The Myth About Print Coming Back and Bookstores on the Rise

[Brian G Turner]

Agent and editor, Jane Friedman, argues that print sales are in decline, and bookstores with them:

The Myth About Print Coming Back and Bookstores on the Rise | Jane Friedman

The surprise isn't the argument being made - it's one we've seen before - but that it's being supported by someone who arguably normally waves the flag for traditional publishing.

 

[J Riff]

Ebook ink is cheap. Books are free, in boxes on the street. Isn't that how it is where you live? I find them alla time. The bookstore across from the library here, can't afford to buy much, so there went my bookscout sideline. Now, anything short of a Gutenburg or Tesla's notebooks are not worth the paper they're printed on. I still never find cool SF PBs or old comics so some things aven't changed.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I think what we're seeing at the moment is the market bedding down a little. The huge fluctuations seem to have settled. The weaker bookstores have gone to the wall - those left are savvier about the business and realise books are only one aspect of the picture. Most successful bookstores now try to be a destination purchase - they do events, they do gift ranges, they offer more than just books.

The thing is books don't have a good margin in comparison to stationery and cards - so diverse ranges are more key. And as for coffee shops... Have a look at the garden centres model to see how much that can add.

So, I don't think bookshops will cease to be (there are too many people like me who will go a few minutes out of their way to find one, and who enjoy the retail and reading experience of paper books) but the model will become a changed one with those booksellers able to diversify and strengthen their models surviving. Certainly, based on what I know of current bookstore performance, that's what being reflected - a tough market, but not a dying one.

 

[J Riff]

I agree, books will never ever go away completely, not ever. So there. There will always be exciting authors to meet, and people who just plain don't like glowing screens. It is a great time to be a scavenger though, so keep on chucking them out, citizens. *)

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Books are too good a design to fail - like the wheel, the fork, and the hob-nob biscuit.

 

[Vaz]

And the Jaffa cake. Don't forget the Jaffa cake, Stephen.

 

[Cathbad]

biscuits.. cake... Hmm... snack time...

 

[Kieran Song]

Being in Canada, brick and mortar stores still reign supreme. We have stores called Chapters and Indigo and they are always packed. I personally enjoy the feel and smell of books as well...though with ebooks I don't need to keep buying bookshelves.

 

[Vertigo]

I feel the current generation(s) have a nostalgia for the book format but going into the future I'm afraid I can't see the paper format surviving other than for specialities such as large format illustrated books*. There are still some practical reading benefits to paper such as ease of browsing but, in my opinion, these are largely out balanced by benefits of the digital format such as customisable fonts, searches and annotations ease of purchase and the growing ease of borrowing. Also it's hard to improve the paper format beyond it's present state, whereas digital books and their manipulation will continue to be improved almost indefinitely. Factors such as "I like the feel of a paper book in my hand" are not going to be enough to make the format endure into the future any more than "vinyl sounds better to me" is going to make vinyl records come back and oust digital music.

Note that I make no predictions of timings here but I think I can, with some certitude, say that you won't find people reading many (any?) paper books in, say, two hundred years time.

*I think even those are ultimately doomed as technology advances.

 

[Cathbad]

Note that I make no predictions of timings here but I think I can, with some certitude, say that you won't find people reading many (any?) paper books in, say, two hundred years time.

Hey! Captain Picard had print books!!


~wishing~

 

[WaylanderToo]

the big reason that paper will die out? Book publishers can't control the onward sale... I buy a book and then decide to sell it/give it away the publisher doesn't see a bean from that. If I lend it to someone the same. Now if that book is an e-book I am unable to sell on, give away or lend (without my loaning the compete e-reader) so the publisher controls supply.... incidentally if the publisher loses the rights to a title it can also be removed from your reader (has happened with Amazon titles)

 

[Vertigo]

the big reason that paper will die out? Book publishers can't control the onward sale... I buy a book and then decide to sell it/give it away the publisher doesn't see a bean from that. If I lend it to someone the same. Now if that book is an e-book I am unable to sell on, give away or lend (without my loaning the compete e-reader) so the publisher controls supply.... incidentally if the publisher loses the rights to a title it can also be removed from your reader (has happened with Amazon titles)

I both agree and disagree with you there. I agree but only because currently the vast majority of people do not strip DRM protection from their books and effectively give the vendor (eg Amazon) control of their eReader. I think this is an anomalous state of affairs that is not reflected in any other media (music, tv, film - though each of them has tried to some extent) and I think the number of people that manage their libraries themselves will increase significantly for this reason. And in those circumstances the publishers will lose that control. Which, of course, is exactly why they are so desperately trying to protect the broken technology that is DRM protection. I really can't see DRM lasting for all that much longer, most indie publishers don't use it and a number of traditional publishers have stopped using it.

I still think the main reason paper books will die out will be driven by the reader's convenience. And I think it will largely come down to the fact that wherever you are you can buy a new book to read. You don't have to go find a book shop or wait for a book to be delivered. And once you've got it you don't have problems finding space to store it.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I disagree. Reading on paper us a different experience than on any kindle and some people will continue to prefer it. With pod tech changing and becoming more accessible a greater range is available.

So you're on holiday and want a book - print one out there and then.

I have an 11 yr old tablet addict who prefers her reading on paper. I have a 16 yr old with processing difficulties who has no desire to complicate reading with tech

There will be some who like reading on screen - there are many others who don't. That won't change.

