Quote:
Originally Posted by markbot
I guess I was trying to be funny.
It was a broad generalization but the gist is that B&N stores are being supported by people who don't realize they can get the same book cheaper online....but of course, more and more people are realizing the pricing online is better so eventually B&N stores will decline to the point where their big box capacity no longer makes sense...as what happens with Borders.
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This sparks a thought here: often, you can't get the same book cheaper online... at least, not as an e-book. E-book readers are being supported by those who are used to buying books new.
My mom is reasonably tech-savvy, but she has no interest in buying an e-book reader right now. Why? Because, while she's a heavy reader, she gets her books from the used book store in her town. She's used to paying a dollar or less for a book. She's also used to being able to buy a bunch of books, read them, then bring them back and get some reasonable fraction of what she paid for them as credit toward getting different books.
She's retired now, and probably reading two books a week on average, judging by what I see on my visits home... but she's not going to spend $10 for an e-book of a bestseller, when she can get the physical book for less than that from the used bookstore.
I have to wonder how many other people like my mom are out there, who read voraciously, but don't buy their books new.