NY Times - The Bookstore's Last Stand

[Kali Yuga]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Distributors exist in other businesses and the producers can still control who sells what and when.

The distributor can sell the products they've purchased to any retailer at their own discretion. Urban Outfitters doesn't order books directly from the publishers; and if the publishers didn't want UO to sell books, there's nothing they can do about it. I seriously doubt Macmillan could insist that Ingram refuse to supply Walmart with books, and they can't afford to withhold product from Ingram.

Which manufacturers and industries exert total control over the retail process and use distributors?

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Physical object or not, manufacturers restrict the minimum selling price of products all the time.

Not in the US. Price floors weren't even legal in the US until 2007.

MSRP is a suggested minimum price that retailers can and do ignore at will.

The list price on the new Steve Jobs biography is $35, Amazon sells it for $18. What do you think would happen if the big publishers demanded that Amazon sell it for $35, but let B&N sell it for $18? Even if Amazon went along with it, they'd fight it publicly, put a big note saying "this price is set by the publisher," make a big stink in the press, i.e. they'd do everything possible to make sure the public blamed the publishers rather than Amazon. Do you genuinely believe that's a viable, let alone appropriate, strategy to save B&N?

(Europe is different; by law, booksellers are required to use the sticker price.)

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If nothing ese, the publishers can window the releases to support certain channels over others, just as the music and video industries window their releases.

Music doesn't window releases. Every once in a while, a retailer might get an exclusive track, but that's about it.

Video/film content is windowed based on broadcast medium. If it's a big hit, first it's the movie theaters (which are under pressure btw), then premium cable channels, then broadcast networks. Once they issue the DVD, it goes to distributors, and any store can get their hands on it.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Nothing stops the publishers from giving bookstores a two-week or even 30-day window when they can sell the books at close to list before letting them flow to discounters.

I don't recall hearing anyone do anything remotely like that. And again, the only way to do that would be to provide the bookstore directly and delay shipments to the distributors -- which runs the risk of ticking off a critical business partner.

What happens when a big best seller comes out, like a Harry Potter or Stephen King? Bookstores scramble for copies, and in 2009 Walmart and Amazon went into a big price war over who could charge less for a mega-hit. The publishers hated it -- but there was nothing they could do about it.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It is disingenuous at the least for the big publishers who created and maintain the volume-discounts policies that are squeezing bookstores, big and small, out of the market....

B&N is, without doubt, one of the largest bookstores in the US, and has been for decades. Where publishers offer volume discounts, B&N is already getting them; Amazon, Walmart and Target aren't getting better deals.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

....that are reducing shelf space for mid-list and back-list titles....

They're reducing shelf space because people aren't buying books in bookstores anymore. That has nothing to do with publisher treatment of bookstores, and everything to do with where and how people buy books, and the stores' attempts to deal with a changing marketplace.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The glass tower publishers *created* the current retailing model by action and inaction. They can change it whenever they choose to.

They did not "create" the current retail environment. B&N and then Amazon were much more instrumental -- and the latter didn't get much help in its early days.

In addition, they can't arbitrarily shape the market. That's like saying "GM could force people to stop buying import cars" or "Microsoft can stop Apple from opening retail stores."

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They are not victims, here.

"Victims," no more or less than any other company in a changing environment. That doesn't alter the fact that those changes are going to cause huge problems for publishers, retailers and authors -- across the board.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If they should actually vanish they'll not be missed when the smaller, nimbler, ebook-first New Publishers replace them.

They won't be replaced by "smaller nimbler publishers."

They'll be replaced by Amazon.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The article is full of publisher spin and misinformation, the biggest being that the fate of publishing is tied to B&N, B&M bookstores, and the NY glass tower publishers. It isn't.

The big pubs make up roughly 50% of the business in the US. So yes, if they fail, that's going to punch a huge hole in the industry.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Rather, they are all the past.... Publishing will have a prosperous publishing future regardless of what happens to the old guard.

Y'know, for years people said the same thing about music, with much more justification given the shady practices of that industry. Where are we now? There isn't a horde of indie bands rocketing to the top of the charts; rather, music sales have tanked, and artists have lost so much revenue that it barely makes sense to sell records except as a promotional structure for a tour. And the indie bands don't make much on tour....

