Regarding book remaindering---about a decade or more ago, via an IRS ruling
not specific to publishers but applied to all businesses that keep inventory,
publishers lost the tax advantages they previously had in warehousing vast
numbers of books for future sale. I think this was the Thor Power Tool Co.
ruling. Anyway, publishers now remainder books at an almost breathless rate--
and this has given rise to those tables of cheap goodies you see in the chains
and even some bookstores that specialize in remainders. The market has become
so large that some publishers now specialize in the remainder markets. It's
really simple economics, but the changes have been substantial in the book
trade and just reinforces the chains tendency to clear the shelves of anything
that doesn't sell in a few weeks.---A.J. Wright