Quote:
Originally Posted by charmian
I wonder if this growing schism might be impacted by the decline of shelf space in bookstores ( http://www.idealog.com/blog/future-b...re-publishing/), and whether authors are more inclined to protest in the genres where a majority of the sales are online? The 75-25 niches that Shatzkin mentions. However, it's hard to measure the shelf-space, whether it is changing, and how fast this may be happening.
I suppose we'll find this out if we see B&N attempting to strong-arm publishers. |
You are right on both counts; there already has neen a massive reduction in US shelf space from the peak around the turn of the century. (I vaguely remember seeing something like 50% from the Borders and B&N closures plus reduction in B&N shelf space in the ones staying open.)
And B&N already went to war with S&S over their "pay to stock" terms. It lasted almost a year and many authors had their sales depressed because of it.
Here's one report on how nasty it got:
http://williamkentkrueger.com/blog/?...ce=twitterfeed