Obviously we have some trade secrets in Quality Chess, but there are a few that are not secrets:
We print more books than we are likely to sell frequently. Starting the printer is costly; the cost of the last books printed is considerably less than the first books. Therefore it is better to overprint a bit than to print too few.
Some books are positive surprises; others are not. As you might guess, quality does not hurt, nor does it guarantee anything. Even if a book surprises positively, we end with extra books after the reprint.
Postage is getting more and more expensive. Actually, it is so expensive using the post office that it is cheaper to use UPS when the customer buys 3 books or more (over 2kg). Actually, it is the biggest expense when dealing with web orders. But UPS only charges marginally more when you add books; maybe 1€ per kg.
So, we are taking the consequences of this and will from now on be offering our EU web customers a free book on top of the free postage for orders of three books or more. And yes, should you order six books; we will of course put in two free books (and not of the same, of course).
I am not sure if we can automate this system easily; we are talking to our web designer at the moment, so that the customer is given a free choice of freebie. If not, we will probably do a “free book of the month” thing. Please be patient while we work this out.
For now, the free book of August and September is San Luis 2005, one of the best chess books of all time.
Any way you could extend that deal to the USA? Or some version of it (Maybe buy 6, get 2)?
The standard way would be “buy 4 books, the cheapest one is free”.
“[…] San Luis 2005, one of the best chess books of all time.”
I have the book and I have to say your description is 100% correct. 😉
@Andre
Andre, I understand Jacob’s post to mean that QC is overstocked on San Luis 2005 and they have designed this incentive to offload a portion of their surplus. A “buy 4, cheapest free” program would not address their surplus of SL2005 copies.
I personally own a copy of SL2005– in my opinion $60 USD would be a fair price. It is only lacking a hard-cover; everything else about the book is pure Quality.
It is remarkable that consumers do not reward quality when voting with their wallets, though this is nothing new across all forms of entertainment including music/movies/etc.
Indeed, after reading the sample PDF, the book looks amazing and I would be happy to buy 3 books to get that one free. The cover always put me off. Every time I see a picture of Topalov I think about Toiletgate. It’s amazing how superficial we can be as humans sometimes but that is honestly why I never looked further than the cover.
Jacob – I’ll take the green Yusupov series + Mauricio Flores Rios Chess Structures – A GM Guide (so 4 books in total) if you throw in San Luis for free.
I am happy to wait until Autumn to get them.
Another tournament book which I have not considered is Regio Emillio by Marin.
The participants in the tournament overall are lower rated I think than in San Luis book, however Marin has style of writing which I and others like. I do not have this one, comments by readers of this book? Also Champions of the Millenium is another I do not have, never considered before and I think would be interesting. Again comments by readers of the books would be appreciated.
Possibly a comparison by readers of all 3: San Luis, Reggio Emillo and Champions of New Millenium. Thanks.
I second the opinion of Michael Bartlett. Please don’t leave out your devoted fans across the Atlantic. 🙂 If possible, buying four books with the cheapest free seems fair. Plus readers can choose which books they order for those of us who have a substantial Quality Chess library it would reduce the chance of titles overlapping. 🙂 By the way, Tibor Karolyi’s book on Tal is wonderful. Can’t wait for volume 2! Thanks to everyone at Quality Chess for all you do.
And what would be the second free book of August and September?
(Yes, I’m getting ahead of myself. I just got the Judith Polgar books … but a guy can dream.)
@Michael Bartlett
I cannot see a way for the finances to work. The problem is the postage, not the books.
@Andre
Yes, but we are only giving away from the overstock. It is quite a lot of titles, but still we will not give away the new titles. Sorry.
@katar
The book sold very well. It won the ECF book of the Year award. We just ended up with stock that we cannot see will sell the next few years. On the reprint ;-).
@Michael Bartlett
I am hoping that we will be able to work with 1-2 US shops to offer the same in the US. But patience is the word!
@Phille
Could be Reggio Emilia or Champions of the New Millennium.
Really, I just wanted to share this you guys as soon as we decided to do this. How it will work out long term I do not know.
This is a really generous offer. Will have to buy 6 books in September.
