Quote:
Originally Posted by LoganK
He does have an interesting point that I hadn't considered. If half of all book buyers switched from B&M sales to online/electronic sales, and we assume that the other half of the customers will never do this and that the remaining customers will not be sufficient to support those stores, then we could in fact see a short-term collapse of the publishing industry as most of the customers no longer have a market available to them.
Of course, this isn't specific to e-books as online sales create the same issue in every market.
It also ignores that customers have alternatives that also involve books (such purchasing at multi-purpose stores (Target/Walmart) or online). It's a fairly big leap to assume that the loss of bookstores would lead the population away from buying books.
I wonder if this is the primary concern driving B&N's attempt to bring e-book readers back to the stores...
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Many years ago, when home computer software was mostly supplied on cassette tape, there was an automated system that appeared in many software chains in the UK (Game was one of them). You chose the game/software, paid the sales assistant, and the machine then produced a copy on cassette for you.
Something similar could easily be put in place in any retailer's store: choose the ebook, machine produces a CD with said ebook recorded on to it (and possibly a printed cover for the case), and off you go. That way people are still coming into the bricks and morter store, there are more stores that can use the machine to sell ebooks, and ebook readers have less need to shop online (well, except for pricing and Kindle readers).