The Wall Street Journal has an article looking at how the rise of the e-book is going to affect bookstores. It covers Barnes & Noble’s growth as a paper-book store, and how it might have to change as e-books displace paper book sales.
Publishing industry analyst Mike Shatzkin, of the Idea Logical Co. and the TechDirt blog, estimates that e-books will account for up to 25% of total sales by unit by the end of 2012, with another 25% being print books sold via the Internet. As paper sales fall, the B&N stores could be in trouble.
The publishing industry was not necessarily prepared for the e-book revolution either.
"It’s fair to say that the leadership folks at the major trade publishers didn’t believe until very recently that e-books had any economic life in them," says Arthur Klebanoff, chief executive of New York-based RosettaBooks LLC, an e-book publisher.
But the Kindle, Nook, and especially the iPad have made their presences felt in a big way.
The article goes on at length about how B&N intends to try to survive the transition to digital books. It remains to be seen whether they can manage it.
B&N is at least trying something new by making it enticing to browse their books in the store (though, if I were in their store, I would rather look through their pbooks), for free from the nook. The idea of offering a free download code in-store is great as well, even though I really just got the code last night, and did not spend much time in the store. The employee I talked to thought the promotion was only for nook owners, so I literally had to show it to him on their site, then I still had to talk to the manager. They could have used this promo to track which devices people use, then offer nice cases and peripherials for them based on their data. I know this is a bookstore, but they could evolve into more. Unfortunately, it seemed like not too many people had come in to take advantage of the promo. Is it the book choice? Would a 75% off any one ebook have been a better idea, then?
Is it the book choice? Would a 75% off any one ebook have been a better idea, then?
That’s why I haven’t gone in to get the download code. I really like the concept, but I’m not interested in any of the books being offered except Storm Front, and I already own that one.
Zoe, I was not really interested in this week’s title either… just went there to show suport for the idea.
I went to a Barnes & Noble last week to buy a BN exclusive book that they don’t sell online. It isn’t available as an ebook.
They didn’t have it. Didn’t know when they’d be getting it in; it’s “on order.”
Amazon has used copies. I wanted to buy it new, because I want to support the author–but I’m not going to deal with “keep calling/showing up and eventually it’ll be in stock.”
If they can’t be bothered to keep their exclusive-contract books available, I can’t be bothered to purchase them new. And they wonder why in-store sales are falling? It’s because they don’t provide what in-store shoppers are willing to buy.