 

[Cathbad]

Thank you for the hope, Jo!

 

[Vertigo]

Part of me wants to believe you are right Jo but I'm afraid I just don't see a long term future for paper. I'm convinced it will become more and more niche as the technology of digital media becomes ever better. Also as someone who almost exclusively reads digital now - so I'm very used to it - the only difference I notice when I switch to reading a printed book is that it's a bother to hold open at a page, I can't change the font and I can't easily search back for an event or character. In other words when I switch back to paper my only differences are all negative (except maybe the smell). I would also argue that even then if it's a good book and I'm absorbed in it then the media makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.

 

[WaylanderToo]

Part of me wants to believe you are right Jo but I'm afraid I just don't see a long term future for paper. I'm convinced it will become more and more niche as the technology of digital media becomes ever better. Also as someone who almost exclusively reads digital now - so I'm very used to it - the only difference I notice when I switch to reading a printed book is that it's a bother to hold open at a page, I can't change the font and I can't easily search back for an event or character. In other words when I switch back to paper my only differences are all negative (except maybe the smell). I would also argue that even then if it's a good book and I'm absorbed in it then the media makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.

y'see that's interesting - I'd say that that is a massive advantage that paper has over e-books. If I stumble across something that had its roots in the first 1/4 of the book with paper I can just flick back with an e-book I can't

 

[Dave]

Two perspectives - when I went to Iceland last year, there were many more independent bookshops than I have seen in any other city. There were also loads of craft shops selling wool, threads and materials for making things, knitting, crochet. I think the long, cold, dark winter nights make reading and these kind of hobbies more popular there. I don't think the fall in book sales has much to do with e-books but rather the laziness that wants our entertainment to be faster, quicker, and on-demand. The cinema is doing incredibly well, DVD sales and games sales are phenomenal. Books are hard work.

Second, are e-books cheaper? Not in my experience. If you want a new book by a published author, if you want a text book for a college course, then they are the same price as in print. You have to go second hand to something like Abebooks to get it cheap. Only self-published authors, very old books and special offers are cheap. As a new medium, it makes sense that they will offer incentives to get you to try the new format. Once the industry matures then the prices will equalize. There will always be someone who wants to read a real book, just as there are still people reading broad-sheet Newspapers. My wife complains that she never sees the front cover of her Kindle books when she opens them, so she sometimes forgets the author and title.

They probably said the same thing about the end of books during the rise of magazines. There were certainly complaints that everyone had their heads in their magazines and no longer talked on public transport, which is the common complaint about smartphones and Kindles on public transport. I doubt that anyone ever made much conversation on public transport with strangers.

 

[Vertigo]

y'see that's interesting - I'd say that that is a massive advantage that paper has over e-books. If I stumble across something that had its roots in the first 1/4 of the book with paper I can just flick back with an e-book I can't

Depends very much on the nature of the search. As I said to start with browsing is easier with printed (one of the few things in my opinion) but if it's something more specific then a name or keyword search can take you there much more quickly than flicking through the book. So if there's a big cast of characters and character "Fred" pops up and I can't remember who they are or what they were last doing then a search on my reader instantly finds the last time they were referenced. That can't be beaten by a paper book. If it's more like "there was something about that around 50 pages in, now what where was it" and 'that' is a commonly referenced name/word then flicking back in a paper book is easier. However I would argue strongly that most things are easier with an ebook. Another one that springs to mind is dictionary look ups; my vocabulary has never been great and I'm mostly too lazy to look up words when I'm reading a paper book so I frequently just guess meanings of unknown words from context. With an eBook such lookups are pretty much instant and I do it all the time. Consequently my vocabulary has improved significantly since reading ebooks.

However ultimately all that is going to be irrelevant. Currently @Dave is right that trad publishers are not selling eBooks any cheaper than paperbacks but that is just them a) protecting their paper market and b) pure profiteering (as I understand it none of that extra profit goes to the author). I know they say the cost of printing and distribution is an insignificant part of the cost of publishing but a) I know when I'm being b******ted to and b) if it is true then they deserve to lose out to authors self publishing. Ultimately publishers will be charging a premium for the privilege of having your book on a physical printed medium. They would be crazy not to; as most self published authors have already realised.

 

[tinkerdan]

If you can get this book::

The World of Science Fiction 1926 - 1976: Amazon.co.uk: Reference Book: 9780345254528: Books

Read it.
It has some interesting information for 1926-1976 that includes the normal fluctuations in publishing. And I think before we make rash judgement we should consider the usual fluctuation and perhaps add to that the e-book effect and how it might affect known fluctuation. This may just be the usual culling that take place in the traditional publishing industry with the difference being that we could see some of the larger publishers taking a hit. But I don't think that the decline is as bad as it looks; though they should start taking notice and begin some sort of measures to better embrace the e-book market and possibly extend into the POD adding some flexibility toward increasing their author database.

 

[aThenian]

Being in Canada, brick and mortar stores still reign supreme.

Wish that were true here in the UK.

Trouble is, I don't think anything is replacing them. We can argue about the pros and cons of paper vs e-books (I like both) but what nobody has an an alternative for is the "browsing" you can do in a bookstore. Of course, Amazon can make suggestions, but I don't find their suggestions hit the mark. Public libraries are closing at a shocking rate here too. So while books are getting cheaper, the ability to discover them, and the wider "reading culture" is under threat.