Quote:
Originally Posted by neilmarr
Bill: I agree with you one hundred percent ... and I make my living as a publisher. A publisher's role is (secondary to the author) as creator. We're approaching the point where we can cut out the non-creative ancillary workers and get straight to the reader. When folks moan about high street bookstores going broke, I always remember how change bureaux cashed in on selling money in Europe before the Euro put them out of business. I don't weep for those who take a ride. Book sellers are shopkeepers. That's all. They offer a few inches of shelf space and demand four, five, six ... whatever ... times more than the author in return. Bloody cheek. A disgrace! Neil
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Yes, I would agree the retail bookstores days are numbered. Some speciality will live on but what we will likely see is only a few major chains will live on and all of the smaller, more localized shopkeepers will have to shut the doors.
This is not a new thing. It happens in every major market segment at one point in time or another. If there is a quicker, cheaper method to deliver the product to the marketplace it will eventually force the change.
When eBooks capture a larger percentage of book sales things will change rapidly. It will be the usual bell-curve outcome with the time length of the curve to be about 3-5 years before it reaches the upper portion of the curve.