Very nice offer indeed. Just a pity (for me…) that I had just ordered 3 books (Negi and two of the GM Prep series) which are currently shipping… ;-(
I suggest working something out with your enddealers.
My local chess bookstore often has overstock on sale. Usually from other publishers. (QC example: bought quality chess puzzle book for 15 € )
I prefere buying my books in a shop, as it’s always a pleasant experience.
@J.
We will be working something out with various shops. We already have the London Chess Centre on board – in theory. Doing it in the US will still be hard. But as said, not all details have been worked out yet. The first place this is offered is here on the website.
@pabstars
You can always email salesgroup@qualitychess.co.uk ahead of your order, to have a conversation of which books you are interested in.
@Ed
Do you have a link to where this book can be bought? I’ve never heard of it but I love Marin.
Oh I had the title wrong. Found it now. Reggio Emilia
What if US Customers agree to pay the additional postage for the free book. Not as good as the EU deal but still a deal.
I would second that suggestion!
Not trying to be difficult but if this si available to the USA, then other parts of the world may wish to have the same opportunity of the free book as well.
@cyberhound
Yes, that is ok.
Great. Let us know what deal you are willing to do, Jacob, and we’ll put in the order. Assume buy 3 + pay postage and get 4th free?
Jacob,
For the people outside of Europe, did you consider the possibility of still offering the book for free but the customer still pays for the shipping and handling of all items, including the free item? For example, if it’s normally say, $8 per book for shipping outside of Europe and Free in Europe for 3 books or more, and a person in North America or Asia or anywhere else got 4 books costing $40, $38, $36, and $34, while a European would pay $114 ($40 + $38 + $36, Free Shipping and $34 book free), someone outside of Europe would pay $146 ($40 + $38 + $36 + [$8 * 4 Books]).
That way outsiders can still get the free book promotion without it costing you an arm and a leg to ship. Just a thought.
@Michael Bartlett
We will need postage for the fourth book as well; especially if it is Saint Luis 2005, which comes in at 1.1 kg. Already sending books to the states is costly in postage. I would recommend that you wait a bit and get the books from the US. Chess4Less will do this deal for sure. I am hoping to get 2-3 others into it as well…
@Patrick
But the problem is that the shipping costs are already not reflecting the real shipping costs. We generally pay $10-12 more for 2-3 books. It will have to be for the real shipping cost of the item. For example: San Luis is 1.1 kg. This is not cheap with the post office.
Understood. Chess4Less are great.
@Michael Bartlett
Maybe you could consider moving to Europe 🙂
Too late – I just moved to the US from the UK. If I plan a trip back I think I can cram some sneaky chess book purchases in to my luggage on the way home.
I would say best is San Luis
Next Champions of Millenium then Reggio
But all 3 are very good butI feel San Luis is clearly better than the other Two as it captures the excitement and challenge of a top tournament
I find prices of stuff on US websites seem significantly less than the price on UK and eU websites
Can we get new publishing table 🙂 for September/October, please?
This is fine, and I think something you needed to do, since you can buy QC books in others shops for the same price (or even cheaper!) including postage.
Just wanted to inform you, it really works! San Luis 2005 arrived with my order today
ty Quality Chess
@pep
We do not want to undercut the shops. It would be self-defeating. A few shops that we have worked well with, will also get books to give away.
Is there now a different free book for October/November?
@Steven Carr
We have been suffering a bit from post-referendum stress (me), illness (John), holidays (Claire & me) and nothing has really happened.
But yes, there should be another book. Our webmaster has been looking at a choose-your-own system, but not gotten back to us; and we love him so much we never push him.
So for now I will prepare a blog post Monday to clarify matters.
Hi, I cant order cause cant finish filling Post code on your web page while creating account. My town (EU) has only 4 numbers in post code, but your web is requairing 5. 🙁
@k.r.
Hi,
The wonders of automated systems. I would suggest making your postcode into 5 digits by placing a zero at the start, and we will remove that zero before posting – honest. You can even add a note to your order reminding us, if you wish.
The Polgar book is now available on forward chess. Does this mean release in physical form is imminent?
@Paul
Hi Paul,
Yes, assuming printing goes as planned, the final volume of the Polgar trilogy will be available in chess shops on November 5th.