Gazing Into The Crystal Ball...
Jul. 22nd, 2011 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmerriamI'm going to make a prediction that runs counter to all the doom and gloom we in the publishing industry are constantly being hammered with.
Now that poor moribund Borders Books as gasped its final death rattle and all that is left is picking over the cooling corpse -- in the long run this will prove a positive to indie booksellers, allowing them to fill in the gaps Borders left behind. B&N can’t be everywhere, in fact has been contracting, and tends to be quite conservative in its buying practices. Amazon is all-virtual and doesn’t fill the needs of those of us who love physical books--that desire to touch and smell and have the tactile experience of a book.
Small booksellers will--if not flourish--at least gain some breathing room, especially if they fill a strong book-buying niche.
As for publishers and the Death of Borders: any smart publishers have been planning for this since Borders became a terminal case on life-support. Those publisher that didn’t are going to get hurt, as will their authors, but if they made such poor business decisions as to not plan for this inevitable eventuality, then they have deeper cultural problems.
Maybe later I will come back and talk about where I think publishing might be going.
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Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in audio format at Audible.
Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.
Now that poor moribund Borders Books as gasped its final death rattle and all that is left is picking over the cooling corpse -- in the long run this will prove a positive to indie booksellers, allowing them to fill in the gaps Borders left behind. B&N can’t be everywhere, in fact has been contracting, and tends to be quite conservative in its buying practices. Amazon is all-virtual and doesn’t fill the needs of those of us who love physical books--that desire to touch and smell and have the tactile experience of a book.
Small booksellers will--if not flourish--at least gain some breathing room, especially if they fill a strong book-buying niche.
As for publishers and the Death of Borders: any smart publishers have been planning for this since Borders became a terminal case on life-support. Those publisher that didn’t are going to get hurt, as will their authors, but if they made such poor business decisions as to not plan for this inevitable eventuality, then they have deeper cultural problems.
Maybe later I will come back and talk about where I think publishing might be going.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last Car to Annwn Station is available in ebook format at Carina Press, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and in audio format at Audible. Should We Drown in Feathered Sleep. Available in ebook format at Carina Press, Amazon, B&N, and in audio format at Audible.
