Who killed the bookstore?

[mldavis2]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

What did you find wrong or uncomfortable about it?

Screen size is too small. I find the default text size on my K3 just right. Text on the little hand-held devices gets too small for these old eyes. If you increase text size (which I may well have to do some day), it makes reading slower and more difficult with shorter text lines and more frequent page turns. Just a personal opinion from my own experience.

[rhadin]

Originally Posted by queentess

...really? I've not had to do retail (business to individual) accounting, but all the industries I've been in (business to business), you have to remit 100% of the sales tax you collect. Calculating the tax and collecting it is a burden the company has to bear.

Really. I have to collect sales tax when I sell my EditTools Word macros to New York State residents. I just filed my return and I kept approximately 5% of the total. The state provides the calculation.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by darylbrayman

If my parents had passed me a kindle or a nook and said here pick a book, it won't have pictures and your selection is extremely limited. Well you can work it out. Are there even going to be readers in our future. Are we the last generations of recreational readers?

I don't think a run-of-the-mill fiction ebook is necessarily appropriate for a kid. I would have never just picked up a giant book in the library, why would I expect my child to do on an ereader just because that's how I read? When my daughter's ready to read short, all text books (maybe around 2nd or 3rd grade? Judy Blume and all that?), then I'll see if she wants to read on a device. If they're cheap enough and I can trust her not to destroy it.

The "we're the last generation of readers" is a load of BS. I'm sure my parents were saying the same thing about how video games and tv were mindless and rotting my brain, but here I am. I go after all forms of entertainment, including (and especially) reading.

[queentess]

Originally Posted by rhadin

Really. I have to collect sales tax when I sell my EditTools Word macros to New York State residents. I just filed my return and I kept approximately 5% of the total. The state provides the calculation.

That's really interesting. I wonder if it's just the particular industries I've been in, or if it's specific for B2B transactions.

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't think a run-of-the-mill fiction ebook is necessarily appropriate for a kid. I would have never just picked up a giant book in the library, why would I expect my child to do on an ereader just because that's how I read? When my daughter's ready to read short, all text books (maybe around 2nd or 3rd grade? Judy Blume and all that?), then I'll see if she wants to read on a device. If they're cheap enough and I can trust her not to destroy it.

The "we're the last generation of readers" is a load of BS. I'm sure my parents were saying the same thing about how video games and tv were mindless and rotting my brain, but here I am. I go after all forms of entertainment, including (and especially) reading.

You are right about younger kids and eReaders. Kids picture books just don't work with an eReader very well. Neither do graphic novels, which some adults like me are fond of. However, my cousin's 12-year-old daughter is a very advanced reader and was interested in using her Borders gift certs that had been piling up to get a Kobo when I showed her mine. The library has Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson, etc), Suzanne Collins (Gregor, the Hunger Games), Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl, Airman), Shannon Hale (Books of Bayern), and other authors that would interest her in eBook form. I think she'll enjoy her eReader.

Oh, it may not be in color, but illustrations do look rather well on my Kobo. My Gutenberg version of Irish Fairy Tales has a couple of lovely ones by Jack B. Yeats (the volume was edited by his brother, W.B.) and my current library eBook, Pub Walks in Underhill Country, has a few nice ones.

[Nyssa]

Originally Posted by mldavis2

Screen size is too small. I find the default text size on my K3 just right. Text on the little hand-held devices gets too small for these old eyes. If you increase text size (which I may well have to do some day), it makes reading slower and more difficult with shorter text lines and more frequent page turns. Just a personal opinion from my own experience.

Ah. Understandable.

Originally Posted by queentess

I don't think a run-of-the-mill fiction ebook is necessarily appropriate for a kid. I would have never just picked up a giant book in the library, why would I expect my child to do on an ereader just because that's how I read? When my daughter's ready to read short, all text books (maybe around 2nd or 3rd grade? Judy Blume and all that?), then I'll see if she wants to read on a device. If they're cheap enough and I can trust her not to destroy it.

The "we're the last generation of readers" is a load of BS. I'm sure my parents were saying the same thing about how video games and tv were mindless and rotting my brain, but here I am. I go after all forms of entertainment, including (and especially) reading.

I agree with you. My children are elementary age and have asked to use my Kindle (more for the novelty of it, than anything else). They understood that even the children's books I have (fairy tales and what not) were not illustrated, but that didn't really bother them. It was clear, however, that they are not quite ready to give up paper books altogether.

