Book News: Booksellers REALLY hurting
December 30th, 2008There is a fantastic column in the New York Times about how badly publishers and booksellers are doing. Borders is in a lot of trouble, Olsson’s in Washington went bankrupt as did Robin’s in Philly. There are even some Barnes & Noble stores that are closing down. This is obviously the effect of Amazon.com and the millions of people around the world who are selling their old books online.
David Streitfeld, the writer of the column, says he is just as guilty as everyone else as he often buys and sells books online. He struggles with wanting to support the book industry and saving money at the same time:
One consequence has been to change the calculations involved in buying a book. Given the price, do I really want to read this? Now it’s become both an economic and a moral issue? How much do I want to pay, and where do I want that money to go? To my local community via a bookstore? To the publisher? To the author?
In theory, I want to support all of these fine folks. In practice, I decide to save a buck.
Streitfeld goes on to talk to the various people involved with buying the book online. He talks to the publisher, the author, a local book store and the seller. The article is really fantastic and you need to read it. It is short. It also poses some very interesting questions that deserve discussion.
As a reader, where do you get your books? Do you feel bad buying on the secondary market knowing your purchase supports neither the publisher nor the author? For me, I can’t remember the last time I bought a book (apart from gifts). Any books that I don’t get to review I check out of my local library.
If you are a book blogger…do you see yourself as a soldier in the fight to save the industry? As romantic as that sounds, I wonder how accurate it is. I know some of the bloggers have a huge number of readers and certainly some of those people will buy books based on recommendations they read. But my reviews link to Amazon.com, where the buyer has the choice of buying used if they want.
It’s an interesting questions and I am curious how you feel about it.
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December 30th, 2008 at 9:00 am
As a book blogger and bookseller, I definitely feel that I’m in the fight to save the industry. Publishers are having a hard time because their old business models are outmoded and don’t work with the way publicity and sales have changed because of the internet, and booksellers are hurting because the economy sucks right now and people want to save money by getting books from the library or buying used.
I wish that everyone who got inspired to read a book based on one of my reviews would go out and buy it, but that’s not always possible. What’s most important is that we continue to celebrate and support the industry in whatever ways we can and that we are flexible as they try to figure out how to develop better business models. The written word isn’t going away anytime soon…publishers and booksellers will figure out how to make things work, and in the meantime, we’ll all continue to do what we can to support our reading habits without going broke.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I like getting books from the library because they are free and I will likely only read them once. I do like to buy coffee table books because they are nice to look at multiple times.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Also… my husband would yell at me if I bought a lot of books that I could get at the library
December 30th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
I can only shrug when I read articles like this, because they are really speaking to people with plenty of discretionary income.
I’ve read 406 books so far this year, and I’ve been keeping a running total of what I would have paid for them if I had bought them all. The discounted price on Amazon would have been $5846.83, and the lowest possible used prices, not including shipping, would have been $2414.85. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying I simply cannot afford to spend that kind of money. If I had to *store* all these books, it would mean moving to a larger place, which I also can’t afford. That’s why I use the library.
On the other hand, I’ve nearly tripled my usual reading rate this year. Since I started keeping a book blog, I’ve run across more people who are reading more due to the increased attention they are paying to books. I spent nearly $150 this year on books as Christmas gifts, and I might have spent about $100 buying books for myself over the course of the year, when in years past I would not have. Maybe booksellers would do better if they focused more on the used market, bringing more books within the purchasing range of more people.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I rarely pay full retail for a book, but I am fearful that major booksellers may go out of business. However, I am amazed that so many people are standing around reading in Barnes and Noble. I would think that would deter the buying of books, but when I asked a regional mgr. from there, he said it increases purchasing, so I guess they know what they are doing. (just don’t buy the books with dog-eared pages) Also, I think in the coming year libraries will flourish.
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
As a book blogger, my interest is in books and reading, not the industry of selling books.
It is interesting to me that when the article talks about booksellers suffering, it means brick and mortar booksellers. Amazon is selling books, therefore it is a bookseller. I certainly do not feel any particular loyalty to mega-companies like Barnes & Noble or Borders just because they have a stores in my city. I never feel compelled to pay more for a book from them then I would pay at Amazon.
I admit that I have a soft spot for local book stores, particularly Powell’s. But one of the main reasons I like Powell’s is that they sell used books right along side the new books.
If I buy a new book, it is generally for a gift or because I want to read it and cannot find it used. When I buy new, I almost always buy from Amazon because it is extremely convenient and costs me less.
I am absolutely in favor of buying used books. Again, this is a market choice for me because they usually cost less than a new book. I think buying used books helps authors because it gets their books read. Building a reader base, even if it takes used books to do it, is hugely important to an author.
Besides, used books are the “green” choice now. Reduce, reuse, recycle and all that.
Finally, I am all for getting books from the library. I get all my audio books from the library and some paper books. Again, the more people using the library means more readers exposed to an author’s work. And, the more people using the library, the more brand new books the library buys to support the demand. So publishers and authors benefit financially from the popularity of libraries.