Buying e-books at Borders / Barnes & Noble, etc.

[nekokami]

To meet other people who like books, and talk with them. "Oh, did you read that? What do you think of it? Have you read this?" I've had countless conversations with strangers that way, some of whom ended up becoming friends. Including book store employees.

[kovidgoyal]

Now that's a reason I cant argue with

[RWood]

Over the years I have know many bookstore owners (sadly all of them are now in other fields as the major chains ran them into the ground.) I enjoyed their company and to a degree you might even say a "lounge lizard."

As neko points out, the interchange of ideas is/was critical for most of these small shops to exist. Prices were always lower somewhere else. I went there for the obscure, the unfound gem in the mountain of s#*t. I miss those days. The closest I have come to them again has been the banter in these forums following a new posting in the download section.

[nekokami]

I just found a new (new to me, anyway) sf used book store in my area. Visited today, bought several books.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Now that's a reason I cant argue with

Heh, any reason can be argued with, if you're willing to be silly enough about it.

[dhbailey]

My ideal situation wouldn't rely on bookstores -- you could just as easily log into the service from your home computer.

My idea of having it in bookstores is that if the bookstores can actually make money from the e-books (as opposed to just making money from selling the reader) they would promote things more heavily, and the buying power of Border's and Barnes&Noble would provide much more incentive for the publishers to make their backlists as well as ALL their new releases available.

Currently Border's and Barnes&Noble are most likely putting pressure on the publishers NOT to bring out e-book editions since they won't make any money from them and will actually lose money from those of us who will buy only electronic versions.

But if there's a profit, corporations will support it, thus the idea of having the kiosk in the stores themselves and letting them make the same profit margin they currently make from paper sales.

It's obvious that Sony Connect isn't able to wield the same clout that Border's and Barnes&Noble can wield to force publishers to do what they want.

[BettyE]

Actually, there was an aricle in the WSJ last week talking to the CEO of Borders and he was talking about letting people buy music on their website and then come into the store and have store personnel load the music onto the customer's MP3 player. I think there could be something similar of the Reader.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BettyE

Actually, there was an aricle in the WSJ last week talking to the CEO of Borders and he was talking about letting people buy music on their website and then come into the store and have store personnel load the music onto the customer's MP3 player. I think there could be something similar of the Reader.

The problem there is the way the Reader works. My Reader is authorized to my computer and my account. If they took it to load book, they would have to login as me and authorize their computer and authorize my reader on their computer. Then would I be able to go home and use my Reader as normal or would I have to authorize my account/Reader again? Of course, if the books were DRM-Free then it would work no problem.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

My idea of having it in bookstores is that if the bookstores can actually make money from the e-books (as opposed to just making money from selling the reader) they would promote things more heavily, and the buying power of Border's and Barnes&Noble would provide much more incentive for the publishers to make their backlists as well as ALL their new releases available.

Just to make the startup even more costly, I think the trick would be a whole new concept of the bookstore. Bookstores have already evolved. Take the idea of a book-related social space and run with it. Set the kiosks up in a Starbuck's-like setting with promotional materials, sample chapters, readings, signings, etc.

Originally Posted by dhbailey

It's obvious that Sony Connect isn't able to wield the same clout that Border's and Barnes&Noble can wield to force publishers to do what they want.

That's where it becomes a numbers game. The major publishers made a great show of being behind the launch of the Reader, because Sony painted them a pretty picture of protected content sold through a single source. Now Sony has to prove out the numbers--number of Readers in the wild and number of sales through CONNECT.

[monkeywrench]

Originally Posted by jasonkchapman

Take the idea of a book-related social space and run with it. Set the kiosks up in a Starbuck's-like setting with promotional materials, sample chapters, readings, signings, etc.

This is a really excellent idea and is already in use with video games. Nintendo has had download stations in stores like Target and Best Buy for several months. Anyone with a Nintendo DS handheld gaming system can go to one of these stores and download demos over Wi-Fi.

