National Post: The end of bookstores?

[apbschmitz]

I wonder, if I had the misfortune of owning a bookstore right now, what my thoughts would be about saving my business. I might try to turn the place into a salon, a kind of book club where you pay for membership. Rather than selling books — because who can compete with online prices and inventory anyway? — I would hope that people might pay for a place to discuss books in a somewhat organized manner, or to meet touring Big Foot authors, or to hear lectures on specific literary subjects. Of course I'd try to sell everybody some tea and crumpets along the way, or better yet get a wine/beer license. Maybe also offer some writer's workshops, and some e-publishing services that would help members get their books on line. But a straight-up, old-school bookstore? I think I actually would rather be in the buggy whip business.

[DMB]

As a reading addict, I used to haunt bookshops. I particularly liked second-hand bookshops, but most of them died a long time ago.

When I was an undergraduate I naturally bought my academic books from the bookshop that had built its business on supplying the university. Then when several decades ago I moved from my native country to a non-English-speaking country, and subsequently to another, I missed my ready access to books in English. So I set up an account with the erstwhile university shop and regularly ordered stacks of books from them. Then Amazon happened and it all became so easy. The university shop eventually brought in online ordering, but it was clunky and user-unfriendly. So now I buy nearly everything from Amazon and am happy to do so.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by SeaBookGuy

I vacationed in Key West several years ago (pre-ebooks), striking up a conversation with the local bookshop owner. I asked about local reading reading habits, receiving the reply: "What local reading? My sales are almost entirely to tourists." Amazon existed at the time, but wasn't quite the phenomenon it is these days.

ARE there "local reading habits"? The mere idea baffles me. It seems to hinge on the idea that, say, Husband and I should read and enjoy the same things because we live in the same area.

I can't even imagine why someone would think that. The idea seems almost offensive to me -- as though I'm not so much a person as I am a resident of somewhere.

("Oh, how exotic! You're from XYZ! You must LOVE books about ABC!")

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

ARE there "local reading habits"? The mere idea baffles me. It seems to hinge on the idea that, say, Husband and I should read and enjoy the same things because we live in the same area.

I can't even imagine why someone would think that. The idea seems almost offensive to me -- as though I'm not so much a person as I am a resident of somewhere.

("Oh, how exotic! You're from XYZ! You must LOVE books about ABC!")

She meant that the locals in Key West didn't buy books (from her at least) -- nothing to do with what kinds of books they might've read.

[Shadoe]

I think the wisest bookshops are going to realize now that ebooks are the way of the future and they're going to adapt and diversify. The ones that complain and try to hold on to their share of the book market without adapting are going to go the way of the Edsel.

The record companies are going through a hard time right now because everyone's going to MP3s and they're still trying to make things work the way they did thirty years ago. Booksellers need to watch and learn from that example and come up with a better way to survive.

[outlander78]

I wonder how one does that. Movies, music, books, computer games and comic books will all be out of the retail space - what does one diversity into? Trading card games?

[Ransom]

Anyone who thinks hard copy books are EVER going away ought to have their silly head examined. Most of the people I know in the real world that have an e-reader only use it for reading older fictional works that they can download for free, and it's usually just light reading material. Any book that they really care about they will buy in hard copy.

[outlander78]

The trend I have seen:

1. People like streaming video, or getting it on demand - movie stores, especially rentals, are dying out.

2. Young people (the majority buyers of music) want it cheap and fast, don't care about owning the CD or vinyl.

3. Digital distribution of computer games is being driven at both ends - consumers want it now, publishers want to cut out the used trade.

4. Comic books are a dying industry; they are now only found in specialty shops.

5. Newspaper subscriptions are dwindling; people want their news online.

I believe you that books are not going away, but I think ebooks are going to make a major dent in the physical book business. I don't know anyone with an ebook reader who has kept buying physical books at the same rate, and I know fewer and fewer people who do not own an ebook reader, smart phone or tablet.

[GA Russell]

Originally Posted by Ransom

Most of the people I know in the real world that have an e-reader only use it for reading older fictional works that they can download for free, and it's usually just light reading material...

That's me! But I read a fair amount of non-fiction like GK Chesterton as well.

