I hope you're all happy and well. I'm not that happy at the moment and I've got a nagging stress pain in the kidneys which is why I have to postpone this month's news and chatty bits until later and use this space instead for an urgent memo.

URGENT MEMO

TO:    The people at nedkelly.com.au

FROM:    Morris Gleitzman, Indignant Author.

Sirs,

Years ago, when I started writing books, I made an important decision. (Actually I made two, but the other one was a decision not to write a series of novels about a kid who goes to wizard school and I don't really want to talk about that.)

My first decision was that instead of letting one publisher distribute my books globally, I'd publish with different publishers in different countries. I was anxious that if somebody got up one morning in Oodnadatta and was gripped by a sudden desire to read one of my books, they should be able to stroll down to their local newsagent and find one. And I reckoned an Australian publisher would be in the best position to make sure that book got on the shelf of the Oodnadatta Newsagency And Truck Refuelling Depot in the first place.

Similarly I was keen that if someone in Long Pine, Nebraska got the same urge, a copy of at least one of my titles would be available in their local book and/or drugstore. And I figured a US publisher was best placed to put it there.

Ditto Llandudno, North Wales and a British publisher.

So I made separate publishing agreements with an Australian publisher, a US publisher and a British publisher. And it all worked really well until a few weeks ago. When you folks at nedkelly opened for business.

Now I want to say that I don't have anything personal against any of you. I'm sure you're really nice people, quite possibly the nicest bunch of people running an on-line retail company in the whole of Western Australia. At no point do I imagine you've ever been actively engaged in hurting rainforests or rare animals or other West Australian on-line retail companies.

But unfortunately, whether you realise it or not, you are actively involved in hurting authors and their publishers. Me, for example, and my Australian publishers.

Those US editions of my books you're selling on your site were produced under an agreement that forbade the selling of them in Australia. This is because the Australian publishers, who published the books in the first place and without whom the books would not exist, have the exclusive right to sell their edition in Australia. It's what makes it possible for them to publish Australian books in the first place.

It gets worse. Those US editions you're selling are what is known in the trade as remainders. In other words, the US publisher printed too many copies of those titles and had to sell them off cheaply to a wholesaler. At around, I would guess, a dollar each. The author gets no income from those surplus copies. But their low price does make it possible for you guys to sell them at less than the Australian editions.

Which might appear to be good for Australian book-buyers. But it's not. Because when books are being sold and the creators of those books are getting no return for their efforts, said creators often lose interest in creating more books and find other ways of earning a crust. Starting on-line retail companies in Western Australia, for example.

I'm not going to ask my Australian readers to boycott your site because (a) that would probably contravene the W.A. On-Line Retail Companies Act (1999), and (b) my Australian readers are perfectly capable of protecting their publishing industry themselves and don't need any instruction on the matter from me.

Instead, nedkellyites, I'll make you an offer. I'll buy every single copy of those Gleitzman US editions from you at the price you paid in the US plus GST, and I'll give them to kids who can't afford to buy books. Which will leave you free to sell my Australian editions, discounted if you like, and we'll all be happy. (Except real bookshops, but I'd better leave that for another memo).

E-mail me from this site, nk people, and let me know if you accept my offer.

Oo-roo and happy reading.

10 August 2000