When I go on the Shelf Awareness website, it seems like the message is -- "Don't worry. Independent bookstores still have a place!" But then they go and subvert the message, by making nonsensical arguments that We Too can sell e-books. Which I simply don't believe.
Five years ago, the message the American Booksellers Association was pawning off was: Be interactive! Have events! Coffee and magazines! Book signings! Contests! Wine and Circuses and Clown costumes!
(They still say that, though it doesn't seem to be working...)
At the same time, the ABA seemed to be telling all their members to sell online. Maybe that's the salvation of independent bookstores!
(Only that didn't seem to work either...)
Now they are saying we should sleep with the enemy -- if you can't beat them join them -- cut our own throats. Sell e-books!
Whatever.
So the numbers I'm hearing is 2200 indie bookstores left. Ouch.
Central Oregon has 5 full service independent bookstores -- which is probably about 4 times more than most metro areas our size. (Not that there is anything wrong with this -- the other areas need more bookstores, you know?)
Shelf Awareness is constantly posting the closings of stores; and/or the selling of stores. They try to counteract this negative news with positive messages from new owners.
Thing is, the voice of experience -- closing or selling, have a whole lot more weight with me than the starry eyed declarations of new store owners -- either those who buy an existing store or those who are opening new ones.
A significant development is that Looking Glass Bookstore in Portland is going to close if they can't find a buyer by March. My memory of this bookstore was that it was the kind of bookstore I wanted to be when I grew up.
I don't think e-books are putting independents out of business -- but they are the straw that breaks the camel's back. Years of competition from the likes of Barnes and Nobles, followed by years of Amazon and other online retailers, followed by mass market incursions from Walmart and Costco, and ---now -- e-books. Only so many battles you can win before you use up all your soldiers.
I'm fortunate that I'm coming from a different direction -- everything but e-books was in place before I started buying new books. I call this coming up from underneath the problem (instead of having the problem cut out the ground beneath you.)
But I make no pretense of being a full service bookstore -- just a store with good books. I pass almost entirely on non-fiction, except popular authors like Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson and Jon Krakauer and/or pop culture books. I don't spend a whole lot of time pouring over new releases, unless they already interest me. I'm picking off the low-hanging fruit; books I know will sell.
Classics, favorites, cult, and quirky.
I still think independent bookstores are going to be around when all the dust settles; they may handle the e-book phenomenon better than the big chains even.
But it isn't going to be easy.
Five years ago, the message the American Booksellers Association was pawning off was: Be interactive! Have events! Coffee and magazines! Book signings! Contests! Wine and Circuses and Clown costumes!
(They still say that, though it doesn't seem to be working...)
At the same time, the ABA seemed to be telling all their members to sell online. Maybe that's the salvation of independent bookstores!
(Only that didn't seem to work either...)
Now they are saying we should sleep with the enemy -- if you can't beat them join them -- cut our own throats. Sell e-books!
Whatever.
So the numbers I'm hearing is 2200 indie bookstores left. Ouch.
Central Oregon has 5 full service independent bookstores -- which is probably about 4 times more than most metro areas our size. (Not that there is anything wrong with this -- the other areas need more bookstores, you know?)
Shelf Awareness is constantly posting the closings of stores; and/or the selling of stores. They try to counteract this negative news with positive messages from new owners.
Thing is, the voice of experience -- closing or selling, have a whole lot more weight with me than the starry eyed declarations of new store owners -- either those who buy an existing store or those who are opening new ones.
A significant development is that Looking Glass Bookstore in Portland is going to close if they can't find a buyer by March. My memory of this bookstore was that it was the kind of bookstore I wanted to be when I grew up.
I don't think e-books are putting independents out of business -- but they are the straw that breaks the camel's back. Years of competition from the likes of Barnes and Nobles, followed by years of Amazon and other online retailers, followed by mass market incursions from Walmart and Costco, and ---now -- e-books. Only so many battles you can win before you use up all your soldiers.
I'm fortunate that I'm coming from a different direction -- everything but e-books was in place before I started buying new books. I call this coming up from underneath the problem (instead of having the problem cut out the ground beneath you.)
But I make no pretense of being a full service bookstore -- just a store with good books. I pass almost entirely on non-fiction, except popular authors like Tom Wolfe and Hunter Thompson and Jon Krakauer and/or pop culture books. I don't spend a whole lot of time pouring over new releases, unless they already interest me. I'm picking off the low-hanging fruit; books I know will sell.
Classics, favorites, cult, and quirky.
I still think independent bookstores are going to be around when all the dust settles; they may handle the e-book phenomenon better than the big chains even.
But it isn't going to be easy.