Despite the new STL UK’s best efforts to become a one stop shop for retailers, it seems that not all publishers want to play ball. The latest to jump ship is Scripture Union, who have now signed up Marston Book Services as their trade distributor. Distribution moves from STL to Marston with effect from Monday, 1st March 2010, although STL will continue to stock Scripture Union product as a wholesaler: full announcement below, courtesy of Michael Welch.
It’s a more sensible move, it must be said, than Kingsway‘s attempt to manage their own distribution: a number of retailers have reported various problems with Kingsway, including delays, shortages and incorrect discounts. Hopefully we’ll begin to see some improvements soon now that they have James Batterbee (former branch manager at Wesley Owen, Croydon) on board as Customer Services Manager.
Kingsway say that trade orders are currently being turned around within 72 hours, carriage-free until the end of March; the aim, I believe, is 24 hour turnaround. Authentic UK product — acquired from the old STL — should be available next week. The company have also taken on UK distribution for Joseph Prince, Moody and Navpress and are reportedly planning — a little prematurely, perhaps, given the recent collapse of STL’s global ambitions? — to expand operations into the USA: UK Christian Music Giant, Kingsway, Establishes North American Presence. You can find Kingsway’s USA owners on twitter @David_C_Cook and on facebook; Kingsway appear on facebook as Mission Worship.
In the meantime, Alban Books — UK distributors (also with Marston) for a number of USA publishers including Abingdon Press, Augsburg-Fortress, Eerdmans and Westminster John Knox, to name but some — have announced that following Kate Dennis’s departure last year, they’ve decided that a full-time Sales Rep is no longer necessary and are switching to a telesales system, expected to launch mid-March this year. Any concerns or comments may be addressed to Nigel Parkinson, Sales Manager: contact details here. You can also find Alban Books on facebook.
Finally for now, Norwich Books & Music (distributors for SCM, Canterbury Press, Church House Publishing, Darton Longman & Todd and HarperCollins Religious, amongst others) have upped their game to match IVP and are now offering 24-hour delivery service as standard to the UK book trade, with same day despatch for orders placed by 12 noon and no small order surcharge. With comprehensive online search and ordering across Norwich’s entire list available via PubEasy.com, this in fact gives Norwich a distinct edge on IVP, whose trade list is only available as pdf downloads.
All we need next is for Marston, Norwich and IVP to get their invoicing systems up to speed with batch.co.uk…
Related Posts (most recent first)
Editor’s note: email addresses in the following announcement have been split as a spam prevention measure.
IMPORTANT TRADE ANNOUNCEMENT FROM SCRIPTURE UNION
Scripture Union is pleased to announce the appointment of Marston Book Services as its distributor.
Distribution provision will move from STL-D to Marston Book Services as of the 1st March 2010
All orders for Scripture Union titles including dated resource should be directed to Marston from the 1st March. Orders can be placed using your existing Marston trading account.
All orders for the April-June dated quarter and/or Submerge March-April should also be placed with Marston after this date – including top-up orders. If you have a SU dated standing order with STL-D we ask that you cancel and transfer it to Marston ASAP thereafter.
All returns for credit including dated should be sent to Marston Book Services. Any other claim – for damage goods, mix see/safe order etc should be returned to STL-D.
All orders and customer enquiries should be sent to:
Marston Book Services Ltd
160 Milton Park
P O Box 269
Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4SD
Tel: 01235 465576
Fax: 01235 465555
Email Orders: trade.orders AT marston.co.uk
Enquiries: trade.enquiry AT marston.co.uk
Any queries regarding this change please contact Scripture Union’s retail support – telephone Tracy on 01908 856182
fax 01908 856030
email retailsupport AT scriptureunion.org.uk
STL-D will continue to offer our wide range of titles as a wholesaler.
