I don't celebrate the death of the bookstore--quite the reverse. Some of my favorite moments have been spent browsing the shelves and coming across finds--new authors, undiscovered books by favorite authors, books about bits of history that had been mysteries to me. Of course, enjoying a cup of coffee surrounded by books can be a wonderful experience.
And I'm very glad some bookstores are opening their mind to eBooks. It certainly makes sense--eBooks take up no shelf space and that's always short.
Still, I wonder if bookstores won't go the way of record stores. With all of the costs involved in running a retail operation, can they really hope to compete? Can they count on readers buying enough of their books at the stores to cover their overhead. Against amazon with paper, traditional bookstores have the advantage of immediacy and being able to consolidate shipping to reduce costs of delivery. But in the eBook market, immediacy and zero cost of shipping are automatic--just features of the product.
Rob Preece
Publisher,
www.BooksForABuck.com