> When movies on cassette became practical, think of what it would have done to the Hollywood model if movies could be rented at the same time they hit theaters allowing people to see a movie for far cheaper than going to a theater?<p>> That’s what publishers did. They allowed a far less expensive version of their books to be available right away, undercutting the sale of hardcovers with the cheaper e-version<p>This is a fraught analogy and in a way shows the lack of forward thinking of lots of people in the book and publishing industry.<p>The problem is that from a customer perspective, an ebook == hardcover in nearly all ways. It has the same story, it is written by the same author, you can read it at home or on the bus. There's no difference. In fact, some might argue ebook > hardcover since it takes up no space and you can use a Kindle and all the features it has.<p>Watching a movie in a movie theater is about the experience of being with others with amazing sound and video quality as well as the actual movie. So movie theater > movie at home for most people.<p>Forward thinking would be the Steam way which Amazon has tried to do with ebooks: sell for less but make up for it with huge volume. Yet publishers often price ebooks higher or equal to physical copies.<p>It's sad to see this bookstore go and I wish I would have visited it since I live in Seattle. But this is a pretty poor analysis on the "changes in the over-all economy".
While I find this article sad, it's ultimately inevitable as far as I see it.<p>I read a lot, and I enjoy collecting books, but I ceased buying physical books a long time ago. I've started backfilling my ebook collection based on my old physical collections. At some point, I will be able to find digital replacements for 99% of my physical book collections and I will eventually find a decent way to digitize the rest. Ultimately, digital books are just better for me. I can pull my Kindle out of my bag and have a copy of every book I've ever read and access to basically anything I might want to read. I may mourn the loss of paper books, I absolutely do mourn the loss of bookstores but ultimately ebooks are just a far superior product. The fact that they are cheaper doesn't personally factor into the equation to me.<p>Ultimately, I think the digital print industry is just shaking off vestiges that the physical print industry required and the digital economy no longer requires. In a few (more like 10-20) years the amount of value-add coming from the publishers to writers is going to drift close enough to zero that I think the whole industry will go closer to self-publishing and become far more egalitarian.<p>You'll pay someone to proof your book, someone to (digitally) typeset it, and someone to upload it to the top N digital distribution platforms. (Apple iBooks, Amazon, ?? who else) and the revenue cut from that will be far, far lower than what today's publishers get. You can obviously hire a publicist and have them do that facet of things too.
"Then, too, there was me. I don’t have the easiest personality and I rub some/many people the wrong way. I can be too impatient and prickly and more than a few people have referred to me as a curmudgeon. I am all of that. I have always known that I have been the shop’s greatest drawback and I know it contributed, in some way, to the fall in sales."<p>This is the reason that I have not shopped at bookshops for nearly 20 years.<p>Service at small bookshops varies from indifferent to rude.<p>I almost always receive polite and helpfull service when I buy a $2 coffee or a $15 collection of groceries at Aldi.<p>Why are bookshop staff so indifferent and unhelpful when I am buying $50 of books ?<p>I would rather interact with a mindless algorithm than with the staff at bookshops.
I thought this was a sharp observation:<p>> All those new millionaires and billionaires might be good for investment bankers and real estate developers, but they can only buy and read so many books.
I'm deeply saddened to hear that the Seattle Mystery Bookshop is closing. This feels like something easily missed in today's automation-based economy; the ability to go to an expert and get quality recommendations is not to be missed. Seattle Mystery Bookshop was only one of many excellent book stores in the Seattle area, but it seems that their number is diminishing by the day. I can only assume that that trend holds firm in other cities, and we are the poorer for it.
I can only point to one quibble:<p><i></i>*<p>Those who have benefited from the exposure and attention of little shops, who are so grateful for our help launching them into bestsellerdom suddenly do not wish to use their power and leverage to help those who gave them attention and benefits. “I contacted sales and all the tip-ins went to Barnes and Noble. I have no control over that…” Well who the hell has more control that a major bestselling author?<p><i></i>*<p>As far as I can tell, neither Tom Clancy nor Stephen King have any control over their publishers' marketing departments; certainly nobody less exalted can hope to do anything with them.
I'm sure it's very sad for fans of this bookstore, but the part about e-books being partly responsible seems off, since the share of book sales which are e-books plateaued in about 2012 and has even started to slump: <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/248719-e-reader-sales-slack-treeware-tablets-reclaim-market-share" rel="nofollow">https://www.extremetech.com/electronics/248719-e-reader-sale...</a>
Meh. One more point.<p>> For the last decades, the entire publishing world – bookshops, publishers, authors – had been supported by huge post-WWII generations who moved up through their jobs and had the extra money to spoil themselves and their children, and to begin collecting books, collecting hardcovers.<p>Former <i>avid</i> book buyer here, now still a book buyer. I've always detested hardcovers, and not only because of the price, mostly because what I read is very often a series of novels or a range of different novels from one publisher - they look nice on the shelf. Hardcovers are always big, bulky and not the same size. Also I like holding paperbacks a lot more.<p>Also what others said, what about the shenanigans of having to wait for a paperback release? If I <i>am</i> already more the target market of preferring most books on paper than as an ebook, don't annoy me even more by having to wait for the format I have chosen to prefer 20 years ago.
> That’s what publishers did. They allowed a far less expensive version of their books to be available right away, undercutting the sale of hardcovers with the cheaper e-version.<p>And...?<p>Is the author seriously trying to convince me that getting books into the hands of poorer people immediately is a bad thing?<p>> Those who couldn’t afford the hardcover price knew they could get it at the library or get it in paperback in a year.<p>All so that a funky little book stores can exist as middlemen?<p>I'm sorry, but as much as I loved the small independent book (and music, etc) store, that model is done - and if the result is that books are cheaper, and more widely accessible, it's a fair trade.
I quite enjoyed riding the bus in London. I can't say that for many other cities. It was very clean safe and the integration with Google Maps was awesome.