Like it or not, big players are a sign of a healthy market.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

They could still be saved if the publishers deigned to actually act and accept some small term pain for long term gain but they choose not to do anything but moan and complain.

Actually, "short term pain in the name of long-term pain" is precisely what they're doing with agency pricing. The final price of the book is above the Amazon-foisted $10/ebook price, but they make a little less. They're doing this to preserve the perception of value for new ebooks.

In addition, there's no short-term fix that is going to change the buying habits of the public. They can't cut off Amazon and Walmart. They can't cut hardcover prices only for B&N, without setting off retaliatory actions including anti-trust lawsuits. They can't force the public to stop buying ebooks or buy online. They can't force B&N to rip out the cafes and stop selling puppets.

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It may not be a Manhattan future but that would hardly be a disaster.

There's nothing wrong with industries concentrating in geographic regions. In fact, it's often an indication of a healthy industry.

NY, LA and Miami have concentrations of commercial photographers. This is beneficial, because the commercial photographers all need the same resources: studios, models, professional equipment, assistants, agents, labs, clients. You can still do great work if you're living in Peoria -- but you're out of the loop, and it's harder to access those resources.

Publishing is the same way: There are lots of resources in New York: Authors, editors, marketers, agents, illustrators, the works.

Same with tech hot spots (Silicon Valley, Seattle, Austin); advertising (NY, LA); movies (Hollywood, Vancouver); autos (Detroit); Music (Jazz in NYC; blues in Memphis and Chicago; rock in LA); fine art (Paris in the 50s; NY, LA, London now)... the list goes on.

[EbookNerd007]

Yeah, it would be a good idea, as it would give writers who cannot afford to publish a book the opportunity. But, you cannot beat reading a real book even know e-reading is addictive.

[davidwfleming]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The Publishers need to learn a lesson from the music industry and the movie industry. There is a way to make all of this work. They just have to suck it up and change their out dated business practices.

Well-put! The writing is on the wall. Imagination is not needed to figure this out. They may be too big to adapt, however.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

NY Times got it correct. OP mistyped the lead.

Maybe so, but the original lead still contains a dangling modifier. The grammatical implication is that fight for its life refers to Amazon's life. Besides which, doesn't the popular phrase use of, not for?

[scrapking]

With a title like "The Bookstore's Last Stand", I might have expected it to delve into small independents partnering with Google Books, or Kobo signing royalty sharing deals with some of the world's biggest book retailing players (Chapters-Indigo, WHSmith, etc.).

[QuantumIguana]

It isn't *THE* bookstore's last stand. It is *A* bookstore's last stand. Borders and Barnes and Noble are dinosaurs. Some people forget that there were bookstores before these two big box stores existed. Borders is gone, and if Barnes and Noble follows them, there will be more room for the independent bookstores to thrive again.

Paper books are still going to be around, if at a smaller share of the market. It may not be a big enough share to sustain the big box stores, but it may be able to sustain the smaller independent stores, which can specialize and adapt to their local market, instead of trying to be all things to all people. I buy my science fiction books at my local Science Fiction bookstore, Uncle Hugo's.

[ProfCrash]

Agreed. The current independent stores will probably stabilize and some new ones will spring up. It is going to be hard for people in more rural areas because there is a smaller chance that an independent bookstore will open so they might lack a store devoted to books. Towns and cities will probably be fine. The selection might not be as good but I am sure that the independent stores will order books for folks and will adjust what they sell based on the local market.

[QuantumIguana]

The rural areas are pretty poorly served by bookstores as it is. In my hometown, the nearest bookstore was 60 miles away, and that was a B Dalton's in a mall. An e-reader would have been great, because getting to the bookstore was a rare treat. When my parents would go to the mall, I'd just camp out at the B Dalton's until they were ready to go. Of course, in the rural areas, people are already often inclined to make long drives for shopping. Our definition of rural may not be quite the same, my home town had about 500 people, and the "big city" with the mall was a town of about 50,000 people.

