Ezra Klein: The Future of Bookstores

[marmar]

from The American Prospect's blogs:



THE FUTURE OF BOOKSTORES.


I'm one of the many who has no problem with large, chain bookstores. I remember when all my city had was a tiny Crown bookstore, no larger than your average Starbucks. The first Barnes and Nobles was a revelation for me, and the six after that -- which don't even include the Borders that arose shortly thereafter -- were all welcome additions. But, like Matt, I recognize their advantages have largely been overwhelmed by the online booksellers.

At this point, the brick-and-mortar book model seems to be leveraging the enjoyable atmosphere created by rows of books in order to subsidize the sale of expensive coffee drinks, wireless internet, and DVDs. At the end of the day, physical stores have fewer books, higher prices, and offer less useful information than virtual outlets. They're better for browsing, but without reviews and "other books you might like," worse for choosing. As Matt puts it, " you don't need the book immediately, the practical advantages to shopping online are just enormous." And even that may end shortly, as the Kindle and similar devices make eBooks more viable. There is, after all, no real reason that text has to be printed on paper and carried around. Soon, you'll just download your book, and that'll be far quicker than driving out to the store.

All of which I take to be a shame. I love bookstores, and spend a significant fraction of my time in them. When I go to Politics and Prose, I purchase books I don't need, partially out of a desire to simply donate to the store's continued operation. I keep trying to figure out a reason I believe bookstores will survive into the future, but it seems pretty clear that books will eventually be as mercilessly digitized as music, and most bookstores will close, just as most CD stores were shuttered long ago. Tell me why I'm wrong.

Posted by Ezra Klein on February 8, 2008 11:48 AM


http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=02&year=2008&base_name=the_future_of_bookstores

[enlightenment]

1. I love bookshops and books.

The tactile relationship between the words and my body - the feel, the smell, the sensation and pleasure of turning a page.

I have downloaded books before - mostly old, hard to find volumes that have been laboriously copied into digital form by volunteers at the Guttenberg project. But I still take the time to reformat them in Word and print them, unless they are entirely too long to justify the cost of paper and ink. But I don't like reading ebooks. It becomes a chore rather than a pleasure.

I agree with Ezra, though. It's very sad.

[Cleita]

2. I remember before We had Crown Books we had real

bookstores, like Pickwick in Hollywood that took up a city block and that carried their back list in sections by publishers. You could find anything in print there, anything. The bookstores smaller than Pickwick were far superior to any Barnes and Noble you will find today. As a matter of fact Barnes and Noble was better back then. Crown Books actually was the catalyst that destroyed the great books stores of the past by undercutting them with cheap remainder stock that the good bookstores couldn't compete with. I wasn't unhappy to see Crown Books disappear, but what reemerged is a poor phantom of what a really good bookstore is all about.

[frazzled]

3. Boy, I'm still lamenting the loss of the independent bookstores

The great ones I remember are Truman Metzel's exceptional Great Expectations bookstore in Evanston, Illinois; the recently lamented Hungry Mind in St. Paul, MN. Better than anything I found in Boston or Cambridge during the time I lived there.

Now back in Chicago, I'm thankful at least there is the Seminary Coop Bookstore.

The chains are okay but not nearly sufficient in their depth or staff knowledge. The tables of books you see in the front are paid for by the publishers, not thoughtfully recommended by dedicated staff/readers. The Internet is great for price--if you already know what you want.

Nothing will replace the lazy hours spent thumbing through unanticipated treasures, or having the owner of a bookstore recommend somet unknown treasure to you.

Oh well, time to move on. I can accept that things change. But not that it's always for the better.

[truedelphi]

4. I sell books to bookstores. This is a career NOT for the faint hearted

If you are not suicidal before launching this careeer, you definitely would be some weeks into it.

On Dec 1st I call a bookstore to ask when the book buyer will be there, and what their name is. I'm told to call three days later. Call three days later, the woman, "Liz" has changed her shift to be the following day, but she'll be leaving early.

Call that day, way before Liz is supposed to leave for the day, but she has left.

Call a week later - she is enthused about the books but needs to see them - would I ship them?

Call two weeks later, by now the books should have arrived.

Yes they have arrived, but they are in a pile of books at her desk - she needs to look through them. Then Comes the holidays - she is off for two weeks.

Call second week of January, she remembers somewhat looking through the books, but cannot remember what she thought (Doesn't own a notebook and a pen, I guess.) And she no longer knows where the books are. Could I send them again? Of course - this reshipment of the books is at my expense.

Meanwhile the orders from Amazon have come in each and every week. Once every ten days or so, Amazon notifies me by email that we need to send them X amount of books. Each month, at almost the same precise spot of time, the profits from the Amazon sales are in the bank.

No phone calls, no chasing anyone around. Just business done simply and elegantly.

I think the bookstore organization in this country sucks!

[riderinthestorm]

5. Actually Barnes and Noble started out as a small town book publisher in my town Wheaton, IL

It's amazing what happens to a good book shop when they get grand ideas....

I suspect that's the way with anything corporate: it starts as a good local, small idea and morphs into something very, very different.....

Which is why I wonder if bookshops will ever go out of style? We humans appear to want to touch something tactile when we read, we like to scan things in a pleasing format. I believe this is why computer book reading isn't going to 'catch on'. We like to snuggle into a comfy chair with our favorite book and favorite beverage and actually turn pages.... That is virtually impossible to do with a laptop.

[Skittles]

6. yes

nothing will ever take the place of snuggling up with a good book for me - nope

[blues90]

7. i miss book stores and everything that has vanished

We had independant book stores that were still here when crown books was just small stores with cheaper prices . All of that is gone forever . The word forever is what truely scares the hell out of me because it know it's a reality .

On a walk my wife and I could see all sorts of independant shops from pet shops to woodworkers and guitar builders , corner stores and record shops . all well worn with that human lived in look .

It's all sterilzed now and it's sad .

[AZBlue]

8. I LOVE books and bookstores

I refuse to ever go the digital way.