The news on the brick-and-mortar bookstore front seems to be mixed lately. Many bookstores are struggling, many are closing, while many also are opening. Is the latter the triumph of hope over experience? Or just the result of some entrepreneurial overconfidence? Or is this just a reflection of the overall situation for small businesses (lots of startups and failures every year)?
According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, bookstore sales have been increasing since the dawn of 2008. In the first quarter, sales rose 5.1%. Unfortunately, that statistic does not get broken down between books and everything else sold in bookstores (DVDs, CD, assorted gift items, etc.). Nor, for that matter, between chain stores and independent bookstores.
In January, the American Booksellers Association (representing most independent bookstores in the U.S.) reported that 115 new independent bookstores opened in 2007, the third year in a row that new stores exceeded 100. However, ABA apparently does not publish figures on how many indies closed during that same period.
There really is no doubt that many indie bookstores have closed, and even the big chain bookstores have been cutting back, closing stores, and firing people. The "big box" stores (Wal-Mart, Costco, et al) have been getting more and more of the bestseller sales...and at deep discounts. Online, Amazon has certainly had an effect as it continues to increase its sales at a steady pace -- accounting for almost 20% of all books sold.
People still enjoy shopping in their neighborhood bookstores, but the question remains unanswered as to whether they will continue to buy books there if they can get them far cheaper online or at Wal-Mart.
What is happening is that fewer titles will be carried in brick-and-mortar stores at the same time that publication of new titles increases dramatically. In 2007, some 411,000 new titles were published, compared to 295,000 in 2006 and around 200,000 in 2005. Are we headed for a half-million new titles in 2008?
The Boston Globe reported about the challenges facing indie and chain bookstores in an article titled "Books and Mortar," noting that:
The article highlights a few local indie stores that appear to be doing well by reinventing the way they present books to customers and even how they contact them.
The stores aren't the only ones with a stake in the outcome. Bookstores enliven streets and communities. They bring readers and authors together. And shoppers can still discover the unexpected.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post published "The Changing Bookstore Battle" last month, noting:
And what will happen to indie bookstores as e-books and reader-friendly e-book readers proliferate? Will customers browse the shelves...then buy and download their choices to their Amazon Kindle as they walk out of the store?
In Washington, besides the big-box chains and the large book retailers, shoppers have several independent bookstore options, though not nearly as many as a decade ago.
Finally, what does all this mean to independent micro-publishers? Probably not very much, since indie bookstores have been even more difficult to convince to carry our books than the big chains. You might think there'd be a synergy between indie publishers and indie bookstores, but the reverse seems to be true. Local indie stores will usually stock regional books and local authors but, otherwise, prefer known quantities (big names and bestsellers).
It seems that the book industry's tectonic plates are, indeed, shifting. It's just very difficult to determine exactly where they will end up.
Walt Shiel is the Managing Partner and Publishing Mentor at Five Rainbows Services for Authors & Publishers, a subsidiary of Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC where he serves as Publisher. Besides offering a full range of affordable publishing solutions, Five Rainbows can tailor a mentoring program to help you achieve your specific goals for your book!
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