Quote:
Originally Posted by ebusinesstutor
Local bookstores can't compete and I'm not willing pay an extra $8 per book just to support them. But I will be sad when they close.
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When I pay that extra 8 bucks, I figure I'm paying for
(1) getting a hard copy immediately rather than waiting for it (given that a hard copy is what I want in preference to an ebook, which is often the case);
(2) curating by the bookstore - i.e., selection of interesting books I might not have known about, organized in a visual fashion;
(3) opportunity to check out the contents in the way I want to check them out, as opposed to being limited to the first few pages(often the intro rather than the narrative) or an arbitrary "read inside" somehow selected for me;
(4) opportunity for an excursion to a "great good place" (The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, by Ray Oldenburg)
(5) interactive counseling from someone who can help me locate what I want, even if I don't know I want it.
So I consider the money above the Amazon price as payment for something Amazon isn't selling.