Ingram is an important player in the ebook market, being one of the major distributors of ebooks. Education News has an interview with David Prichard, Ingram’s President and CEO. Here’s a snippet:
How do you see the playing field for books evolving in the next five to ten years?
Three powerful trends in the last few years have been the growth of online retail, the rise of the e-book, and the explosion in the number of titles available. These will continue for some time. It doesn’t mean that all bookstores will close. And it doesn’t mean that the printed book is dead. What it does mean is that traditional bookstores will need to continue to be creative — change inventory, add more events, and make the local experience unique. Large print runs will diminish as e-book sales increase. Today, many printed books are created through the technology of print-on-demand, arriving in stores, libraries, or at home the day after printing. Finally, authors are finding new ways to reach markets directly. All of these potentially threaten players not adept at staying ahead of the changes. Fortunately, many publishers are ahead of the curve and already anticipating the next phase of growth. We are at a very early stage in imagining the future of the book.
Much more in the article.
We are still building malls here in Iowa. Such momentum will well overshoot the reversal to on-line shopping with a 15% advance in on-line sales this holiday period over last. Foreseeable mall vacancies will only add to the malaise of suburban living. Unlit and vacant, huge mall parking lots separate people.
Re-congregation into closer proximity is a strategy advanced in a book by David Owen; Green Metropolis, why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less Are the Keys to Sustainability. Shopping proximity and walk able neighborhoods are also exemplified in Iowa. Classical small – not mall – downtowns provide experiences that make shopping a communal activity.
These small town downtowns are also havens for independent bookstores. It could be that libraries and bookstores are useful identifiers of sustainable enclaves. The oddity of walking to a point of connectivity is itself an indicator of how disconnected we have become.