Disappointing sales at the Melcombe Horsey Book Festival sent Threadbone Press shares into free fall yesterday when it was revealed that sales of the the back catalogues of both Gordon Tanqueray and Polly Anthus had failed to see the uplift normally associated with their festival appearances. Commentators believe that their "open brawl" may have had an adverse effect on their popularity, both being seen "for the t***s they really are". Whilst such comments are generally thought to be harsh - and there remains much sympathy for Ms Anthus - there is no doubting that the powers that be at Great Heaving have been head scratching recently in an attempt to devise a new summer strategy more likely to shift stock towards fiction loving customers.
"The summer is traditionally a period for high volume sales as people go on holiday with their families, realise how awful it is going to be and look for a means of escape - even if it is into a fictional world of murder and mayhem. Anything but the reality of the situation in which they find themselves", says industry analyst Anna Lyst. "This normally translates into a peak of paperback purchasing between June 3rd and August 29th" . "So far Threadbone Crimeshelf sales have been about 33% down on what was expected and there's the smell of panic in the air".
Could this be the reason then why Threadbone Crimeshelf - the wholly owned imprint of the Threadbone Press specialising in both contemporary and historical crime fiction - have advanced the publication of the latest Quintus Remus Imperial Rome Mystery (A Corpse in the Caldarium) [Sample Chapter HERE] and reprinted the entire Vinicius Pucilli back catalogue in preparation for the already announced December launch of Murder on the Appian Way?
Publishing veteran Dusty Tomes believes so. "I believe so", he said.
Significantly author Quintus Remus (the nom de plume of would-be amateur sleuth and former Threadbone Digital Laboratories technologist Effigies Denudator) famously avoids book fairs and festivals and was not in Melcombe Horsey earlier this week. Sources close to the publisher admitted that Ms Denudator "had done herself no harm by distancing herself from the unseemly events at the festival" and Threadbone executives will be hoping that, having lent enchantment, distance will also lead to higher sales.
The first three volumes of the Imperial Roman Mysteries are available as 3 for the price of 2 at all main branches of Threadstones. "Never a good sign", mused Mr Tomes.
Summer Splash: The Threadbone Press has brought forward the launch of the latest Vicinius Pusilli Mystery and relaunched the entire Imperial Rome Mysteries back catalogue. Murder on the Appian Way will has already been announced for December and is available to pre-order.
ALL OF THE PUBLISHED IMPERIAL ROME MYSTERIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE FROM
CRIMESHELFDirect™: THE THREADBONE CRIMESHELF WEBSITE [HERE]
the orinoco store [HERE]
and all branches of Threadstones [HERE]
or as a Crimeshelf Flipbook™ [HERE]
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