Dinosaur death dance.

Independent bookstores are like the little mammals who scurry among the rocks trying to survive, while the giant dinosaurs are fighting to the death above them.

This seems more true now, than ever.

A few days ago I wrote about Kindle Fire getting exclusive e-rights to the top 100 DC Graphic Novel: titles like, Watchmen, Sandman, and Fables. You know, the evergreen books I sell on a constant basis.

I thought this might be the biggest problem e-readers would face; the Balkanization of the backlist (and frontlist, I suppose). If most all available books aren't available on most all formats, it is going to prove pretty frustrating to most readers.

Well, Barnes and Nobles reaction to the Kindle/DC deal was the pull out all 100 of the graphic novels from their brick and mortar stores.

Let the Exclusives begin!

I've always maintained that -- all other things being equal -- I thought I could compete with the big chain stores on price. That is, I didn't think price alone could wreck my chances.

What really hurts me on new material is the inequality of distribution. Getting stuff later than other stores, or not being able to get it at all. Exclusives, to me, are destructive to the marketplace. I wonder if they even prove advantageous to the big stores, when all that happens is that each store stakes out an equal number of exclusives, thus canceling out the advantages.

This is why I've concentrated on classic and cult favorites; I can neatly sidestep all the game-playing and discounts that go on with new bestsellers -- especially hardcover bestsellers.

Even there, I can sell a book if it fits my format well. I've sold the new Neal Stephenson book, Reamde, in hardcover, and I've sold a bunch of copies of Dance with Dragons, George R.R. Martin, and the second Patrick Rothfuss book, The Wise Man's Fear.

So, little mammal that I am, I keep on scrambling. I figure there's a chance the big boys will do so much damage to each other, I'll inherit the earth. Meanwhile, the massive asteroid -- e-books -- is about the slam into the earth and wipe out the dinosaurs. Heh.

By the way. Those 100 top DC graphic novels that Barnes and Noble no longer carries?

I've got most all of them in stock.

What book decline? Knock wood.

My sales in new books were up 29% last month.

I think they've been up just about every month since I started carrying them.

Maybe that's why I'm so bemused by all the talk of books not selling.

The reason I'm selling books is that I'm selling to casual customers who walk in off the street. Tourists, more often than not. So it only matters that I have enough interesting books to sell to them. I'm paying the big rent to be in a downtown location that has healthy foot-traffic.

But really, I have no doubts that books are becoming problematic for most stores.

I think being a destination bookstore is going to be increasingly tough. I see family and friends who buy e-books because: "I just didn't have time to go looking for it." Or: "I didn't want to haul books on my vacation." Or....well, you've all heard all the reasons.

I see every day how hard it is to satisfy those customers who come in looking for specific titles and authors. I think, however, that even in the best of circumstances this is hard, and bookstores have probably always made most of their money from book readers who are open to the possibilities than they do from that customers who only wants that one book -- I'd guess it's probably 80/20. Maybe 90/10.

I've had the luxury of picking the low hanging fruit. My inventory consists of my favorites, other people's favorites, classics, cult books, and just interesting and quirky books that catch my attention. I probably tend toward buying fantastical books -- which matches my regular clientele -- but I've also tried to have enough selection that any reader will find something.

I just have to lay out a sumptuous enough banquet, and as long as I have people coming in the door, I'll sell some of it. If I have steak, and roast beef, and ham to offer, and the customer wants mutton, so be it.

Because I glean the books that catch my interest, I can buy from discount houses. What difference, I say, to having a English copy of The Sun Also Rises, that I can price competitively, but which I can buy cheaper? A book is a book.

Buying classics at cheaper prices allows me to carry more books.

Maybe I have wide interests, but I find lots of books being offered by the discount houses that seem really intriguing. So I can mix these books with the books that I buy at regular price, and create a diverse selection, and one that probably doesn't look like any other bookstore.

I'm not really sure what would happen if I devoted more space to books. For instance, I don't really pursue non-fiction books all that much, so there goes -- what, 50% of the potential sales?
I don't do new best-seller hardcovers, usually.

The more books I sell, the harder it will get. If I was a little younger, I think I'd like to take on the challenge of having a full-service bookstore. But -- I have a thriving business already in place, so that would be vain-glorious.

So I do what I can in my little space.

So far, I've been able to do it my way. It helps that I came in with my eyes wide open, knowing all the pitfalls before I started.

Much harder if you are already established and you have the rug pulled out from under you. You've got fixed expenses based on previous sales, and any serious decline might be hard to deal with. Me? I need to worry about inventory costs, and lost opportunity costs (taking space and money for books that could be used on something else) -- but my fixed expenses aren't affected by the addition.

