Oh, hey! Ça va ? There have been delays with the availability and shipping of my book since its launch on October 10th. Preorders have expected delivery dates starting in November, and the French edition wasn’t available in France. Not cool.
First, I’d like to apologize for the delays; though they were outside of my control, I understand your frustration. I shared the information below in my most recent newsletter, but I'm sharing it here, too, in case you’re not subscribed and are wondering what’s going on.
Let’s briefly talk about why delays are happening, then I’ll share my attempt at resolving this issue.
Contents
Why wasn’t The Book available right on Launch Day?
In most of the world
I am a first-time self-published author, which means not many people know me yet. IngramSpark–the distributor I partner with to make my book available worldwide–uses a print-on-demand model, meaning they only print copies when customers buy them from partner bookstores (like Amazon); they do not hold inventory. Since I am not (yet 😉) popular, bookstores around the world probably did not buy large quantities of my books; they’re waiting until they have enough orders from end customers (whatever that number is to them) before buying my books from the distributor and reselling them. This is why pre-orders are important, especially for new authors: they are an indicator of demand and help stores determine how much stock of a single book they should have.
I had several pre-orders from people around the world (if one was from you, thank you!), almost all coming from Amazon. I have two books; Amazon has several marketplaces, and all my readers aren’t in the same country (so they cannot buy from the same Amazon marketplace). My guess is preorders of a single edition of The Book on a single marketplace were not enough for Amazon to stock hundreds of copies of that edition (buying in bulk is cheaper). My books are printed in the U.S. and distributed around the world, another reason that explains the delay.
In Cameroon
Hmm… how do I phrase this? Let’s just say customs clearance is a time-consuming process 🙂. Although my books had arrived by the end of September, they spent some time in customs and were just released to the bookstore. To all involved in this process, thank you.
Some options if you’d like to get The Book before November
In most of the world
As explained earlier, I went through a distributor to make my memoir available around the world. Seeing that most of my orders come from Amazon and knowing that Amazon also has its own publishing arm, I decided to publish a new edition of The Book; this time, through Amazon. If you’re wondering why I didn’t do it earlier, well, it’s because Amazon doesn’t print hardcovers with dust jackets (the current flagship edition of The Book, and my favorite 😁). I had plans to publish a simple hardcover edition, but not before 2025. With all these delays, I think now is a good time.
This solves the issue because with this edition, Amazon will no longer have to buy my books from IngramSpark and wait for them to print; Amazon will print and produce my books in-house before shipping them out directly to customers within their usual delivery timeframes. As a test, I bought copies of my book (as a customer) last week on Thursday; they shipped on Friday and were delivered on Sunday.
While I understand this means buying another copy of my book for those of you who had already purchased one, know that you can always return the book you previously bought once it arrives if you wish to do so, or cancel that initial order if it’s still possible. The new hardcover edition is also a bit cheaper, as it lacks certain features found on the flagship edition. You obviously don’t have to buy it, but it’s there as an option in case you want something quicker.
Finally, if you want to read The Book right now, there’s the eBook edition available here since launch.
I’ve summarized key points and differences among all currently available editions in the table below to help you make an informed decision.
By the way, if you ever see a price that’s different from the ones above (specifically on the hardcover with dust jacket), please know that it didn’t come from me. Some retailers set their own price based on different factors; that said, if the price is higher, I do not get additional compensation.
In Cameroon
You can now officially get your copy of The Book from Griot Bookshop. They are an online bookstore that delivers across the country and accepts mobile money payments. If you’re in Douala, they offer same-day delivery; they ship to Yaounde for delivery within two days. They have different schedules for other cities; please contact them directly on Instagram or WhatsApp for more information.
Note: Hardcover with dust jacket is the only print edition currently available in Cameroon. It costs XAF 17,000. You can purchase The eBook too, if you have a card that works online.
I hope this helped. Once more, I apologize for the delays; things will stabilize as stores (and their algorithms) learn from my readers’ purchasing behavior over time, and as I continue to improve my own operations.
Thank you for your support and patience in my early days.
Câlins,
Danielle
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