Comments on: Thieves at RWA

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:28:21 +0000

As a bookstore owner what you are describing makes me sick. It’s bad enough people act like that at book-sales but to have some schmucks act like that at an industry event is reprehensible.

Those are not booksellers, they are thieves and opportunists.

By: Pat L

Pat L — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 02:24:05 +0000

All I can say is that is disgusting. Would be nice to track them down.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:28:54 +0000

You might check online selling venues such as ebay or Amazon to see what dealer in the Texas area might have a glut of books by Kimberley Raye. It won’t be a smoking gun, but it will be a place to start…

By: Walt

Walt — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:56:00 +0000

OMG, someone just walked out with a whole box of her books?

That’s freakin’ shocking.

The key to getting away with it was the hustle, doing it several books at a time. They didn’t take the box — they merely emptied it a few at a time.

The male ringleader could pass for Kevin Smith’s younger brother; portly, beard, backwards baseball cap. I probably have some video of him.

By: Vivi Anna

Vivi Anna — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:49:24 +0000

OMG, someone just walked out with a whole box of her books?

That’s freakin’ shocking.

By: Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 17:31:11 +0000

I saw your link on the RTB blog, and I can only second what you’ve said. Kimberly Raye is a wonderful, charming woman. I didn’t realize ALL her books were stolen. I thought it was a box. (Not that this justifies it in any way, shape or form.) I was also at the same signing since we write for the same house. When I saw no books on her table, I thought she couldn’t make it at the last minute. I had no idea they’d been stolen.

In Ballantine’s defense, they only had one representative at the signing and it was her first RWA event. She had no idea what to expect. Suzanne Brockmann had a wonderfully long line, but that also meant that a lot of the tables in the back were not easily observed.

Last year, there was NOTHING like this going on that I witnessed. My mom felt that the booksellers in question were local because the cost of shipping the books would have been too large to justify the theft.

And I did take home lots of books. Three big boxes between my mom and me. Most were for my mom, and she reads them all then gives them to her library unless it was signed to her. The only duplicates were the books on the luncheon chairs and one author we both wanted our own copy of.