Article about ebook readers affect on bookstores

[basschick]

while i like the idea of bookstores in theory, there are reasons i rarely go to stores these days but they're not just about ebooks. i rarely find the books i'm looking for at brick and mortar stores - guess i'm not looking mainstream enough. and where in the old days they could order a book they didn't have for me fairly soon, but the last several times i tried to order in a book it was either going to take a lot longer than it used to to arrive at the store or i ordered it and it never showed up nor did i hear from the store at least to let me know. add to that that finding books was challenging at my closest store due to the categories the books were put in sometimes, and i can't reach the top shelf at all.

now i mostly buy online, both ebooks and pbooks.

[Notre Dame]

It's a sad fact many people don't want their living space cluttered by books, seeing no value in owning the object, and who give them away to charity shops after reading. Much the same as they prefer having all their music on an iPod. And I seem to remember none of us wanted to change from vinyl to cassette and then again to CD. Now they want us to buy our record collections all over again as MP3s. At least book lovers haven't had that one yet. http://www.chrisscottwilson.co.uk

[MV64]

Some people would say it's a good thing people give their books away to charity and libraries.

I have been holding off buying e-book versions of title I already own, though. I'd like to have e-copies, but the cost would be astronomical and unnecessary. So I can't reduce my clutter, I can only slow it's growth with ebooks for now.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by basschick

...while i like the idea of bookstores in theory, there are reasons i rarely go to stores these days but they're not just about ebooks. i rarely find the books i'm looking for at brick and mortar stores - guess i'm not looking mainstream enough....

now i mostly buy online, both ebooks and pbooks.

Exactly the same here. My daughter still prefers paperbacks and when we were in a big bricks and mortar store in the CBD, she pointed out about 10 different fantasy series that caught her interest. I then used my iphone to take pics so I could keep a record of the book series she liked for gift purposes.

When we were out Christmas shopping my wife and I could not purchase any of those books at other branches of the same store.

I will buy them online at a cheaper price.

[jehane]

Last year the Australian govt reviewed the issue of parallel imports for books. In spite of the independent review recommending allowing parallel imports, and at least one major chain (Dymocks) pushing for it, the local publishing industry successfully lobbied against it. So books in Australia (p, and many e) continue to cost 2-3 times more than in the US. Since that time I have refused to buy books at Australian prices unless I have no choice. I now buy my pbooks online (thank you book depository), secondhand, or earlier this year, waited until a planned trip to the US and bought there. I also bought my Sony over there, since prices here at the time were close to 500AUD, compared to the 200AUD I paid for both the device *and* a sturdy cover. And of course now I am looking to mostly buy ebooks.

sabredog, have you tried the specialist spec fic shops? I used to go to Supernova a lot, but I think that's now become White Dwarf (?) and is in Carillion or City arcade. I think there's another one in Raine Square as well. Of course it's very likely still cheaper from Book Depository - even though I doubt those titles are affected by parallel importing.

[ATDrake]

Robert J. Sawyer's FlashForward has this scene set in the future where Chapters (a major Canadian bookstore chain) has co-evolved with Starbucks so that it's basically this glorified café where people sit and relax and chat while they wait for their customized print-on-demand copies to be produced and wrapped up.

Maybe future bookstores will have a similar niche, e-book-wise.

Something like what people are said to already do at B&N to the detriment of sales: sit and drink stuff while they peruse the books and magazines.

The stores would basically be a comfy browse and select experience, allowing you to flip through the physical books at your leisure (get a better view than the 10% or so of the first chunk that regular sampling allows now) and then click to buy an e-book version of anything you decide you like and maybe even transfer it to your reader in-store.

Like movie theatres with their concession stands, a big chunk of the income would probably be from the drinks and snacks, plus accessories for the various readers and various gift items (including deluxe collectible print copies).

The stores could keep a much broader range of material on hand if they only need one or two copies for people to do the try-before-buy thing instead of needing to move each and every one. And possibly offer special coupons and discounts to customers who take the time to visit and buy in-store rather than online, like B&N used to do with some of their Nook promos this summer.

[GreenMonkey]

Used bookstores seem to do OK. Unlike most e-book evangelists around here I'm not a fan of buying ebooks due to the hated DRM. I frequent my used bookstore plenty and they seem to be doing OK.

I can see why new bookstores are going out of business - hard to compete with online. Amazon / B&N is tough competition. We haven't had anything in a city of about 20k except B&N in at least 4 years - the last Waldenbooks closed at that point.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Notre Dame

It's a sad fact many people don't want their living space cluttered by books, seeing no value in owning the object, and who give them away to charity shops after reading.

Not all of us think it's "sad" to stop taking up valuable living space with books, magazines and albums... living space is shrinking for a lot of people, and optimizing what space you have is important.

Sure, there's nothing great about having to physically convert your collections. OTOH, I'll gladly see hundreds of square feet and hundreds of pounds of books and mags put into a 1 pound drive on my desk.

[ficbot]

If you saw how expensive housing was in my city, you would understand why people need to pare down their books

[mldavis2]

Books can be, for some, a status symbol. Guests peruse your carefully-arranged bookshelves to gauge your reading habits or to get a lead on another title. Decoration is often the goal when choosing a coffee-table book or allocating shelf-space for classics that haven't been read in decades.

