Destroyer Journal

I’ve decided to take the Destroyer book off Amazon, for the reason that Amazon has changed the way they stock books.

It works like this with Amazon:

As a publisher, I have a little stock at Amazon’s various inventories in the US. The books are legally mine until they are sold, but by having them stocked up in their own inventory, Amazon can ship them quickly to customers.

In the case not all books in the inventory would be sold, they would be returned to me. However, even though my book didn’t sell at such a high pace, eventually all copies in the inventory would always be sold, and in total, Amazon has sold almost 100 copies of it.

As a publisher, I pay for the shipping to Amazon’s inventories in the US.

Since it wouldn’t make sense to ship one book at the time, since the shipping cost would be unproportionately high, I wished I could set a minimal order number of three books, since that would cost the same to ship as one book. That wasn’t possible, but I was told that each time Amazon placed a stock-up order for one book (which the system automatically did per default), I should contact them and ask them to cancel that order and place a new one for three books. I did that for the first two years and never had any problems with it (except for the annoyance of not being able to set a minimal order limit, which would save time for both me and Amazon’s support staff).

In February 2013, as Amazon ordered their usual 1 copy, and I placed my usual support ticket to ask them to order 3 copies, I was told that they from now on will not accept such stock-up requests, except in cases of marketing campaigns. They suggested:

At this point of time, If you do not wish to ship the quantity ordered by our automated ordering system, confirm that order to zero (0) units and select “Temporarily out of stock” from the drop-down.

So that’s what I’ve been doing since February. Amazon’s “automated ordering system” has since then placed 22 orders of 1 book. I’ve set them all to “temporarily out of stock”, but it’s getting a bit silly. So as of today, I’ve “suspended” my book, meaning I won’t get any more orders, and that the book won’t be available anymore on Amazon.

The finances of Amazon’s 1-copy order policy for me:

• Retail price on their site: 22.80 USD = 17.75 euro
• Minus Amazon’s wholesale discount of 55 percent = 9.75 euro
• Minus shipping = 3.45 euro (not counting packaging)
• Minus cashing checks = 0.65 euro (it costs 11 or 21 euro per check, but I’ve had Amazon void many checks and send out a big one instead, which lands the average cost per book about 0.65 euro. Amazon does not make bank transfers to non-US publishers)
• = I get 3.90 euros from each book sold for 17.75 euro by Amazon. That’s almost 22 percent, yippee!
• Minus the actual printing cost of the book!
• Leaving me with a profit per book counted in cents, not euros.

Making money was never my main objective to sell on Amazon. Rather, having them sell my book was a way to give legitimacy to a controversial story. It was therefore a big moment to see the cover of my book turning up on Amazon - Amazon! – after having been approved by their staff. It was cool to have a button on my website saying “buy on Amazon”, to be affiliated with the world’s biggest retailer – and it was practical for US readers to be able to buy the book on old, trustworthy Amazon.

However, that was two years ago. The book has reached its core audience, made its headlines (in Gay Times, Out, and a number of other magazines and newspapers, gay and straight) – and the thrill of being on Amazon is simple not as … thrilling anymore. As we say in Sweden: It costs more than it tastes.

The alternative would of course be to raise the retail price on Amazon, but at least for the moment, I won’t bother. After all, the best way to buy my book remains I Love Mags, where you can also get it bundled with the full-color Appendix.

Finally there are some reviews of Gay Man’s Worst Friend – the Story of Destroyer Magazine at Amazon.

First review (four stars):

I believe I read about Destroyer in a gay American publication. Then I started looking it up online, and actually bought one of the issues. And then I got the book. It raises a lot of issues on sexual boundaries. I think its a great book for anyone interested in gender studies or human sexuality related to sociology. I think Karl Andersson is pretty cool. He is obviously very smart and really ballsy!

Second review (two stars):

Don’t waste your money buying this book.
Don’t waste your time reading this book.
It is nothing more than 128 pages of a man justifying the publication of his controversial magazine.
Karl Andersson danced a fine line by combining legal gay porn and erotica with legal images and articles focused on males under the age of 18 years.
I felt this book was written by Karl Andersson for Karl Andersson.
I feel the book was published to line the pockets of Karl Andersson.

To those of you who have read the book: Who do you agree with? Would you consider writing your own review over at Amazon?

Click here for the book’s Amazon page!

It’s a pastime I enjoy. Those of you who have emailed me in the last days (I got caught up in a very interesting book) will soon get a reply!

I’ve decided to cancel the D2 auction for different reasons.

First of all, I’ve only got 12 bids and I doubt there will be many more. I hadn’t thought of that possibility.

Second, and more importantly, I feel the fun has gone out of the whole thing. Maybe it wasn’t there to begin with for you.

In a comment to the auction post a reader said the auction “shades a somewhat new light” on me and suggests a “plain financial interest”. The reader wrote: “I find it difficult to mix appreciation with a purchase.”

Even though it would be technically easy for me to rebut (for example, each issue of Destroyer relied financially on the purchases of the previous issue – there was always, and still is, a financial reality to my publishing), I think he struck a nerve in me. After all, throughout Destroyer’s history I never asked for more for each issue than I thought was fair. And that was well below what the only similar print magazine costed, despite being half the pages and mainly black and white. So it would be sad if more readers got the same feeling as the commenter, as if I was only in it for the money. Hey, if I was I wouldn’t make Destroyer at all. I would make a career! So why taint the wonderful Destroyer adventure with what could turn out to be a bitter aftertaste?

Yes, there are financial concerns in my publishing. More so than ever. But I’ve realised that’s another issue. I might start asking for donations or something, but if so, that will be separate from the purchases of actual products. Those who want to make a larger donation can do so, and those who “only” want to read a magazine (thereby also automatically contributing) can make a purchase. The two probably shouldn’t be mixed, which was my idea with the auction, to look upon the bids as contributions.

I also realised that those of you who want to own D2 are the same people who already supported me tremendously by buying all the other issues. I don’t want to give you of all people the disquieting suspicion of greed with your purchase. I want you to appreciate it, to quote the commenter.

So that’s it. The auction is cancelled.

Two matters now remain. The first one is how to deal with the bids that 12 of you actually placed. For the sake of transparency, here they are (including first initial so you can identify yourselves):

1. T: 500 euro
2. L: 356 euro
3. C: 250 euro
4. M: 177 euro
5. J: 154 euro (200 dollar)
6. R: 130 euro
7. P: 115 euro
8. M: 100 euro
9. J: 96 euro (125 dollar)
10. L: 92 euro (120 dollar)
11. H: 81 euro (105 dollar)
12. M: 79,10 euro

Makes a total of 2,130 euro. Amazing – thank you! I was moved by every email. I’ve now cancelled these bids. And I’ve decided to give you (the 12 bidders) the option of purchasing a copy of D2 for 50 euros. I think that’s fair, but it’s your choice. I’ll email you about it.

The second matter is what to do with the rest of the 18 D2′s. I’ve considered just putting them in the shop and then first come, first served, or having some kind of lottery. But what I think I’ll do is to sell each of them in a real auction, since that would reflect real demand and give everyone a chance to obtain a copy. I’ll let you know when this will happen.

I might write a more detailed post about the finances of Destroyer and the rest of my publishing later, since I think it might interest some of you, and also explain the pricing in general. Till then, take care!

And for those who didn’t read everything in detail I’ll end by repeating:

THE D2 AUCTION IS CLOSED – NO MORE BIDS!