Tag: Waterstones

Amazon Versus Waterstone’s

Waterstone's book shop signWaterstone’s is the UK’s second biggest bricks and mortar bookseller (after the ubiquitous WH Smith’s) and its stores are great places to shelter from the rain and thumb through a title or two. I would hate to see them disappear from the high street just because of the relentless march of the on-line retailer. ‘If you can’t beat them, join them,’ may be a well-worn adage but it made perfect commercial sense for Waterstone’s to launch its own on-line offer a few years ago.

Much has been said about the phenomenal growth of Amazon and its sharp practices, not to mention its questionable (but quite legal) tax avoidance shenanigans. But you can’t fault their business acumen. If you view an out of stock item, you get this message:

Temporarily out of stock, order now and we’ll deliver when available

Contrast this with the message from Waterstone’s:

 Not in our warehouse. We can order it, but could take up to 3 weeks

It’s like they can’t be arsed. Hopeless really.

Perking the Pansies’ European Tour

Dedicated Pansyfan, Alan, decided to take Perking the Pansies on a grand book tour of Charlemagne’s old domain. He flashed my inane witterings at the fragrant French, waffling Belgians and orderly Germans. Have I seen sales soar among our continental cousins as they rush to empty the virtual shelves of the best expat book to come out of Turkey since the Fall of Constantinople? Who knows? Not me. I won’t get the sales figures for six months. In the meantime, our local Waterstone’s here in old Norwich is stocking the book. I’ll drink to that.

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Thank you, Alan. You are a pansy star!

A Perfect Holiday Read

3d with LogoEven if I do say so myself, Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey is the perfect holiday accompaniment to a bottle of chilled white around a cool pool. Now it’s even better value at £9.99 ($16.00 across the pond). Waterstones deliver free to any UK address and the Book Depository deliver free to 120 countries and territories worldwide. A bargain, I say.

Check out buying options here. Not sure? Maybe the reviews will help you decide.

Have it Your Way

Are you a thoroughly modern Millie and would like to download Perking the Pansies to your fancy Kindle thingy bobby? Perhaps you’re opposed to Amazon taking over the world? (Of course, I couldn’t possibly comment). Or maybe you’re a bit of a traditionalist that likes to browse the shelves and thumb through the latest releases? Well, you can do all these things. Perking the Pansies is now available to download to Kindle, to purchase online at WH Smiths and Waterstones (and many other online stores) and to order at any good bookshop near you. Go on, you know you want to.

Alternatively, you could buy the paperback or Kindle edition through my website and I’ll earn an extra few pence. No pressure.