This morning, I posted my review of bestselling author Mark Steyn’s latest book After America: Get ready for armageddon, which was released today by Regnery Publishing. It didn’t take long for me to get several emails from readers citing their inability to find Steyn’s newest masterpiece at their local Indigo / Chapters, Canada’s largest chain of bookstores.
After doing a bit of detective work at my own local book outlets, I learned that this isn’t an issue of the stores selling out of their stock of After America at Harry Potter speeds, but something far more curious. In fact no Indigo stores — the Canadian equivalent to Barnes & Noble — in Canada are carrying the book.
This revelation came only hours after I became aware of some interesting feedback from Amazon Canada users who encountered messages saying the book was out of stock (which were soon corrected) and Kindle users who have been unable to download the book to their mobile reading devices.
Of the various people I spoke with at the store level of Indigo, none were able to confirm that After America was even on order, or if it would be available in their stores at all in the future, just that it was “presently only available by special order.” Having been exposed to the publishing industry quite a bit over the past couple of years, I’ve never encountered a national retail chain unilaterally not carrying a particular title because of a shipping error or a mistake, and it’s worth noting that if the title is available by “special order,” they must have a supply of them somewhere.
Representatives from Regnery Publishing and Indigo Books were not available for contact at the time of publication of this post.
UPDATE: A spokeswoman from Regnery Publishing contacted me this morning saying that not only has Indigo ordered copies of After America, but Indigo ordered more of it than any previous Regnery book.
Also, Indigo’s social media relations director left the following comment on this post:
Unfortunately, the publisher was late to distribute to us. It is a logistical shipping issue that we have now taken steps to remedy for our customers. We now have the book in our possession and we have rushed it to stores (I’ve pasted a list of the stores receiving rush copies below). These stores should be receiving their stock today and tomorrow.Mr. Steyn’s book is one of our biggest of the season — we have made a substantial commitment to supporting it.
In my experience, Indigo has usually had a pretty good selection of conservative books, so if they do have a legitimate reason for this it's definitely plausible, but as you pointed out, I have trouble believing a mistake would be this big without them at least announcing the delay or something, or sending a note out to the stores.
But as we've seen, they'll see all the media pressure then instantly backtrack and claim that everything was just a big understanding. Who cares, as long as they start selling Steyn's book!
I think your scenario is the most plausible. But if should by some decree within Indigo/Chapters have been responsible for censoring or purposefully delaying his book release to the public…well, wouldn't that be interesting.
Isn't Steyn a Canadian or something? By gosh, it's discrimination against their own country! Or perhaps they just don't like that he's not afraid to tell the truth about Islam.
lol…I've always hoped that Amazon would bundle his book with the Koran to save a dollar, or get a free goat or something.
I created a fuss at Square One in Mississauga, and was told there was 18 on order, but not shipped yet. "Probably an issue at the publishers end," I was told. No other Chapters were carrying the book.
Chapters on line certainly has it available. Several books by Mark Steyn are shown on their website – even with a discount indicating best-seller status.
[...] Andrew Lawton is reporting: After doing a bit of detective work at my own local book outlets, I learned that this isn’t an issue of the stores selling out of their stock of After America at Harry Potter speeds, but something far more curious. In fact no Indigo stores — the Canadian equivalent to Barnes & Noble — in Canada are carrying the book. [...]
90 are on order at my closest store. Said it was because it was coming from an American publisher and it was delayed. No ETA on when it will be available.
Hi Andrew,
Unfortunately, the publisher was late to distribute to us. It is a logistical shipping issue that we have now taken steps to remedy for our customers. We now have the book in our possession and we have rushed it to stores (I've pasted a list of the stores receiving rush copies below). These stores should be receiving their stock today and tomorrow.
Mr. Steyn's book is one of our biggest of the season — we have made a substantial commitment to supporting it.
Please feel free to email me if you have any questions!
Roisin Bonner
Social Media Specialist
Indigo Books & Music Inc.
STORES RECEIVING RUSH COPIES
Signal Hill, Calgary
Place Montréal Trust, Montréal
North London, London
Rideau, Ottawa
South Keys, Ottawa
Robson,Vancouver
Southpoint, Edmonton
Centre-ville, Montréal
Granville, Vancouver
Halifax
Pointe-Claire
Chinook, Calgary
Yonge & Eglinton, Toronto
Bay & BloorToronto28090
YorkdaleToronto28636
Toronto Eaton CentreToronto28736
Festival HallToronto92118
BayviewToronto94036
McNally-Robinson in Saskatoon doesn't have any copies either. They are "on order" but there's no ETA.
I ordered from Amazon.ca and should have the book by Thursday. I should have pre-ordered!
On a related note, Indigo in Saskatoon did have Brad Thor's latest on its release date last week.
Because they are liberal retards
I was at the Thornhill Indigo at Yonge and #7 last night looking for After America. I found 7 copies — down by the floor on the bottom shelf at the far (northeast) corner under Politics.
In terms of store geography, this is as far from the (southwest) Hardcover Bestsellers rack as it is possible to put a book. Steyn is now #5 on the New York Times Bestseller list, and #4 on amazon.ca. What Indigo is doing is willful and petty, and absolutely intentional.