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Borders is looking for a buyer. Barnes and Noble may be acquiring the second largest bookseller in the US. This is sad news. Another brick-and-mortar (and a great one) chain going down the drain means another less buyer for an author's books. Borders has always been very supportive of romance books; their romance-book division buyers are very knowledgeable and one of the most accessible in the industry.
Most of us here are online buyers but I do know many who like to browse a bookstore for new books. If they don't see one they like, they don't buy. I know because I used to be like that when I didn't allow myself to use a credit card. If I couldn't find a particular title out in the bookstore, I'd just buy another book that day. Today, wither high gasoline and food prices, books are a luxury item for some of us. With yet another shopping venue gone, readers have less places to go for a browse and impulse-buy.
There are also fewer and fewer independent bookstores out there, and most are struggling. I try to shop at the Book Rack by my house, but it's one of the few UBSes that have great variety. You might wonder fewer indes and brick-and-mortar should matter when anyone could just order online or go to a giant BN store. The smaller bookshops are usually owned and run by readers who love their genre and word of mouth is so very important to mid-list and newer authors. My bookseller friend actually read the arcs publishers send her so she can give recommendations to the older readers who come by the bookstore once every few weeks. She knows their tastes and they trust her. You can't buy that kind of publicity. If you go to a BN bookstore, it is unlikely that anyone at the customer service counter knows any names you come up with or have suggestions about books.
I hope Borders can make it through these bad times. I'm going to miss my friends there.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Post #2: Not Good
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6 comments:
I do most of my shopping online but what trip to the mall is complete without checking out Borders? What better way to kill an hour or so than by browsing the bookstore perusing books? B&N is everywhere and they do have Godiva truffles but they don't have to monopolize the business.
Here in Canada, we have a major book store called Chapters, which was bought by Indigo, another big company, who in turn bought a smaller company Coles. But I still go to the bookstore because i like to see my books before I buy them. And it's fun.
Big fish being eaten by bigger fish. I buy both online and in bookstores. I like Barnes and Noble because I can site and relax while browsing books that look interesting. I've bought a number of books I wouldn't otherwise have.
My town is quite small, but we have a great used book store that works hard at tracking down out-of-print items, and a book store that's part of another business that will order anything in print for you without charging shipping. They also have comfortable places to sit and browse. I support both stores.
That's sad news, I hope Borders gets through their troubles too, I do a LOT of buying through Amazon, but if I'm in town I go to Borders. I can easily spend hours in the one closest to me, they have a fabulous romance section that is every bit as big as the SF/Fantasy section which for me equals heaven. They have a coffee shop too so I can get caffeine to give me stamina ;-)
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a very good UBS and B&N is 15 minutes farther away than Borders.
I'm disappointed - I do most of my shopping at Borders. I prefer it to B&N. However, I do try to support local retailers (they're fairly easy to find in Austin).
I feel that there are less and less choices where we buy books outside the Net. It's disappointing because most readers don't go to the net and "browse" around for new reading material like shoppers at bookstores. I know I've picked up many new-to-me authors from looking at bookcovers and browsing in the aisles. Amazon recommends emails? I delete them. Hate spam.
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