Everyone I know worries about Border's and bookstores in general. We all want both Border's and independent bookstores to stay open, yet most of us download ebooks for all or part of our reading.
What we have to do is re-imagine what a bookstore is, what they will look like in the future. Libraries can't carry almost every new book that comes out. I guess they buy books for a particular segment of the reading public, so we can't count on them to take the place of bookstores in terms of choice and variety.
Barnes and Nobles is gaining ground with the Nook, so maybe bookstores that lure people away from Amazon will be able to compete with smaller and fewer brick and mortar stores. But that doesn't constitute a re-imagined bookstore.
What if Border's found a way to sell books from one section but had another in which customers could pay a one-time or perhaps monthly fee to browse? Then they could have computers that allowed customers to download ebooks from any website, even Amazon. They wouldn't make their money from ebooks (well, I guess they would make some money from ebooks, assuming that some customers would download from Border's site). They would make money by letting people rifle through shelf after shelf of books that they had no intention of paying for.
Of course, people can do that now, but it's putting brick and mortar stores out of business. The question is, does the book-reading public like traditional bookstores enough to pay an entry fee?
I'm sure others might be more imaginative than I am. What other business paradigm could bookstores use to stay in business?
For me the issue with brick-and-mortar stores is selection. Often I'm looking either for a particular book which is not "popular," or a particular subject area that is somewhat obscure, and in both cases I can count on the b and m store to not have it in stock. Even if I want to browse I can count on their selection being far too limited. I can browse Amazon and get a taste of each book through their "Look Inside" feature. I feel more confidence about my purchase then. Add to that the reduced price and current b and m stores have a hard time competing. If I want the latest book, especially the latest political "biography" or tell-all, I can count on the b and m, but I rarely want the latest thing.
ReplyDelete