Authors everywhere will tell you it's the bane of a book writer's existence--the policy adopted throughout the publishing industry of allowing booksellers to simply return unsold books.
But a HarperCollins imprint is trying out a "no returns" policy. And, apparently, the rationale of lowering the industry's carbon footprint from all that shipping is winning bookstores over.
According to publisher Margo Baldwin, "In this age of global warming it's insane to be shipping books back and forth across the country for no good reason. It's just a waste of energy and, not only that, it still encourages the overproduction of books--many of which end up in landfills."
So then? Is a sea change (no pun intended) in the publishing business coming because of global warming? Maybe--and then again, maybe not.
Says Jim Milliot of Publishers Weekly, "It would require Random House or HarperCollins to develop an entirely new business model, [a]nd that is not going to happen."
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