Paperless Book store

[shull]

How would you all feel about having a book shop that only does digital e-books in in their book store, and no paper books ?

And also what if you could also have some of this:

- being able to pop in and use their local store, iPad devices as book readers.

- browse book cover images on the shelfs, with codes on them, which you can scan and download with your store iPad device.

- they would probably only allow you to use the iPad while you are in the store

- download the book you want to read, straight away on the iPad.
> and get a 30% discount of the e-book for buying in their store.

- have a personal account with the store, so when you come back, you can have access to all your previously downloaded books.

- and if you do want to take the downloaded book home or copy it to your own personal e-book reader - you would maybe pay a fraction of the original discounted price
> which still means LESS than you would pay, if buying the e-book yourself online at home.

- a very good coffee shop inside the store, eg. Starbucks/ Costa/ Nero, or some other good coffee right there under your nose in the store
(discounts on coffee too )


ohhhh, such a shop would be a dream for me, as it would be so much nicer sitting in a book shop with an iPad reading my fav book, drinking a great cup of coffee…..ahhhhh me time……ough and ending up reading the book cheaper too !

what do you think ? would you be happy to use such a store, instead of a paper book store ?

….. think about the Environment also - considering you use digital books, and NO paper ones !

Let me know what you think about such an idea.
Any constructive criticism is much appreciated.

[HarryT]

A paperless bookshop is as practical as a paperless bathroom, IMHO. The whole point of a bookshop is being able to "feel" the books. Your idea would appear to offer no benefits whatsoever over browsing for ebooks while sitting comfortably at home.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A paperless bookshop is as practical as a paperless bathroom, IMHO. The whole point of a bookshop is being able to "feel" the books. Your idea would appear to offer no benefits whatsoever over browsing for ebooks while sitting comfortably at home.

Paperless bathrooms are great, though. You get to improvise and use the curtains or bath mats! Leave a surprise for the next visitor.

[DiapDealer]

Every coffee shop with free wifi is already this type of bookstore (minus the 30% discount on ebooks and "in-store renting," of course—which the publishers would never allow you to do anyway.

[supermighty]

Any sort of second tier retailer between me an Amazon just adds to ebook cost. And what DiapDealer said about coffee shops with wifi holds true in my opinion.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by supermighty

Any sort of second tier retailer between me an Amazon just adds to ebook cost. And what DiapDealer said about coffee shops with wifi holds true in my opinion.

I agree. Third parties would just end up raising prices.

Oh and very nice avatar.

[shull]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I agree. Third parties would just end up raising prices.

Oh and very nice avatar.

A coffee shop with free wifi offers just that: free wifi.
In a e-book store you would get the discount which a 3rd party retailer would be capable to offer, and also the abillity to browse through the store shelf as you would in a normal book store.
And scan and buy what you select.
About In-store renting there must be a way out dealing with the publishers, as in the end the store buys a new copy for each rent of their book in full (or discounted depending on their deal).

[HarryT]

Given the large expense of operating a retail premises, compared to the cost of an on-line store, can you explain, please, how the economics of being able to offer a 30% discount in the retail store, compared to the on-line store, will operate?

[JSWolf]

Now one thing I think might work is if B&M stores such as B&N added eBook in-house. Otherwise, I can't see it happening.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A paperless bookshop is as practical as a paperless bathroom, IMHO. The whole point of a bookshop is being able to "feel" the books. Your idea would appear to offer no benefits whatsoever over browsing for ebooks while sitting comfortably at home.

Agreed. I'd rather sit on my own couch and surf the web rather than at some "paperless bookstore."

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ucfgrad93

Agreed. I'd rather sit on my own couch and surf the web rather than at some "paperless bookstore."

If it's a paperless bookstore, there's no way they can print out a receipt. No paper you know.

[shull]

HarryT, the '30%' figure that I used was fictional of course to point out an idea.
I still believe you could potentially obtain discounts from publishers.
But of course there is a lot of 'economics' involved which I haven't really thought through yet, you are right.

