I want to inform readers of this blog about an ongoing situation that has authors ensnared in the middle of an unfortunate standoff between Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster. As reported in a number of news outlets, including in this Wall St. Journal story, the bookselling chain and the publisher are in a dispute over charges that B&N wants to assign to their stocking and promotion of S&S titles. While the dispute is ongoing, B&N “has sharply reduced the number of Simon & Schuster titles it carries in its stores as well as the promotion it gives those books.”

As explained in a blog post by novelist M.J. Rose, and in her comments below the post, while B&N is minimally representing most S&S titles, they have cut orders of those books by as much as 90%. Rose happens to be an S&S author herself, and a very skilled book promoter. These authors are collateral damage in a conflict that’s leaving their books under-represented in the country’s largest retail book chain. Rose’s post collects many of the books currently being published by S&S that are being disadvantaged by this unresolved situation. She suggests that if these are books you want to buy and read you can find them for sale via other retailers, whether online or at brick & mortar bookstores. Rose’s own current books are The Book of Lost Fragrances and Seduction. I hope you will support her and these authors. In this screenshot of her blog post, you’ll see she’s used the idea of a missing person on a milk carton to explain the impact of this situation on authors. To read her whole post and see all of the books she’s assembled, please click on this link.