BTW Talks to ABA's Industry Relations Consultant, David Walker

For the past several years, David Walker has worked with ABA in different capacities to help resolve issues regarding trade practices of concern to independent booksellers. Walker recently spoke to BTW about the types of issues he's worked to resolve and the need for booksellers to keep ABA informed of the problems they are encountering.

Could you tell BTW readers a little bit about your background as it relates to your work as an industry relations consultant?
Prior to becoming a consultant, I worked for 11 years for Olsson's, an independent bookstore chain in Washington, D.C. For most of that time, I was Olsson's general manager. I have been an independent consultant in the book industry for five years, during which time I have worked on a number of projects for ABA, including overseeing the distribution of the Penguin settlement to ABA member bookstores.

You've been ABA's industry relations consultant for about a year now. What types of issues have you dealt with during this time? How were they resolved?There has been a wide range of issues to deal with: bookstores not receiving the correct discounts; publishers not paying co-op claims; publishers refusing to offer terms that address the needs of smaller bookstores; publishers refusing to supply certain titles; and so on.

In many cases, the resolution has been as simple as getting the publisher to respond to the bookstore's complaint. In other cases, publishers have been willing to make some changes to their practices.

For example, I received complaints from booksellers concerning Taschen's policy of requiring orders of a minimum of 10 copies for many of their titles. The booksellers complained -- quite reasonably -- that it was not possible for them to order 10 copies of most art books. After some discussion, Taschen agreed to have Ingram carry their titles, so that bookstores could order them in smaller quantities.

And, of course, there are some cases that I am still working on resolving.

Are there other types of problems booksellers should bring to your attention? In addition to hearing about specific problems, I would like to hear booksellers' suggestions as to how publishers' practices could be improved generally. I think that many publishers are open to the idea of changing some of the ways that they do business, but they don't always know what would be helpful to booksellers.

Why do you think it's important for booksellers to let ABA know about these issues? I think it's very important for ABA to be aware of the kinds of problems that booksellers are encountering, and for publishers to be aware that ABA is monitoring these issues. Hearing from ABA on these issues helps remind publishers of the importance of maintaining fair trade practices.

What's the best way to bring an issue to your attention? Booksellers with problems or concerns about trade practices should contact Kristen Gilligan, ABA's manager of communications, industry relations, and trade policy, at [email protected] or (800) 637-0037, ext. 1286. If it's appropriate, Kristen will refer a bookseller's concerns to my attention.

Do you think that there are fewer problems with inequitable trade practices today because of the lawsuits filed by ABA on behalf of its members? There is no question that the lawsuits had an enormous impact on the terms available to most ABA members.

The most obvious improvement has been in the area of trade discounts: 10 years ago, a bookstore placing an order for, say, 50 books could expect to receive a far lower discount from most of the major publishers than a bookstore ordering hundreds of books at a time. It was not uncommon to see a difference of three or four percent between the top and bottom of a publisher's discount schedule. Now, most major publishers offer essentially "flat" discount schedules, which provide the same discount for all orders that meet a relatively modest minimum quantity -- and, in most cases, these discounts are the same as the discounts that were previously offered only for large orders.

I think the other major area of improvement has been in co-op: most publishers now offer co-op terms that are far more flexible than they were before the lawsuits. For example, it is now common for publishers' terms to state that co-op can be used for in-store displays and newsletters, which was not the case 10 years ago.

Of course, this does not mean that there are not still problems with inequitable terms, but I think it is fair to say that there have been substantial improvements. -- Interviewed by Rosemary Hawkins