I’ve just recently received a query from one of our consultants about Scholastic’s Lucky Book Club flyer for the month of May.  It contains a set of 4 Usborne First Encyclopedias at a price of $24.00.  At first glance, this appears to be a problem, but you should be aware that these are US editions produced under licence.   These US editions used to be all that were available from Scholastic Canada, and are very different from what we sell – the books are (a) paperbacks (b) on very flimsy paper (c) usually in a different, cheaper binding, and (d) often smaller in trim size.  Back when these editions were a lot more commonly available in the Scholastic flyers, our consultants would often buy one of the cheaper editions and carry it in their kit, just so they could show the difference to a customer who asked about the lower prices.

These days most of what Scholastic Canada sells is the same edition as ours, and the price is not usually significantly different, but we still occasionally see the US editions.  If you see a Scholastic flyer with Usborne books at a significant discount from our price, you are probably actually looking at a different quality of book altogether.  You will normally have no problem with the price difference if your customers see both editions – you really do get what you pay for.  If you know someone who plans to  order one of these cheaper editions from Scholastic, suggest getting in touch with them once they have received the book(s) -- they might be interested in adding to their collection, but in the better editions.  Remember too, we have many, many more Usborne books than Scholastic, and a Scholastic customer who has bought an Usborne books from a club flyer is a potential customer for one of your backlist offerings.

Ron Charlesworth