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I am not surprised. I went to B&N yesterday, and the selection was crap. If you aren't reading fiction, there isn't a lot to choose from. I was looking for science books. Their science section was a 1/3 of an aisle! Their onlne selection was not that much of an improvement. I go to the library, get some books, if I like them a lot I buy them used online (to read them again later on), otherwise I return them and move on.
We have several Borders closing in KC. I was in one yesterday and it is in full liquidation mode with everything being 25 to 50% off. I am waiting for the last day when everything is like 75% off.
I was at BN the other day, and the same book at the store was cheaper online.
I think that's a real mistake on BN's part. It aggravates me to look online before I go out shopping then get to the store and find the item is almost twice the price. They've missed out on many sales from me because of that. I don't mind paying a bit more for an in-store item, but BN is way out of line.
My favorite Borders was on the list to be closed and I went there today, for the very last time. Very sad. I did buy a few books, but it was already pretty picked over. However, it was noticeable over the last 3 or 4 years that the store was declining. It was getting emptier, with less of a selection, and just started looking drab. I'm not sure which came first- a big decline in business which lead to fewer books and more limited selections, or did they cut down on their stock levels which made business decline.
There aren't any independent book stores where I live. My favorite was a used book store in Anaheim- Book Baron. It was rated one of the best book stores in the United States. I had shopped there since discovering it in college. But the landlord a couple of years ago increased the rent astronomically, and the owner just gave up and retired. Then the next best used book store around, Book Man, closed last year. Then Acres of Books in Long Beach, a nationally known used book store closed. Now there is nothing.
One thing I'd like to know: Why are books so expensive? There was an article in The Economist magazine a few months ago about rising labor costs in China prompting some manufacturing to return to the U.S. It mentioned that the cost of printing a hard cover book in China was something like 48 cents, vs. 68 cents in the U.S. I was shocked. You mean when we pay $35 for a hard cover book, the printing costs are only 1% or 2% of the price? Who is making all that money off of books? Is it the publishers? The authors? It doesn't seem to be the book stores. Let's face it, the industry is pricing itself out of business. And this has nothing to do with e-readers, Kindles, etc.
Very sad to hear of Book Baron and Acres of Books. I used to go to both a lot. I actually prefer a good, full used bookstore over a new only store, for everything isn't less than six months old and the lesser selling books still get stocked. In my town now, there is a used store which is fantastic. However, I have gone to Amazon for my mail book supply. I like memiours and diaries and obscure history books and except for a few who just came out, you can't find them that easily.
Price is another reason I get books off of Amazon. I will gladly pay 2.00 plus shipping for a hardback from a library or in good condition. Maybe it isn't sparly new but that is part of the charm. How many others have held it and read it? I paid 26 plus shipping for one, but it is the expanded diary of a man held in Stalag IX the last three months of the war, and have actually put it aside to read since I'm too occupied with other things and don't want to have to quit. To me this is a lot, but the next highest price was 50 and I didn't see it on any other online site.
I wonder how much the cost of shipping and the rest adds to a book if it has to go so far? The publisher is only looking at their direct costs. I'm sure shipping gets added onto the overall price at the end.
I am not surprised. I went to B&N yesterday, and the selection was crap. If you aren't reading fiction, there isn't a lot to choose from. I was looking for science books. Their science section was a 1/3 of an aisle! Their onlne selection was not that much of an improvement. I go to the library, get some books, if I like them a lot I buy them used online (to read them again later on), otherwise I return them and move on.
There is/was a Borders in Riverside I'd got to look through, and they had some interesting books. But this was the problem. Half the store was movies and CD's Half was fiction. The history section was more general and later analysis and I like things written during a time. It wasn't there. I have scored quite well in that regards online. And now Amazon sends me emails with other books like that I might be interested in.
And price... I will take a chance on a book for five dollars. That would be used with shipping. I will not take a chance on 25 to 30 dollars and the larger books in stores run so much higher. Usually if I go to the library its to check out histories and see if I want my copy, then order it.
If there were a greater variety of books in non-fiction the big stores would sell more, I'm sure, but after awhile I went to gamestop while waiting closer to catch the bus to see what used CD's they had since the book store really didn't have muct of interest.
Now, in Oklahoma City on a drive up there with friends was a great bookstore. Half is new stuff, of a great variety. The prices were generally new book prices. But half is a great selection of USED books. The non-fiction sections had them mixed by subject. I could spend many hours in that one because it has a great spectrum of choices in both price and content.
