very much doubt they are sitting in warehouses in NZ somewhere.

Fishpond has been running for quite a while now, so I presume it's on the level, I've never bought from them.

I've bought a few things from them, but they need a serious overhaul of their design and have made mistakes with orders (i.e. not gift wrapping when asked, including invoices showing prices with presents).

GamePlanet (GPStore) have recently revamped and launched themselves as MightyApe and I'm buying my books from them now.

Thanks for this info about MightyApe, AndrewB! I had never heard of them, but I'm pleased to see my short story collection Transported is available from them:

http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Transported/1744965/

As for Fishpond, my experience as an author is mixed. They stock two of my books, the aforementioned Transported and my poetry collection All Blacks' Kitchen Gardens. But as you can see from their listings:

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Fiction_Literature/Short_Stories/product_info/12...

http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Poetry/General/product_info/11635046/

they don't have a cover image of either book. A month ago, they had both cover images; then they went through some kind of database conniption, and lost them. I've sent them replacement cover images, but they haven't put either of them up.

One thing Fishpond does have going for them is that they have an affiliate scheme whereby I (or anyone else) can earn 10% of any sales made via links to books on Fishpond from my blog and web site. This has been working quite nicely for me.

I agree with Aquila that the 1154 copies of Knight's Fork they say they have in stock in probably the number of copies sitting in a warehouse in the US.

My summary: Fishpond works, but it's a bit erratic. My favourite NZ online bookstore is actually New Zealand Books Abroad, which despite its name sells both locally and internationally - but it is only for NZ books.

Hope this helps,

Regards
Tim

Aquila,
Thank you very much for a reassuring answer. I appreciate it.

Rowena Cherry

Thanks, AndrewB

Tim,

Thank you. It doesn't sound very nice of me, but I'm glad to know that my book wasn't the only one to have the cover image stripped.

Knight's Fork lost its cover on the front page to the same gremlin. They do have the cover elsewhere, on smaller pages for the book, and in the list of my works, so I assume they either cannot, or are not interested in fixing the issue.

I noticed the affiliate scheme. Now, I'm off to check out Mighty Ape.

Thanks, Tim!

Rowena Cherry

My experience with Fishpond has also been mixed. I once ordered a CD which took several months to get to me with no explanation or communication - I had to continually ask about it. Eventually two copies turned up and I returned one of them. I was then emailed and asked to explain why I was returning my order - hopeless.
My library has recently ordered some books from Fishpond and so far they've been ok - perhaps they've had a much-needed revamp of their systems.

A friend of mine has just ordered Transported through Fishpond, so I've asked her to let me know when it arrives - that should serve as a little check on their systems.

libra, does your library get the standard library discount when ordering from Fishpond?