What's killing the independent book stores

For over a decade, Eastgate gave credit to independent bookstores. That's probably over now.

Last month, a college store returned a carton filled with many copies of Salome. We found this surprising, because we don't accept returns, and we don't publish Salome.

I suppose we might have read the books, or sold them, or given them to our friends. Instead, we made long-distance phone calls, figured out how to send them to the right place without wasting more money, repacked the books, and sheltered them until they were picked up. This cost us time and money; nobody offered to reimburse us.

Today, that store tried to charge us $100 for the copies of Salome they sent us, plus $20 for extra shipping. They deducted this (without permission) from a payment they owed us (and which was long overdue) Another long distance call. They promise a check. Real soon.

This is the way the world of letters rots and decays.