As for the "last generation of readers": I think that if libraries can keep their heads above water, then book stores will follow suit. Many of the children I see at the school library just needed a guiding hand in order to get comfortable. Now, they come in on their own, asking for the books their friends have read, or for the books the Media Specialist read to them the week before. She makes a point of picking authors with series, or multiple titles, in order to give the kids a jump start. Home participation allowing, those same children have begum or will begin to request books for their very own.
My best friend saw her middle school daughter reading a book that she (my friend) read at that age. She was very happy, becuase her daughter spent more time in front of the computer than in front of a book (for leisure, anyway). To encourage the daughter more, I gave her a Barnes & Noble gift card for her birthday.
It is up to the parents, friends of the parents, family members and educators to help and encourage the next generation of readers.

[SolRaven]

Originally Posted by faithbw

This has probably hurt bookstores more than anything. It's not the Kindle itself that is hurting bookstores but the fact that you can get cheaper books at places like Amazon, Half.com, etc. People just aren't getting books from bookstores. They like the experience of the bookstore but not buying books from bookstores. E-Books are just helping to speed up the process.

The last time I was in B&N I didn't wait till I got home to check internet prices. I scanned the barcode w/ my phone and it popped right up. I felt that I was being fair when I checked BN.com against their store that I was in. Sure I would love for B&N to survive, but am I willing to pay twice as much for a book from Barnes and Noble vs. BN.com? I was looking to buy 2 physical books, not ebooks and they were half the price from B&N's own internet store. I ended up walking out without making an in-store purchase.

Most of their stores are quite empty. My closest store is 2.5 mis. away, in Aventura, FL; that store is ALWAYS busy. At Christmas the register lines were wrapping around like a snake, and I didn't even try to get near a Nook. I have never been in there when it wasn't full of people. It's also a beautiful store. It's huge and L shaped with floor to ceiling windows w/ southern and western light. You'll often see people sitting all along the window sills reading.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Payment (or otherwise) of tax doesn't have to mean that this is no longer the case, though. Eg, here in the UK, Amazon's displayed prices include 20% VAT. The price displayed is the price we pay.

That is probably not possible in the US. If somebody tried to do it they would probably be accused of socialism or communism since they are hiding the money that the state steal from people...

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by tompe

That is probably not possible in the US. If somebody tried to do it they would probably be accused of socialism or communism since they are hiding the money that the state steal from people...

Yep, wouldn't be enough local control over state, city, county, neighborhood and cul-de-sac taxes.

[stephanievoid]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

How do you propose that they make e-readers and the (very few) indie authors an ally, when one of the greatest advantages of the e-reader is that you don't have to go to the bookstore?

Also, bookstores biggest problem doesn't come from e-books (yet); it comes from Amazon, and to a lesser extent from supermarkets, etc. selling bestsellers.

One way they could do that is by approaching indie authors who sell well and offering to sell print copies of their books in stores. Not everyone has an e-reader yet, and if a bookstore could corner the market on print copies of some of the bestselling indie authors, it would help them stay afloat because they'd have something the supermarkets don't have. I (and many others) still like to browse bookstores, and that is something Amazon can't really offer yet.

... that's just an idea; might not even work.

[Love.Forever.]

Personally, i don't see myself abandoning paper books for a very long time, it just seems to be easier to read when it's right in my hands, rather than in electronic format. If i did venture into e-format territory, it would definitely take some getting used to.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Love.Forever.

Personally, i don't see myself abandoning paper books for a very long time, it just seems to be easier to read when it's right in my hands, rather than in electronic format. If i did venture into e-format territory, it would definitely take some getting used to.

I'm curious-- if you have no interest in reading electronic books, what drew you to a forum about electronic books?

[wyndslash]

so what's the answer to the question?

in my case, i couldn't find the genres i enjoyed (or even if they had titles under the genre, none that i wanted) so physical bookstores here are almost useless to me.

[bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Payment (or otherwise) of tax doesn't have to mean that this is no longer the case, though. Eg, here in the UK, Amazon's displayed prices include 20% VAT. The price displayed is the price we pay.

And, it's clear that Amazon's software (at least that which is in use in Europe) is well able to handle multiple taxing districts. When I buy from the UK Amazon, VAT is included at the French rate of 19.6%. Heck, if I browse the Kindle titles over on Amazon.com, I'm quoted the price with French VAT already added. That's why I've never understood why the UK Kindle store is limited to those resident in the UK - it's certainly not a VAT issue.

But in the US, it is forbidden to just add the sales tax to the posted price. It has to be added on afterwards, so folks "know" what taxes they are paying. It's just the opposite in Europe - prices quoted to consumers must include VAT. The Americans are gluttons for punishment when it comes to taxes.
Cheers,
Bev

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I'm curious-- if you have no interest in reading electronic books, what drew you to a forum about electronic books?

Yes. Why?