There are other outlets for books, of course. There is the drug store and the grocery store, but I have rarely seen a book there that interested me. There is the book section at Target and Wal Mart, but that is a bit paltry, although better than at the grocery store.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

Agreed. The current independent stores will probably stabilize and some new ones will spring up. It is going to be hard for people in more rural areas because there is a smaller chance that an independent bookstore will open so they might lack a store devoted to books. Towns and cities will probably be fine. The selection might not be as good but I am sure that the independent stores will order books for folks and will adjust what they sell based on the local market.

I think you might be overestimating the presence of independent bookstores in most cities and towns. I grew up in a town of 50,000 with a college, but the only independent "bookstore" we had in the 70's was a "book and card store" with a very limited supply of books. We were in heaven when a Waldenbooks and B.Dalton opened in the mall....this was the first bookstore where I saw books shelved spine out - the book & card store had so few books that there was enough room to show them cover out.

In the early 2000's, B&N opened and the B.Dalton pulled out.

I think if B&N dies out, they will not be replaced by independents, but by smaller chains in malls. The way it was in most of the country before the big box stores.

Indy bookstores will still have to compete with Amazon, and while some existing stores have managed to survive, I don't think that this is a very easy business model, since they will lose on price, lose on selection, and, often, even lose on service.

[cjr72]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Indy bookstores will still have to compete with Amazon, and while some existing stores have managed to survive, I don't think that this is a very easy business model, since they will lose on price, lose on selection, and, often, even lose on service.

+1

I think you'll be as likely to see a bookstore in a mall as you will a music store for the same reasons.

[pierak]

I have always bought lots of books, but I live in a rural area, The closest bookstores are 1 hour away for Books-a-Millions, and 2 hours away for any independent. E-books have been a godsend for me.
The book business is in a time of rapid change, I would not hazard to guess where it is headed. Personally, I see nothing wrong with self-publishing e-books; maybe publishers can change their function from gatekeepers to editors (sorely needed, if the self-published books on Amazon are any indication), and overall agents for advertising/marketing books. But if they just resist the tide, as the music industry as tried to do, they will lose in the end.
Maybe paper books will become a more specialized area, for illustrated Children's books, art books, and other books for which e-book format is as yet not quite feasible.

[Yapyap]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

(Europe is different; by law, booksellers are required to use the sticker price.)

Just as an aside, that would be "Some countries in Europe are different". There's no Europe-wide law requiring that, or even an EU-wide law.

[pierak]

Yapyap:
As another aside: love your book counter!

[janjanjan]

B&N's original genius wasn't just pricing. It was the atmosphere in the store. An example--we never took our young children to a standard bookstore, not even a Walden Booksellers. They just weren't welcome--at least not if they wanted to touch something. B&N, otoh, welcomed children, complete with hands and mouths. They both touched the books, unshelved them, looked at another, and talked about all of them. That made for a wonderful weekly trek to the bookstore, with both Mom and child buying something. Since Moms and Dads often come complete with young chldren, that opened up a whole new market that the traditional bookstore didn't even want. Yes, they also had some books cheaper than other booksellers, but since I entered those stores only when on the prowl for something specific, I really didn't pay attention to that factor. As my kids grew, I still visited B&N regularly, and continue to do so.

I know there are people who loved going into traditional bookstores, and miss them and their atmosphere, but there are a lot of us who rarely entered any bookstore pre-B&N, so B&N didn't get dollars I was spending elsewhere. I was basically a library reader only until buying books became so accessible.

I wonder how many children and young adults who are avid readers today got their start just that way, and how many of today's children won't have that experience.

[davidwfleming]

Originally Posted by janjanjan

I know there are people who loved going into traditional bookstores, and miss them and their atmosphere, but there are a lot of us who rarely entered any bookstore pre-B&N, so B&N didn't get dollars I was spending elsewhere. I was basically a library reader only until buying books became so accessible.

I wonder how many children and young adults who are avid readers today got their start just that way, and how many of today's children won't have that experience.

This is an excellent point. The danger for a future without bookstores and libraries is that a younger generation of readers may not be able to "see" and "feel" and visualize the reading experience.

Reading is always in need of new recruits. This takes mentorship and experiences and even a little bit of showmanship in the real world.