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Agenda Book Store
Republic Street Valletta |
And here's why. At the end of 2016, we had signed an agreement with a renowned book publisher and distributor for the Maltese Islands. We aimed to have the book in as many brick-and-mortar book stores on Malta and Gozo as possible; primarily, at the cruise port and the airport, for tourists to acquire a unique and colourful book about an unheralded group of volunteers. The
book dwells into the private side of 22 of these individuals, who selflessly and lovingly take care of and strive to limit stray and abandoned cats. In addition, we invested a considerable amount in having beautiful hardcover books printed and delivered, promising €1 per copy to return to the carer community through Happy Paws to support their TNR program.
None of the above exploitation happened. Copies of the books in English, German and Maltese only showed up in a handful of stores across the nation, very few of which were frequented by the Islands‘ visitors. Reporting was late, and soon the distributer insisted
that we reduce our stock as it blocked warehouse space.
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| Announcing Islands of Cats in 2016 |
Besides our own initiatives, including an
interview on popular Animal Diaries and
a spot filmed for TVM airing right before the evening news, several attempts to even pay for joint promotion campaigns remained unanswered. In 2020 we donated 120+ stock to the Maltese cat shelters portrayed in our book for them to sell and keep the funds. Due to this
turn of adverse events, we were unable to keep our pledge to Happy Paws.
In spring 2021, we finally terminated the distribution agreement. We are still waiting for the distributor’s acknowledgement. And to this date, we have not received any final sales report. In the meantime, the distributor has
removed the books from their web store. To say the least, we are disappointed by this company’s unresponsiveness to our promotional efforts.
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