MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Kali Yuga · 11-05-2009, 04:50 PM

Again, a bookstore is a fairly expensive proposition; lots of overhead, moves at a snail's pace compared to downloads, they carry a fraction of the titles of any online presence, etc. Driving customers to a web-based service is not going to save it. Your typical bookstore carries 20,000 books; a "superstore" carries 100,000. B&N's ebook store, in its infancy, has around 200,000 titles plus another 850,000+ public domain books via Google. An ebook store with 20,000 titles would be regarded (correctly) as a crippled joke.

Amazon & the Kindle have clearly demonstrated that you don't need a 4,000 square foot kiosk to sell books and ebooks. And the sampling mechanisms, while not perfect, free me to idly perouse a chapter or so at my own pace and on my own time. As ebooks increase their market share, the bricks & mortar stores -- especially the general interest ones -- will get their margins squeezed and many (if not most) will close, just like video and record stores. You may be justifiably saddened by this, but assuming ebooks gain significant marketshare (which is likely), sticking placards with a URL on it in a bookstore or putting ebooks on a smart card is not going to reverse this process.

So to me, selling ebooks in a bookstore is a foolish and desperate attempt to save an aspect of commerce that is about to get threshed.

11-05-2009, 04:50 PM	#28
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	Again, a bookstore is a fairly expensive proposition; lots of overhead, moves at a snail's pace compared to downloads, they carry a fraction of the titles of any online presence, etc. Driving customers to a web-based service is not going to save it. Your typical bookstore carries 20,000 books; a "superstore" carries 100,000. B&N's ebook store, in its infancy, has around 200,000 titles plus another 850,000+ public domain books via Google. An ebook store with 20,000 titles would be regarded (correctly) as a crippled joke. Amazon & the Kindle have clearly demonstrated that you don't need a 4,000 square foot kiosk to sell books and ebooks. And the sampling mechanisms, while not perfect, free me to idly perouse a chapter or so at my own pace and on my own time. As ebooks increase their market share, the bricks & mortar stores -- especially the general interest ones -- will get their margins squeezed and many (if not most) will close, just like video and record stores. You may be justifiably saddened by this, but assuming ebooks gain significant marketshare (which is likely), sticking placards with a URL on it in a bookstore or putting ebooks on a smart card is not going to reverse this process. So to me, selling ebooks in a bookstore is a foolish and desperate attempt to save an aspect of commerce that is about to get threshed.