My original question popped out, just to see how you and everybody else reading the post, would perceive the idea of a retail ebook shop.

I know there are some of us who still read from normal 'paper' books, and also from e-readers.

What I am trying to point out with such a shop idea, would be moving away from a conventional 'paper' book store and having the opportunity to browse the shelfs of a book store but only in digital format.

There are question related to how you would browse an existing book, without buying it ? as you would normally.

Or even the cheeky question for some people: how would you read half a book for free in a couple of lunch breaks, even finish it, and then not buy it ?
I've noticed cases like that before...unfortunately - but this is a bit off topic.

So if you were to have such an e-store working better for the people, then how would you make it be ?

All above were my ideas, some not so good I admit, but how would you see it work ?

[The Terminator]

Kobo does nothing except sell eBooks, but a brick and mortar eBook store just doesn't seem practical. I like purchasing from anywhere I am at the moment.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Now one thing I think might work is if B&M stores such as B&N added eBook in-house. Otherwise, I can't see it happening.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't B&N sort of already have that (in-house ebook)? Last I went, you could play with the Nooks on display and if you bring your own Nook, I do believe you can download and read select titles while in-store. Of course, you've also got access to the complete B&N Nook library for purchase regardless of whether you buy in-store or from the comforts of your own home (or wherever you may be at the moment).

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by shull

HarryT, the '30%' figure that I used was fictional of course to point out an idea.
I still believe you could potentially obtain discounts from publishers.
But of course there is a lot of 'economics' involved which I haven't really thought through yet, you are right.

The economics issues are *substantial.* The big-name mainstream publishers aren't going to offer stores a discount--they worked hard to prevent Amazon from offering discounts for ebooks.

My original question popped out, just to see how you and everybody else reading the post, would perceive the idea of a retail ebook shop.

A lot of us love the idea of a retail ebook store; there aren't any because the only way it's been remotely close to economically viable is to tie it to both a physical bookstore and a pre-existing online presence, like B&N.

A store might be able to sell ereaders and accessories, have a few kiosks for access to different ebook stores, and offer free wifi for those devices that allow that kind of purchase, but it's hard to see how the store would make a profit.

The store would have to offer something substantially better than either
(1) sit at home and browse for ebooks, and
(2) meet friends in a free wifi cafe to chat & browse for ebooks,

in addition to all the hassles of setting up a digital bookstore, deciding how to deal with DRM, sorting out which publishers to carry (self-pub ebooks? Textbooks? Comics?) and so on. And, of course, picking a location that has enough high-tech traffic to support such a store.

What I am trying to point out with such a shop idea, would be moving away from a conventional 'paper' book store and having the opportunity to browse the shelfs of a book store but only in digital format.

Ebook browsing sucks. Amazon is best at it, and it's still sharply limited; there is no convenient site for "show me all the mystery books starting with authors beginning with AA..." Many publishers refuse to provide the info that any reader would know on seeing a physical book: how long is it? How many chapters does it have? Are there pictures inside? Can I read it in any setting I like?

Or even the cheeky question for some people: how would you read half a book for free in a couple of lunch breaks, even finish it, and then not buy it ?
I've noticed cases like that before...unfortunately - but this is a bit off topic.

Any reasonably savvy bookstore has no problem allowing students or other financially-strapped people from browsing and reading entire books, as long as they're not damaging the merchandise or getting in the way of other customers. When they've got money for books, they'll spend it at the store that welcomed them. In the meantime, they show the staff which selections are popular, and sometimes help other customers find things.

Not sure how that translates to ebooks, though; publishers don't allow full-length browsing the way physical stores do, and digital browsing ranges from "nuisance" to "too horrifically clunky to bother with" at different stores.

Also: not all ebook readers have wifi. Mine don't, and I'm not looking to replace them with ones that do. I do almost all my reading these days digitally; I can barely tolerate paper anymore--but I'd be shut out of your store, which you seem to have imagined only working for people with tablet readers.