I'm surprised that publishers and bookstores are so slow to adopt the music and film industries' idea of the exclusive release. for example, a movie sold at Target may include a little something extra, like a toy or extra special features, that the same movie sold at Walmart won't have. a CD sold exclusively through Walmart may be hard to find elsewhere or include bonus tracks that can't be had elsewhere. w/ iTunes, a lot of albums include exclusive bonus tracks that are nonexistent on the physical CD and can't even buy separately, forcing you to buy the whole album f you want it..
obviously, it's a bit harder to do w/ books, but far from impossible. adding exclusive would only encourage more people to buy from specific stores, but could cut into ebooks sales, providing that the exclusive item is worth it (for example, w/ a book series, a Borders exclusive copy could include the first chapter for the next book in the series, or original artist drawings). even having an autograph copy of a book may be worth for some people to pass over an ebook. the stores themselves can do something along this line too, like give away related items w/ certain titles. at the very least, they can try to get in more authors to come into the store (and by that, I mean legit authors, not Snooki or Kathy Griffin trying to pimp out their next book!). the industry needs to become more creative and think outside the box if it hopes to thrive. book sales alone won't cut
I'm surprised that publishers and bookstores are so slow to adopt the music and film industries' idea of the exclusive release. for example, a movie sold at Target may include a little something extra, like a toy or extra special features, that the same movie sold at Walmart won't have. a CD sold exclusively through Walmart may be hard to find elsewhere or include bonus tracks that can't be had elsewhere. w/ iTunes, a lot of albums include exclusive bonus tracks that are nonexistent on the physical CD and can't even buy separately, forcing you to buy the whole album f you want it..
obviously, it's a bit harder to do w/ books, but far from impossible. adding exclusive would only encourage more people to buy from specific stores, but could cut into ebooks sales, providing that the exclusive item is worth it (for example, w/ a book series, a Borders exclusive copy could include the first chapter for the next book in the series, or original artist drawings). even having an autograph copy of a book may be worth for some people to pass over an ebook. the stores themselves can do something along this line too, like give away related items w/ certain titles. at the very least, they can try to get in more authors to come into the store (and by that, I mean legit authors, not Snooki or Kathy Griffin trying to pimp out their next book!). the industry needs to become more creative and think outside the box if it hopes to thrive. book sales alone won't cut
Another thing they could do is the "These books may also interest you" like Amazon does. I've seen a lot that did and I bought that way. Take a history title and group around it the similar ones. The person who is looking at it is far more likely to look at the others if it doesn't require hunting for them. Or, for instance, put the Gurnsey Literary Sociey book on the shelf with a few of the background book next to it. Draw the shoppers attention to something they probably wouldn't go looking for. It needent even be complicated. But it would present other books of a like subject with a greater chance of one going home with the shopper.
I'm surprised that publishers and bookstores are so slow to adopt the music and film industries' idea of the exclusive release. for example, a movie sold at Target may include a little something extra, like a toy or extra special features, that the same movie sold at Walmart won't have.
Borders and B&N did do that for a while, although mostly with DVDs and CDs. I'm not sure why they don't do it with books. It may well be because authors' copyrights are a lot stronger with books than they are with movies and music.
I suspect ebooks will start doing the above more and more, with "exclusive" content. Time will tell.
Very sad to hear of Book Baron and Acres of Books. I used to go to both a lot. I actually prefer a good, full used bookstore over a new only store, for everything isn't less than six months old and the lesser selling books still get stocked. In my town now, there is a used store which is fantastic. However, I have gone to Amazon for my mail book supply. I like memiours and diaries and obscure history books and except for a few who just came out, you can't find them that easily.
Price is another reason I get books off of Amazon. I will gladly pay 2.00 plus shipping for a hardback from a library or in good condition. Maybe it isn't sparly new but that is part of the charm. How many others have held it and read it? I paid 26 plus shipping for one, but it is the expanded diary of a man held in Stalag IX the last three months of the war, and have actually put it aside to read since I'm too occupied with other things and don't want to have to quit. To me this is a lot, but the next highest price was 50 and I didn't see it on any other online site.
I wonder how much the cost of shipping and the rest adds to a book if it has to go so far? The publisher is only looking at their direct costs. I'm sure shipping gets added onto the overall price at the end.
I'm really sorry to hear about Acres of Books, too. When I lived in LA, I got down there five or six times when I was seeing a girl who lived in Long Beach. I could kill an afternoon there and walk out with an armful of fascinating books for $25.
There's Green Apple books up here in SF, and it's only a short walk from my apartment, but... it's not the same. It's 1/10th the size.
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Their onlne selection was not that much of an improvement. I go to the library, get some books, if I like them a lot I buy them used online (to read them again later on), otherwise I return them and move on. 