Starbucks currently features a book every few months and stores like Barnes and Noble and Borders could feature new releases, etc. allowing customers to download sample chapters. I have also seen pamphlets at Barnes and Noble called "Discover Great New Writers" that would be excellent to load onto our readers.

I am guessing that giving people a taste of a book might lead them to buy the full thing and I would also expect that people walking up to these kiosks with a reader would spark interest in those people that don't have one or don't know what they are.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

The idea of having store personnel actively interacting with the customers is great, although I think it would be better if the download process was fairly automatic. The store personnel are better suited to be in a position to discuss books with customers, to answer their questions and to build their enthusiasm in a book (and, if necessary, to show them how the downloader works). Based on everyone I've ever talked to or heard from, having store personnel that engaged customers, discussed likes and dislikes, and recommended books based on that information, have been the most popular places for book buyers to go.

[jasonkchapman]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Based on everyone I've ever talked to or heard from, having store personnel that engaged customers, discussed likes and dislikes, and recommended books based on that information, have been the most popular places for book buyers to go.

For the independent bookstores that have survived, or those that held on the longest, that's been the key. They've been staffed with voracious, knowledgeable readers that liked nothing better than to talk about and recommend various books and authors.

I'm lucky, in that I pretty much live in that kind of environment now, but back in the day the staff was the criterion by which I chose my bookstores. There was a Little Professor store in Florida that was owned by a couple who were amazing--true book lovers. It kept me coming back, even though I drove past the new Books-a-Million to get there.

Reading may be solitary, but books are social nexus.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Not that Kovidgoyal doesn't make a good point, though... the bookstores full of knowledgeable owners and salespeople are dying out fast. Thank goodness that for those of us who no longer have access to such stores, the internet still allows us contact with other enthusiasts who can recommend good books (as well as other interests, like e-books!) and keep the enthusiasm going.

[yvanleterrible]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Why on earth would anyone want to visit stores when there's the internet?

I agree with you on this one but until our readers can connect to internet, we're slave to a computer connection. When someone is stuck at an airport with no access it could be cool to have one in a bookstore. Also a dedicated book display in a store could allow to browse through a book before purchase. But this is a temporary market that would soon be superseded.

I think a connection to internet directly from a reader will greatly enhance sales and make readers much more popular.

Only thing I'm afraid of is that a device maker might use a connection limited to their book site.

[Tattncat]

Originally Posted by dhbailey

Yesterday I walked into Border's and was struck with a terrific idea (well, I think it's terrific, others may easily point out that I should be locked up in a padded cell, but that's beside the point).

We need to have publishers know there's a large marketplace out here, correct? We need/want to have easy access to all their titles, old and new correct?
We currently can only buy such ebooks for our readers from Sony's Connect store through our own computers, or by having our registered reader connected to someone else's computer, correct?

My idea is that there would be a kiosk in all these bookstores (takes up very little costly floor space) which would have USB connectors so any portable reading device owners would bring their connector with a USB plug on the end to plug in and which we could plug our reader into and turn it on and it would perform some sort of handshake (just like it does now with Sony Connect) so that only registered devices would be allowed to buy the books, and we could download them right there, and also access them from our home computers once purchased.

So the bookstore would earn a percentage of each sale, making it economically worthwhile for them to promote it, potentially earning more for that square footage in a day than if it had been a bookshelf, the publishers wouldn't have to each maintain a web-site for sales, or relegate such sales to the horrible Sony Connect store, so the responsibility would be removed from their shoulders and they'd only have to sign the contracts to allow the issue of their books in e-book formats and would only have to cash the checks.

And we could have instant access to the same books that we might have bought paper copies of in the same bookstore, rather than having to write down the name of the book and then wait hoping against hope that it might someday show up at Sony Connect.

I am very hopeful about this potential especially with the new Adobe Digital Editions, where there would only have to be one single format of e-book for all devices which are enabled with Adobe Digital Editions software. And I remain hopeful that it will be incorporated into a forthcoming update patch for our readers so that the current jungle will become much simplified and such a kiosk system could be setup and become available in airports, shopping malls, bookstores, electronics stores (buy your reader and immediately buy some books for it!).

Exactly!