There are still hundreds of titles that I know will sell that I haven't gotten in yet. And there are thousands upon thousands of books I don't know about, that I can browse and experiment with.

It's fun. It's fun because I'm doing it on my terms and getting away with it.

Making room for books.

I consolidated some of my graphic novels sections, to make room for new books.

I've got about 500 new books coming in the next ten days.

I eliminated a shelf dedicated to "Suggestions" from me and my employees; it didn't seem to have much impact, and even if it did, such efforts need constant updating which requires good planning which means I have to have a procedure which means....that the shelf is no more.

I'll have two shelves together which contain the mainstream type graphic novels like Maus and Persepolis, instead of the two shelves separated by half the store.

The biggest change is that I have turned a bookcase over the "Horror" novels; mostly because I need the room in the S.F. and Fantasy section. I already have a 'paranormal romance' section -- all purple and black (the publishers love that purple and black color scheme) -- but there is a lot of cross over between regular horror, paranormal romance (I wish they'd come up with a better description...), and dark fantasy, so I decided it needed it's own section.

Mostly, it was just moving the same genres closer together.

So -- I gained 3 shelves for S.F. Fantasy, 3 shelves for Young Adult, 5 shelves for horror, 1 shelf for independent graphic novels, 1 shelf for classic novels.

I lost -- my "Suggestion" shelf, a couple of shelves for "art toys" (no loss -- I was able to use other parts of the store, and probably actually improved the display), and probably 15 or 20 "face-out" book possibilities.

I'm in a Catch-22 due to my lack of space. I still see potential books to buy -- but I have no way of displaying them except spine out. I'm trying the trick of propping the books in front of other books, which isn't ideal either.

It all comes down to a lack of space.

I've trying to cram 6 to 8 product lines in my store, where I could probably do 1 or 2.

But bottom line -- it works. Maybe not ideally, but better than not doing it at all. I've proven to my own satisfaction over and over again, that more display and less product doesn't work as well as less display and more product. Sure, it isn't as cost-effective -- but I'm not concerned about cost as long as I can pay for it within cash-flow, and I am concerned about pushing sales up.

I think this is the choice most (surviving) independent bookstores are going to have to make -- to have a very wide diversity of product lines. Doing, in effect, what B & N were doing in a larger space, in a smaller space.

Such a strategy requires a small business owner who is paying attention to his inventory -- instead of a huge chain using computers. Because Amazon can do that better.

My biggest problem right now, is finding a way to categorize. I've been doing graphic novels, cartoon books, and art books by theme and age levels -- also by publisher. But I've had too many times lately, when even I -- the owner -- could not find a book I was pretty sure I had in stock, because I didn't have time to run my eyes over every shelf.

I think might retail all the above strategies, but try to alphabetize by TITLE on each Bookcase -- except where I alphabetize by author. Oh, it's a mess. A big jumbled mess of goodness.

A virtual battle.

Several of you have pointed out that the new Kindle Fire is offering 100 DC graphic novels.

What pops out at me is the word "exclusive."

See, this is why this whole thing may not work. I can see e-books eating into real books if each device can get any book you want. But if each device can only get SOME of the books you want, that seems a whole lot less useful. Annoying. A deal breaker.

Besides, I'm convinced -- in the end -- that it will be an Apple device at a relatively high price, and a bunch of cheap Korean knockoffs on the other end. The middle will get squeezed out, as usual.

And if the middle is an actual bookstore -- well, enjoy your Kindles while you can. Enjoy your Nooks while you can.

Heh.

In fact, it seems to me that if Kindle and Nook can't compete with Apple in tech and status, or with the cheap usable versions that are undoubtedly on their way -- then they can only compete through content.

And thus sow the seeds of their own destruction.

Imagine where a percentage of books are exclusive to Ipad, another batch are exclusive to Kindle, and another batch to Nook, and the rest are available to all. Even if 80% area available for all, if the 20% that are exclusive are ACTUALLY WHAT PEOPLE WANT! then it's going to be a problem.

And even in the "exclusivity" realm, who has the most clout? The most money? In fact, as physical books decline, and Barnes and Nobles brick and mortar stores decline -- they'll have LESS clout. If they succeed in replacing book/books with e-books, they lesson their importance.

I don't think this is going to go well for them.

Meanwhile, you can just skip on down to your local independent bookstore and just buy the actual book.

You know, at a bookstore.

And pass on the whole debacle.