But books are also a 'throw-away' commodity. Unless you collect genre or certain authors out of habit, most paperbacks are passed along to friends or thrown in the swap bin at libraries. Many paperbacks aren't bound well enough to survive many years with repeated reading.

Space is also an issue, as @ficbot says. I have bookshelves in the basement with hundreds of books, many of them out of date and of little value to anyone, yet they get boxed and moved when I do. How nice to have 2,000 books on my Kindle, even if I'll never live long enough to re-read any of them ....

The brick and mortar stores will 'sort out.' Of what value are they any more? I get my reading lists from the 'net and friends. I can view covers online, as if that is important in making a selection. I can purchase titles instantly. I avoid lines at checkout stations and the comments of clerks who always seem to want me to know they've read more books than I have because they work in a bookstore.

I wonder if the small, local bookseller might still survive if they can find a way to cater to the serious reader -- provide atmosphere for discussion groups and knowledgeable, non-condescending staff who can lead readers to new authors...I believe 'value added' is the operative terminology. Personal service is highly valued, and a personal relationship with the proprietor brings return business. The real question is how to give the bookseller a piece of the pie that they deserve.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Booksellers aren't valueless: The living salesperson's ability to assist a customer in finding what they're looking for... an ability that is heightened if the salesperson and consumer actually know each other and their personal tastes and opinions... is so far unmatched by a computer program. And salespeople who know their books can do a better job at steering you to other material you might like.

If the store has a way to sell digital books online, therefore, they can satisfy people who need sales help, and want to buy digital product.

Bookstores can also maximize their browsing potential. Keep a single book in-store as a browsing copy, and make the book available as a digital browsing product on terminals in the store, and through a wireless portal in the store. Again, make sure people can buy on-the-spot, or through the stores' online portal. And you've got a functional business.

Digital browsing can also change to make it better for stores to offer: Add videos of the book, filmed comments from the author or reviewers, and maybe even a TV-type commercial spot. Run those browsing videos on the store portal, with a purchase link that will run through the store.

I think any bricks-and-mortar bookstore could do this, and continue to give customers a reason to come into the store and buy through them.

[Dulin's Books]

there are a couple of other threads concerning aspects of this topic

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=111135

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=110908

Many of these local stores just wouldn't or couldn't afford to get ebook content from the likes of Ingram or OverDrive. I know I have been on the waiting list fof both of them so know the up front costs.

Google Books changes that as the set up is much less costly especially for those ABA member stores already using that particular cart system. its just a basic upgrade.

Now , like Steven says, lets see what they do with it.

[Latinandgreek]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Booksellers aren't valueless: The living salesperson's ability to assist a customer in finding what they're looking for... an ability that is heightened if the salesperson and consumer actually know each other and their personal tastes and opinions... is so far unmatched by a computer program. And salespeople who know their books can do a better job at steering you to other material you might like.

If the store has a way to sell digital books online, therefore, they can satisfy people who need sales help, and want to buy digital product.

Bookstores can also maximize their browsing potential. Keep a single book in-store as a browsing copy, and make the book available as a digital browsing product on terminals in the store, and through a wireless portal in the store. Again, make sure people can buy on-the-spot, or through the stores' online portal. And you've got a functional business.

Digital browsing can also change to make it better for stores to offer: Add videos of the book, filmed comments from the author or reviewers, and maybe even a TV-type commercial spot. Run those browsing videos on the store portal, with a purchase link that will run through the store.

I think any bricks-and-mortar bookstore could do this, and continue to give customers a reason to come into the store and buy through them.

I agree.

Also, while I love reading novels on my ebook reader, there are certain books that I want in paper form. Dictionaries, for example. (Mind you I sort of collect dictionaries... every time I bring a new one home, my husband says "You mean there is a dictionary that you don't already own ") When purchasing a dictionary I want to be able to thumb through the dictionary, look up certain words to see how they are defined, etc. For me, brick and mortar stores are indispensable, and I can't see that changing any time in the near future.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Booksellers aren't valueless: The living salesperson's ability to assist a customer in finding what they're looking for... an ability that is heightened if the salesperson and consumer actually know each other and their personal tastes and opinions... is so far unmatched by a computer program. And salespeople who know their books can do a better job at steering you to other material you might like.

Agree with the rest of what you said about browsing and buying digital content on-site, but I don't want a salesperson hounding me with recommendations. I just want to be left alone in a store--bookstore or any other.

It's the guilt factor--I've used a salesperson's time, so I feel forced into buying what they recommend, or else I feel guilty. Either way, I don't like it and will actively avoid stores where salespeople want to "befriend" me--or pigeonhole me.

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Booksellers aren't valueless: The living salesperson's ability to assist a customer in finding what they're looking for... an ability that is heightened if the salesperson and consumer actually know each other and their personal tastes and opinions... is so far unmatched by a computer program. And salespeople who know their books can do a better job at steering you to other material you might like.

I think you're being very optimistic about the knowledge levels of sales staff there. Staff like that will be the exception rather than the norm.