Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
With the bad economy, I have to say I buy fewer and fewer books at chain book stores. If it's a must-have book, I can get it cheaper at Amazon or Half-Price Books. If it's a mediocre book or one I'll only read once, I check it out from the library.
Nothing beats browsing in a big book store and actually seeing the book before you buy it. But at some point, you just can't afford that any more. After thinking about it, the only time I buy at Borders or Barnes is when I'm using a gift certificate.
That's sad, especially when you consider that I'm an avid reader who owns thousands of books. If they can't keep me as a steady customer, where do they go?
With the bad economy, I have to say I buy fewer and fewer books at chain book stores. If it's a must-have book, I can get it cheaper at Amazon or Half-Price Books. If it's a mediocre book or one I'll only read once, I check it out from the library.
Nothing beats browsing in a big book store and actually seeing the book before you buy it. But at some point, you just can't afford that any more. After thinking about it, the only time I buy at Borders or Barnes is when I'm using a gift certificate.
That's sad, especially when you consider that I'm an avid reader who owns thousands of books. If they can't keep me as a steady customer, where do they go?
At some point about 10 years ago or so we made a conscious decision to stop buying new books. As avid readers it was simply becoming too expensive. Now we get the majority of what we read at the library or the Half Price Book Store (paperbacks for travel).
We hate to see Borders go out of business though. I loved the puppy-breath smell when I walked in the door...
With the bad economy, I have to say I buy fewer and fewer books at chain book stores. If it's a must-have book, I can get it cheaper at Amazon or Half-Price Books. If it's a mediocre book or one I'll only read once, I check it out from the library.
Nothing beats browsing in a big book store and actually seeing the book before you buy it. But at some point, you just can't afford that any more. After thinking about it, the only time I buy at Borders or Barnes is when I'm using a gift certificate.
That's sad, especially when you consider that I'm an avid reader who owns thousands of books. If they can't keep me as a steady customer, where do they go?
The price of new books in general is an important factor in the decline in book sales, something that seems to be overlooked by a lot of commentators, who only mention how poorly managed Borders was. I'm also an avid reader, and own hundreds of books, but even I have cut way back on my book purchases. It is just too expensive. I read a lot of history, biography, current events (non-fiction in general) and paying $30 for a new hard cover book is hard to justify. If you wait for the soft cover edition to come out, it generally takes a year. Books have to compete with all the other options in the world of entertainment, and price-wise, they are pricing themselves out of the market. I don't think this is due to the booksellers, but to the publishing industry. I read an article in The Economist magazine about books being printed in China. The cost of printing a hardcover book in China was around 45 cents, vs 70 cents in the United States. So production costs are about 3-4% of the retail price? And for only 25 cents they moved so many printing jobs to China? This is outrageous. Are authors making that much money? Has their compensation risen just like actors/actresses and athletes?
Hardcovers amount to a small fraction of book sales. Depending upon the genre, some publishers in their most honest moments will even tell you, "We put this out in hardcover to please the author and make it look legit for the industry, but we lost money on it."
Real book sales --- at least in genre fiction --- happens with the paperbacks. That's been true for at least 15 years.
Are authors making that much money? Has their compensation risen just like actors/actresses and athletes?
No. Authors, for the most part, are making less money now than ever. Advances get lower every year. Some have questioned their publisher's accounting practices around ebook sales. Seems that they have discovered that their self-published, backlist ebook sales are doing much better than their current novel's ebook sales through their publisher. What's with that?
Walked into B&N recently and was surprised to so much space devoted to Nooks, the coffee shop, toys, games, chocolates, etc. Books seemed to be a sideline.
Perhaps that's where Borders went wrong. Too many books.
Wow I wonder if they will have major blow out sales if they do I will be the first one in line . Maybe pick up some awesome book deals . Sorry to see people losing their jobs though .
Liquidation sales aren't all they are cracked up to be:
Sorry to see people lose their jobs but I haven't bought a book from a bookstore in years. I get them all through Amazon whether they are electronic or physical.
Sorry to see people lose their jobs but I haven't bought a book from a bookstore in years. I get them all through Amazon whether they are electronic or physical.
I don't get all my books through the internet unless I have no choice. It's not efficient and there isn't that personal touch of the bookstore.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Authors are earning less money these days