[Ransom]

I LOVE Chesterton! Both his fiction and nonfiction. Actually, aside from The Man Who Was Thursday, his novels never did much for me. But his short stories were mostly great, and not just the Father Brown stuff either. I rank The Everlasting Man as one of the top ten spiritual non-fiction books ever written too.

[stonetools]

Originally Posted by outlander78

The trend I have seen:

1. People like streaming video, or getting it on demand - movie stores, especially rentals, are dying out.

2. Young people (the majority buyers of music) want it cheap and fast, don't care about owning the CD or vinyl.

3. Digital distribution of computer games is being driven at both ends - consumers want it now, publishers want to cut out the used trade.

4. Comic books are a dying industry; they are now only found in specialty shops.

5. Newspaper subscriptions are dwindling; people want their news online.

I believe you that books are not going away, but I think ebooks are going to make a major dent in the physical book business. I don't know anyone with an ebook reader who has kept buying physical books at the same rate, and I know fewer and fewer people who do not own an ebook reader, smart phone or tablet.

Very perceptive quote, but it really goes beyond that. As broadband connectivity and digital content becomes ubiquitous, it appears to me that the problem for booksellers is that people will not want to own content at all, rather they will want ACCESS to content, 24/7, streamed to their computer, for a monthly fee. I remember when I suggested that this was the model of the future on an early thread, people reacted s if I was insulting their mother and screamed abuse at me, saying it was all about DRM and dastardly restrictions on " ownership rights." Without getting back into a discussion of the Topic That Cannot be Discussed, I would submit that the coming generation has moved on and that publishers and booksellers better be thinking of ways to monetize ACCESS to, rather than SALE of, books . Of course, in such a world, the very concept of physical bookstores is a nonstarter and even the current Amazon model, so beloved in MR, would need to be rethought.
IMO, in 20 years and maybe in 10, the bookstore will have gone the way of the video rental store. There will be niche bookstores and booksellers selling physical books. Most people will subscribe to various pools of books for a set fee, a la Netflix. These ebooks will be streamed to their ereading devices, but no one will own many ebooks. Why own, when you can just buy access , 24/7, to the book you want? Connectivity will be by then ubiquitous and the objection that they cannot guarantee a continuous connection for the reading of an ebook will seem quiant., assuming that they haven't found other ways to solve that technical problem. Anyway, that's my vision of the future. It may not be a happy one for those who see ownership of ebooks as the sine qua non, but I think that's where we are headed.

[oggelbe2007]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

And I know this was supposed to be Indie bookstores, but if B&N wants me to stop into their store more often, then could bring back those soft easy chairs they used to have scattered through the stores.

Sorry, those comfy chairs took up too much valuable sales space. We needed that space for the high-profit-margin Star Wars & Harry Potter toys.

[Leyor]

Didn't we have an article recently about how some of the retail prices set on books were pushing small independent bookstores out of business?

I really agree with Shadoe, the book industry needs to learn from the music industry and not repeat the same mistakes they made. New market, new models. Try to find new ways of adding value to what you have.

[wyndslash]

pretty soon we're all going to be online

but, on a serious note, why does it have to be one or the other? can't they co-exist peacefully and still survive? @_@

i don't want to lose physical bookstores. there has to be a compromise in there somewhere.

plus, all this sitting down and getting everything RIGHT NOW is not entirely too healthy, either.

[Ransom]

but, on a serious note, why does it have to be one or the other? can't they co-exist peacefully and still survive?

Oh, I think there will always be plenty of both. There are just too many advantages to hard copy books for them to ever disapear altogether. And that's especially true with non-fiction books that you study a lot. Most of my books that get studied constantly have tons of marginal notes and underlines everywhere, and I know them well enough that I can flip right to the approximate location I need in an instant. It would be really hard to replicate that kind of thing with electronic texts. I've been trying since the 90s.

Plus there's just something much more real and comforting about a book that I think people will always appreciate. Books have all the bells and whistles. It's like the difference between public transport and owning a car. Society may very well get to where we have small commuter trains and buses that can get you where you want to go in an instant one day, but would you really want to give up your car altogether? There's just something about a 59 Vet that no train will ever have. And I think it's safe to say that people will always ride horses too. They can go places no other vehicle can. There are books like that too--books that no electronic media can ever replicate. Like kid's pop-up books. You just can't do that with an e-reader.