With the widespread use of e-books, the book business is in a state of tremendous change. Authors, professionals in the publishing industry, book sellers, independent bookstore owners, CEOs of the big bookstore chains, and readers have all been left with an abundance of questions as we go through this exciting paradigm shift.
Borders has consistently been in the headlines since the New Year due to the fact that they cannot pay their bills to the publishers. And now the publishers must decide how they will handle the situation, which is no small feat since every other bookstore will expect any grace that Border receives.
The brick and mortar bookstore is being challenged like never before. What will bookstores that sell e-readers do with all the square footage? The marketing emphasis is on the e-book, no longer the physical book. It seems a major overhaul is overdue for the big box bookstores.
How do authors react to the e-book? Seth Godin, a Lemuria favorite, says his next book will only exist in e-format. Do all authors only want to read and publish books this way? We don’t think so. Authors also feel the financial pinch of the e-book. While many unknown writers may have a better chance to get published, established authors are seeing a fraction of the advances they typically received. One has to ask how does this influences the quality and respect for literature. Will authors rally to preserve bookstores?
This leaves independent bookstores in particular with many more questions: Will publishers give bookstores the information and tools to help preserve the hard back read? Will publisher sales reps go to bat to preserve their stores and keep reading vital? Will marketing become more credible and more important to the independent book seller? Will the publishers recognize a need for real book selling, word of mouth in our stores and on our web presence?
Will all these changes make readership grow? As the demand of maximizing our reading time increases, will these changes add more value to our lives?
This time is very exciting for our industry. Change is now. Lemuria has the opportunity to redefine itself to you, our customer. As the spring unfolds, we will be blogging our take on all things concerning book selling.
We want you, our readers, to stay informed and have the ability to voice your concerns and questions. We also invite authors, publishers and their reps, editors, anyone who has a stake as changes unfold to follow-up with any comments.
The Bookstore Key Series on Changes in the Book Industry
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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