Tomorrow I’ll be participating in a discussion with three other booksellers from Mississippi on the future of bookselling at the University of Mississippi. My thoughts on this subject have been constant over the last few years which became more emphasized by the recession. I’m constantly reading and analyzing how to stay open and grow. I’m challenging my old ways, hoping to find new ways to enhance my work and improve Lemuria. As I prepare my thoughts for this session, I’ve decided to reflect on One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of amazon.com.
One Click begins on page one with comments about Richard Howorth, my long time favorite bookseller of Square Books. Richard’s fanatic focus on customer service and his drive to go the extra mile is the emphasis. On September 22, 1994, Richard instructed Bezos about bookselling at the American Bookseller Association’s bookselling school for wanna-be book people. Richard came away with the feeling that Jeff would be successful.
Years later, a realization came to Richard when he recognized Jeff at an annual trade show, not understanding until then that he had helped train the Godfather of Amazon.
One Click is a concise presentation of the evolution of Amazon. Being very clear about Jeff’s background, a true original, you can begin to understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together for this driven, brilliant, creative, and narcissistic individual. One Click is essential for any bookseller who wants to understand his or her most competitive foe.
One Click gives the reader a timeline of how Amazon rose from the ground up. By the way, I do respect the hard work Jeff put for over 20 years. However, what I found most interesting was tracking his business timeline during the same years as Lemuria.
| AMAZON | LEMURIA | |
| 1987 | Bezos leaves Princeton to work in Manhattan with the company, Fitel, to build a mini Internet. | After being in business for 12 years, Lemuria moves to Banner Hall to prepare our “fort” to fight the onslaught of Big Box Superstores headed our way. |
| 1994 | Bezos attends Richard’s class | Lemuria prepares for its second Christmas battle with Books-a-Million 1 minute away. |
| 1995 | Amazon is launched. | Lemuria goes on the computer inventory system IBID. |
| Sept 1997 | Amazon launches one-click shopping | Around 1998, B & N opens in Jackson, 5 minutes away. |
| April2003 | Amazon starts developing the Kindle. | Around 2003, Borders opens in Jackson, 10-15 minutes away. |
| Fall 2007 | Amazon announces the Kindle. | Lemuria finally in growth cycle from severe box store competition. |
| 2008 | E-books begin to grow | 2008 is a very difficult year; Business slump mostly from recession. |
| 2012 | Bezos is one of the richest executives in the world with a net worth of over $12.6 billion. Today Amazon adds as much computing power everyday as it had to run its entire business in 2000. | Lemuria is trying to redefine its culture to our community. Also, trying to reinforce our value to our customers and stay in business. |
Between Amazon’s initial stock offering in 1996 and the end of 2010, Barnes and Noble stock had dropped 29% while Borders stock had fallen 96%. Amazon’s stock had risen 10,320%, all based on end of year 2010. Barnes and Noble was worth $852 million, Borders $65 million and Amazon $81 billion.
Today, physical book readers and bookstores are seriously challenged by the e-book growth. Some people still love their prime time reading experience of real books and enjoy leisurely making their choices at their favorite bookstores.
But not Bezos. He seems ready to kill the industry that made him rich. From Jeff:
“‘I’m grumpy when I’m forced to read a physical book because it’s not convenient,’ he complains. ‘Turning the pages . . . the book is always flopping itself shut at the wrong moment . . . The Kindle is simply a better form of book.. . . We have to build something better than a physical book.'” (135)
For our future, booksellers need to remember Richard Howorth’s advice about dedication to customer service. I feel that Bezos considers the strength of e-book customer service to be the immediate gratification of instant reward through an e-book purchase anywhere in the world.
Real booksellers offer experience and the desire to help readers find their right read. They want to enhance the selection process with a friendly place housing a well edited inventory. Most importantly, they want to make book selections a human experience that is satisfying. That’s my idea of customer service which thus gives me the fulfillment of my bookseller goals.
Above: Newbery winner Christopher Paul Curtis talking about his new book Mighty Miss Malone.
At this time, predicting the future of bookselling is difficult. No one in the industry seems to have a clear answer.
At the present, I see it as a battle between the publishers and Amazon as to who will be in charge in three to five years. I think Amazon will dominate Barnes and Noble and I hope they don’t beat Lemuria. The key, the way I see it, is how much the publishers will strive to practice good customer service to us, their bookselling customers. I believe Amazon wants to control the publishers and the author guidelines. Bezos wants to rule all bookselling. I don’t think he cares a hoot in hell about the future of the real book or the bookselling experience or brick and mortar bookstores. Who will win remains to be seen.
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One Click: Jeff Bezos and the Rise of amazon.com
by Richard L. Brandt (Portfolio/Penguin, October 2011)
Another essential read for understanding the future of bookselling:
The New Rules of Retail by Robin Lewis and Michael Dart.
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Lemuria’s Bookstore Keys Series on the Changing Book Industry
Where will e-book sales level out? (June 2) Indie Bookstores Buying from Amazon? (June 1) BEA Roundup (May 19) Lemuria’s Headed for NYC (May17) Barnes & Noble Bankrupt? (April 28) Decluttering the Book Market: Ads on the latest Kindle (April 14) Independents on the Exposed End of the Titantic? (April 6th) Border’s Bonuses (March 30) The Experience of Holding a Book (March15) Finding “Deep Time” in a Bookstore (March 8th) Reading The New Rules of Retail by Lewis & Dart (March 3) The Future Price of the Physical Book (Feb 18) Borders Declares Bankruptcy (Feb 16) How Great Things Happen at Lemuria (Feb 8th) The Jackson Area Book Market (Jan 25) What’s in Store for Local Bookselling Markets? (Jan 18) Selling Books Is a People Business (Jan 14) A Shift in Southern Bookselling? (Jan 13) The Changing Book Industry (Jan 11)
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