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Publishers fear a "post-apocalyptic" world where Barnes & Noble is gone and Amazon reigns
By Maura HehirJanuary 30th, 2012, 2:00 pmComments (6)
Now that, if you can believe it, Barnes & Noble is the last chain bookstore left in the country, the role they once played as the villain of the book world has been reexamined. A lengthy article in this past weekend's New York Times describes the future of the book marketplace in almost comic-book-esque terms: a monster called Amazon threatens to suck all the joy out of book-buying and selling. Weirdly enough, B&N emerges as an unlikely hero.
Gone are the You've Got Mail days of B&N being demonized for pushing out indie bookshops. They're now considered the publishing industry's last hope. On Amazon, you generally know what you want, and make your purchases quickly and deliberately, whereas physical bookstores allow for browsing — the best natural marketing tool — which leads to impulse buying by customers.
"Without Barnes & Noble, the publishers' marketing proposition crumbles. The idea that publishers can spot, mold and publicize new talent, then get someone to buy books at prices that actually make economic sense, suddenly seems a reach. Marketing books via Twitter, and relying on reviews, advertising and perhaps an appearance on the Today show doesn’t sound like a winning plan."
And yet, the only way Barnes & Noble can keep up with Amazon is by investing in the same tech products many publishers see as threatening the traditional bookselling models. B&N's e-reader, the Nook, has taken some business away from the Kindle since its release, and the CEO of Barnes & Noble, William Lynch Jr., has poured money into the company's Silicon Valley base. Still, he (perhaps naively) remains hopeful about the perseverance of the book in its original form.
Sounds to me like it's time for a new movie about how The Internet Changes Things. But instead of a rom-com about an indie bookseller falling in love with a capitalist because of some mushy e-mails, it should be a modern western. Barnes & Noble's CEO from Texas versus Amazon's CEO from New Mexico! This town ain't big enough for the both of us! It's a good idea, damn it.
Commentarium (6 Comments)
Well I for one would have preferred B&N disappear rather than Borders, which went the way of the Dodo by trying to remain *a bookstore* instead of hawking e-readers. B&N bought Borders' mailing list and send me emails with "great offers" which all require me to shell out $25 to get their discount card. The Borders card was free, and they were forever sending me discount coupons in my email. I hardly ever paid full price for anything. I have a bunch of B&N gift cards from Christmas, but when I went to spend them I found not a single one of the books I wanted was available in the store.
Barnes and Nobel has Starbucks. Winning.
Browsing is what libraries are for. Hopefully, B&N and all the other big box stores that have plagued America in strip malls like so many pus-filled blemishes will go bankrupt tomorrow! :-D
It's funny who consumers are made to sympathize with -- the record industry, the film studios, now Barnes & Nobles. Before they were villains, but now they're able to play the victim, oppressed by the big evil Internet man.
or how about local, medium-large sized bookstores that dont suck? i've not found one in chicago yet, but seattle has Third Place and Elliot Bay, and portland has Powell's. Oh, they meant corporate bullshit bookstores that will stock and place books based on what the publishers want rather than based on what's *good* Right my bad.
b & n isn't the last chain bookstore, there's still books-a-million.