Bookstores in Our Future?

by Susan Ideus

One of my favorite pastimes is browsing through bookstores—large ones, small ones, whatever.  Being surrounded by new books, new authors, new ideas is a special delight. A bookstore always seems to me to be a haven of quiet in the company of kindred souls, a thoroughly pleasant way to spend time. I don’t always buy something—sometimes just the experience of perusing and craving (I try not to actually covet…) is enough. Of course, if you ask my dear hubby, he will most emphatic about stating that I’ve done my part over the years to financially support various bookstores.

Yet it seems the news is filled these days with stories of small independent book stores going out of business and  some of the big chain book retailers having big problems. Can you even envision a day when the brick and mortar bookstores are no more?

Online book sellers seem to maintain and even flourish, especially with the advent of e-books. I use the online services, sometimes for price and sometimes for e-books, but I cannot imagine not being able to go into an actual bookstore. It would be an enormous loss.

In a recent Wall Street Journal article (http://on.wsj.com/qviSDk), Penguin CEO John Makinson talked about the difference in book owners, book readers and why he believes small independent book stores are still viable.

“…people will willingly pay a higher price in an independent bookshop knowing they can buy [the same book] for less down the road. That’s because consumers feel an emotional engagement with the bookstore and feel that bookstores are providing a public service as well as a commercial service. I see no evidence that independent bookstores will become obsolete. . .”

It follows that he sees similar differences in those readers who favor physical books over e-books.

“There is a growing distinction between the book reader and the book owner. The book reader just wants the experience of reading the book, and that person is a natural digital consumer: Instead of a disposable mass market book, they buy a digital book. The book owner wants to give, share and shelve books. They love the experience. As we add value to the physical product, particularly the trade paperback and hardcover, the consumer will pay a little more for the better experience”.

I’ve talked about those differences and preferences here in this column before, and it will be an ongoing discussion in the book industry as a way is found to accommodate all of us. Many readers, me included, have a foot in both camps.

Makinson speaks from a commercial perspective. I wondered how an author might feel about the present and future importance of bookstores to his/her livelihood. I fully realize that successful authors are business persons and marketing gurus as well, but they begin from a different point.  So, I decided to ask one of my favorites, prolific author and founder of Story Circle Network Susan Wittig Albert. She speaks to both the bookstore issue and to that reader who loves bound books. Thanks, Susan!

“Lots of people are buying books online, for the convenience, but plenty of readers still want to be engaged with their local bookstores. For example, I recently gave a talk and did a signing at the Book Spot, in Round Rock, TX, which was crowded with people who had come to get a book, browse the shelves, and look for new authors. At another store, a specialty mystery bookstore called Murder by the Book, in Houston, I spoke to an overflow crowd. Bookstores are important to authors, because booksellers “handsell” books to people who are looking for a new author to add to their libraries. They’re important to readers, too, who are convinced that there’s no substitute for a bound book with real paper pages that they can hold in their hands!”

I know that some of our readers are published authors as well. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how bookstores impact you. And, for all of our readers, let us know your thoughts on your favorite bookstores, why you shop there,  and your own book buying habits.

Until next time, good reading!!

Reading and Collecting

by Susan Ideus

I recently heard an excellent piece on NPR about collecting books. Caused me to think about my relationship with the books I own.

“I believe in buying books you can’t really afford. I’m not advocating fiscal irresponsibility, but if you’re going to make a big purchase, why not make it a book?.” So says Kristin Kelly in a recent NPR This I Believe oral essay titled Books at Any Cost. (http://thisibelieve.org/essay/68795/) Such a lover of books is Ms. Kelly that she still owns a 1970s television, content to be entertained by her books instead. And while she does make use of libraries as a reader and as a college professor, she says “…I know that there is something mysterious and spiritual in owning your own good books, in spending your earthly money for a piece of heavenly art to pass down to future generations to say: This is what I loved. And I wonder if you will love, it too?” Spoken like a true bibliophile! I have two grown daughters who could happily fit into such a household. Indeed, they are each lovingly building their own personal book collections. They, along with Ms. Kelly, might appreciate this sentiment as well:

Tough choices face the biblioholic at every step of the way–like choosing between reading and eating, between buying new clothes and buying books, between a reasonable lifestyle and one of penurious but masochistic happiness lived out in the wallow of excess.~Tom Raabe, Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction

 

Now, I do love reading. Anyone who knows even a little bit about me knows that.  I always have my nose in a book. I’m addicted to reading. Can’t imagine my life without it. I also own many books.  I love beautiful books, finely crafted books, lovely old books. However, I don’t collect them, in the sense of a true bibliophile as mentioned above. I don’t have shelves of classics, and I have only a few books that I keep because I might re-read them. Included are some reference books that I keep close as I write.

The books on my shelves at any given time reflect who I am at that point in my life. One of Ms. Kelly’s statements really resonates with me: “Good books age with you; they bend and flex with your life experiences.” Those experiences determine the contents of my bookshelves.

When I first married, I began collecting cookbooks. Thirty-odd years ago, I had a big collection on babies and parenting. Next would have come lots of crafting and sewing books. Followed by parenting again—teenagers this time around.  I then circled back around to cookbooks, a little more on the gourmet and inventive level.  In the last few years, my shelves have filled with books on writing and memoir. Through it all, I’ve had a current selection of novels of varied genre, current bios and memoirs, and other books which piqued my interest at the time. As my interests have changed and evolved, I’ve given books to libraries, churches, shelters, friends and family. Good books should be used and shared, in my opinion.

When I think of all the books still left for me to read, I am certain of further happiness. ~Jules Renard

 

Where do you find yourself on this spectrum from dedicated bibliophile to avid reader/book lover?

Speaking of a plethora of books…

Announcing a new SCBR feature–Briefly Reviewed: We receive more wonderful books than we can possibly review. Here is a selection of titles, briefly described, that represent the wide range of recently-published memoirs written by strong women who have been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale. Recommended!