1798 replies to this topic

[Keith NC]

Apologies if posted elsewhere.  Do hope I am misinterpreting the message

 

https://www.willbell.com/Default.htm

 

 

[BradFran]

[Waddensky]

Wow...

[ShaulaB]

Sadness.

[spereira]

Wow.  This will certainly be too bad.  I have purchased a significant number of books from them in the past.

 

smp

[John Rogers]

That announcement marks the end of an era.  Sad news!

[The Planetman]

Sad news indeed.  They produced some wonderful books over the years. 

[N7GTB]

...odd.  I just placed an order, and received confirmation.  Strange thing if they're not accepting orders...

 

Just a guess on my part, but If you have needs/wants, might be best to order them in now. 

[Jim R]

Sounds kind of final to me.

[BlueMoon]

 

...odd.  I just placed an order, and received confirmation.  Strange thing if they're not accepting orders...

Interesting. I ordered and received a few books over the last couple of weeks myself and a number of others years past. No indication they were closing the doors. One would think that with their history and customer base that they would at least mention "why" they were shutting down. Seems rather abrupt. I wonder if they might be acquired by another publishing company.

Edited by BlueMoon, 26 October 2020 - 05:29 PM.

[N7GTB]

I guess my point is, don't take this too literally just yet.  I've done enough web development, in a production environment, to know how easy it is to push something out that shouldn't be.  They might be serious or, they might have a mistake they aren't yet aware of.  Just say'n... 

[BoldAxis1967]

Say it isn't so!

 

I too have bought several books from them since I joined this hobby in 2012.

 

A sad day. A very sad day.

 

L.

[BoldAxis1967]

I guess my point is, don't take this too literally just yet.  I've done enough web development, in a production environment, to know how easy it is to push something out that shouldn't be.  They might be serious or, they might have a mistake they aren't yet aware of.  Just say'n... 

I hope you are correct but nothing can be added to the cart and the announcement is posted on their home page.

 

L.

Edited by BoldAxis1967, 26 October 2020 - 05:49 PM.

[The Ardent]

That they closed isn’t surprising. What’s extraordinary is that they stayed open as long as they did.

[N7GTB]

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm still able to add things to the cart and check out...  Go figure.

[janame]

I just gave them a call and spoke to (I believe) the owner.

 

He said:

-There's been a perfect storm of events (health issues, departure of their web developer) which have made it impossible to operate currently.  He's in his 80s and "it has to end sometime."

-He's got feelers out to sell the operation to another business, emphasizing the closure is *not* for financial reasons, but no solid plans yet.

-They've just paid for Annals Vol 8, but they currently have no way of processing orders, and won't be taking anyone's money if they can't deliver.

-Orders placed on the website now will be voided.  He's looking at the website code and trying to figure out how to stop the orders without taking down the entire site.  People still use the image processing software which requires the website to register and he wants to do right by those individuals.

-He'd rather throw everything in the dumpster than sell to the remainder market.

 

Overall, he seemed confident that the books will eventually become available again through another publisher (he said they might not sell the name, but would sell the books and facilitate author introductions).

Edited by janame, 26 October 2020 - 06:09 PM.

[sanbai]

Yesterday I was going to place an order!
I didn't because I decided to wait for the volume 8 of the Annals of the Deep Sky, which was sent to print on August (according to Annal's Facebook page).

I hope their books are made available elsewhere. Of course, I also wish the best to the owners. Hopefully it's a deserved retirement!

Edited by sanbai, 26 October 2020 - 06:07 PM.

[Chris P-T]

I just gave them a call and spoke to (I believe) the owner.

 

<…snip…>

I just had the same conversation with him!

[N7GTB]

[Starman1]

A True Bummer.  MANY of the astronomy books on my shelves are from them.

[esd726]

Apologies if posted elsewhere.  Do hope I am misinterpreting the message

 

https://www.willbell.com/Default.htm

Edited by esd726, 26 October 2020 - 07:00 PM.

[desertstars]

 

He's got feelers out to sell the operation to another business...

Sure hope something comes of that. 

[lxr4345]

Dang.  I LOVE my Bright Star Atlas, but it has been much abused.  I figured that for $10 it's easy enough to replace when it finally falls apart, but I think I'm going to baby it from now on. 

 

fwiw, I ordered a copy of Volume 1 of Annals a few weeks ago, and there was something lost in translation because it didn't ship.  I called a few weeks later to see what was up and everything was rectified (and I received) my book as quickly as possible after that so kudos for doing right by me.  But the gentleman I spoke to seemed very flustered and I'm not surprised to hear that he's not interested in dealing with the aggravations of retail business anymore. 

 

I am disappointed though.  Annals seemed like a very ambitious and amazing project and I was very much looking forward to one day owning the whole series, but it won't entirely surprise me if it never reaches fruition.  Between one of the authors leaving, and the publisher shutting down, things are not looking good.

Edited by lxr4345, 26 October 2020 - 09:25 PM.

[JOEinCO]

Yepper. Doesn't bode well for the remaining 38 Volumes of Annals....

[turtle86]

Really hope something works out so that Annals will be continued, and that at least some of their titles will be available again.  

 

For now, I’m sure glad that I already have many of their offerings.