Fair’s Fair “For Book Lovers”

Why are so many people who love books saying so many negative things about the book business? The prevailing opinion seems to be the retail end, particularly the brick and mortar store, of the business is doomed. 

My own sense is, the book business is going through a catharsis. 

Since the advent of the super? store concept of Barnes & Noble and Borders and the subsequent demise of chain after chain of long established booksellers there seems to have been a domino effect upon other smaller independent booksellers who found the old ways of doing business were no longer lucrative. In their glory days a new hardcover bestseller sold quickly – usually at the full retail price. The buying power of the super? stores allowed them to discount those books thereby disrupting the status quo.  

The arrival on the scene of Amazon Books, the Advanced Book Exchange, Alibris, EBay and others of their ilk served to bring an awareness to the bookbuying public that memorable books they had long thought were no longer available are actually quite accessible in many cases.     

Statistics indicate book sales have actually expanded over the past several years and it seems quite evident the above named players are responsible for the surging sales. They have kept books in the news as never before. 

The news media’s propensity for reporting the bad news prominently as each bookseller closed their doors made the situation look bleak even though business failures are an everyday fact of life in all lines. There are many individuals who go into business with no real idea about important facets which have to be considered and attended to to stay in business. An inability or an unwillingness to change course and try to adapt when a business is heading in the wrong direction is not uncommon. 

It is also pointless and self defeating to look outside ourselves for reasons for failing – there are many good reasons – the shifting tides of everyday life provides each of us many chances to make a lot of mistakes and sometimes it is just a matter of time before we find the one we choose to call the final mistake.  

So … Why are so many people who love books saying so many negative things about the book business? Especially when the evidence shows book sales are growing.