For those interested, the second and final segment of our tour of the July 2, 1863 Battle of Hunterstown is now on GettysburgDaily. Up soon will be our tour of the July 3 Battle of Fairfield, which I suspect will also be in two parts. Both tours are based on our book The Complete Gettysburg Guide.
On a separate issue, the Amazon webpage for the book currently shows that Amazon is temporarily not offering the book for sale. Apparently, an Amazon customer complained when the two copies he ordered were both received slightly damaged. It appears that when Amazon faces such an issue, they shut down the availability of the book until the issue is resolved. Our publisher has spoken with our distributor, and hopefully the issue will be fixed very soon. We don't know if the books were damaged at the distributor or Amazon (we may never know) but once they get the problem figured out (replacing the books, etc.) Amazon will be offering it directly from them again.
UPDATE (Wednesday): After working with the Amazon folks, our publisher and distributor have gotten the situation straightened out, and the book is now again available on Amazon. Thanks to everyone who worked to fix it!
That is strange. I have never seen that message on an Amazon page before, and I visit there as much as anybody. Curiously, my own copy arrived damaged (spine ends and corners bent in), but I attributed it to poor packaging by the distributor. I've found that the shrinkwrap itself (when it is very stiff and get bunched up a bit at the corners) can damage books on occasion.
ReplyDeleteWe're very sorry about the condition it came in, Drew. All the books I've received (probably 500 or so) were in perfect condition except for maybe one or two - so it's indeed rare that they arrive damaged to anyone.
ReplyDeleteWe'd never seen that message on an Amazon page either. It showed up on Saturday, and Steve, myself, and Savas wondered what the heck caused it. It seems that the damaged books did, so hopefully it will get resolved. It seems like "overkill" to stop availability of a book for that reason, but we hope that it gets resolved quickly between Amazon and the distributor - and that the book arrives to customers satisfactorily.
J.D.
JD,
ReplyDeleteWatched the second installment of The battle of Hunterstown on Gettysburg daily, this morning. Gave a visual to the chapter on it in your book. When going down to gettysburg in Nov, will be sure to make a stopover in Hunterstown. It is to bad that the farms barn that played such a role had to be lost due to development reasons
Jim Coyle
Hi J.D., I got my copy directly from you and it arrived through the USPS just fine. Weird that they would suspend selling the book over that. Almost sounds like they've been to the eBay school of stupid business decisions. Good luck on getting it straightened out.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm lucky ... got my copy from Amazon on Monday of last week. It was in perfect condition. I'm sure it won't be after lugging it around the battlefield (and beyond) every other weekend. Almost wish there was a three ring binder edition with water proof pages.
ReplyDeleteOff topic - but I couldn't find a way to send you a private email...
ReplyDeleteMy wife and I are considering stopping at Antietam next week - we're taking a quick getaway in WV/NVA - and I've never been to Antietam. Any advice for a first time visitor there?
Hi dpg,
ReplyDeleteDefinitely - stop in at the VC and get the auto tour booklet. It's a great start. There are also sheets available of various walking tours (some of them new) which are a lot of fun. Ask for these rangers and see if they're around: Mannie Gentile or John Hoptak. Ask them for tips about what to see.
Have a great time! BTW, my email is jdpetruzzi@live.com
J.D.
I just got home from Gettysburg where I was able to buy your book at a local book store. I lucked out and got an autographed copy so I am thrilled. Started reading the book and I must say it is really one of the best I have run across. I can't wait for my next trip so that I can use this book from the first page to the last. Thanks for all the hard work you put into writing it.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Patty - Steve and I both appreciate it very much!
ReplyDeleteJ.D.