Thread: Who will fill the gap if B&N collapses
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Old 10-04-2017, 10:07 PM   #140
Cinisajoy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8 View Post
To an extent, I think that we are both bring different assumptions to this discussion. Let me give it one more shot, then we just agree to disagree.

My definition of a commodity is something where there is no perceived difference between two items in the same group. A bushel of corn from Kansas is the same as a bushel of corn from Canada. If you were to say that _some readers_ perceive books as a commodity, then I would agree with you, though I think that percentage of the reader population is small. There are certain genres where it's more common than others - fanfic (I think that some Harry Potter fanfic types see no real difference between JK Rowlings and G. Norman Lippert, both write in the same universe), shared universes (many see no real difference in the various writers in the Star Wars universe).

But just because a group of readers may perceive it that way, does not make it so. It only becomes a commodity when the majority of the market perceives it as a commodity. Memory chips is very much a commodity. TV's and DVD's have become a commodity, but it was not always so. At one time Sony commanded quite a premium because of the perceived quality advantage. Sony allowed their product to become a commodity. Most would consider coffee to be a commodity, and while I agree that normal super market coffee is a commodity, I would also say that I'm a bit of a coffee snob and I can tell a huge difference in quality in the coffees that I buy verses what I could by in the grocery store, and I'm more than happy to pay the difference in price.

In general, I think that most readers don't perceive books as a commodity. People wanted to read the latest Harry Potter book, and no other book was an acceptable substitute. Same for authors like Dan Brown and Stephen King. That's why they sell millions of copies of their books, while other authors think they are doing great when they sell 30 thousand. I do think there are certain things that can change that perception, but I don't think we are there by a long shot.
Hey coffee lover, I have 2 or 4 words for you.
Big Lots / Odd Lots. They sometimes have good coffee cheap.
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