THE VALUE OF BOOKSTORES AND DISCOVERY PART 1: READER EDITION
In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day and inspired by
a recent debate on the interwebs, I’ve compiled some thoughts on the role of
bookstores: how they are (and aren’t) changing, the conflicts between profit
and discovery, physical versus online sales, and their future.
STOCKING WHAT SELLS VS
PROMOTING NEW VOICES
B&N and other
booksellers first and foremost stock what sells in order to make money. If they do not, they will go out of business and
there will be even fewer places where new books can be physically shelved or
discovered at all. Thus shelves may have
a lot of books written long ago by guys like Tolkien or Jordan or
Shakespeare. This is similar to the
reason big publishers continue to publish new editions of those same books by Tolkien
and Jordan et al: because these reliable big sellers subsidize their ability to
invest in new authors with low or uncertain profitability.
HOWEVER, it is also
true that bookstores help readers
discover new authors while browsing.
This is, in fact, one
of the most important functions any physical store serves regardless of product
– discovery through browsing.
This is part of the reason Amazon is opening physical
bookstores – less about trying to get into a dying market, but more about controlling a critical proven way many
people “discover” new books or authors today. In other words, Amazon is replacing the lost free
marketing they used to get from people browsing bookstores, as ironically more physical
stores are pushed out of business by their online sales.
In fact, every book
in an Amazon bookstore is face out. HOWEVER, the few stores Amazon has built so
far are much smaller than B&Ns – so they
are deliberately curating and pre-selecting what they want buyers to “discover.” One can assume they will heavily promote books
they have some stake in.
This demonstrates the
importance of discovery – and of fighting for variety and diversity in what is available to be discovered.
Importantly, however, having
a book in stock to sell is not the
same as taking up prime real estate by facing multiple copies of established
books/authors that do not need to be “discovered.” If a customer comes to a bookstore wanting
J.R.R. Tolkien or Robert Jordan, they likely know they are looking for Tolkien
or Jordan and do not need to “discover” them.
And for those who didn’t come looking for those books, it is likely that
they need only a single image or book to prompt them to buy a copy of something
by that author.
So successful bookstores often find a way to balance the
service of discovery with the needs of stocking what sells.
HOW WE DISCOVER BOOKS
IN BOOKSTORES (AKA THE GLORY OF INDIE BOOKSTORES)
The number one way
people discover and buy new books, period, is still word of mouth.
But what makes us stop in a bookstore and pick up a book by
an author we don’t already love or haven’t
heard of?
A catchy title helps.
But it is the cover art that often grabs us and makes us even pause to
consider the title, and/or a good hook or blurb on the cover that sparks our
curiosity. This of course requires us to see the cover. Yet not every book can be shelved face out if
the bookstore wants to stock a decent quantity and variety of books. And
not every book can be featured on prominent displays or endcaps.
Indie stores are
great in mitigating this fact, even though they still have many of the same
problems as a chain like B&N – even more so since they have less room and
fewer things like toys and tchotchkes and Nooks subsidizing their meager book
profits.
Indie bookstores, however, often employ an engaged and well-read staff who help decide what to stock — tailored to local interests and tastes — and
also helps readers discover authors. This
is where they shine in my opinion. A
good staff or store owner will make
recommendations to readers, add staff review and recommendation notes to
shelves, and usually have staff-recommended book sections in the store etc.
all of which helps readers discover new authors even when the book is spine out. Basically, they sell by their own “word of
mouth”.
It is doubtful chains with top-down one-size-fits-all marketing
and book promotion like B&N will invest in staff and give individual stores
the flexibility to do this.
But there are surely other
ways B&N can also improve this balance between stocking bestsellers and promoting
discovery.
For example, Video Game stores do not stock every copy of a
new game on the shelf, they may have a couple representative cases you can take
to the register and they will pull the stock from behind the counter or
backroom, then they return the shelf-copy to the shelf. Why not do so with Tolkien and Jordan et al?
I am sure there are even better solutions than this that smarter
people than me can come up with, and it would be in their own best interests to
do so if they want to add additional value over Amazon.
YET IN-STORE DISCOVERY
AND STOCK DOES NOT EQUAL IN-STORE SALES
To make all of the above even more complicated, customers have increasingly shown a habit
of discovering something in a physical store, then ordering that item online
from wherever they can get it cheapest.
So just as important as stocking and facing books to promote
discovery, places like B&N need a model that will encourage customers to purchase the discovered books through
their store rather than Amazon or another online retailer, so that the stores
are incentivized to promote discovery of new authors rather than only promote the
reliable sellers.
Amazon’s stores do this by not putting a store price on the
books in the store. When you checkout,
the cover price is discounted based on factors like Prime membership etc.
This also means that
independent stores have to have and promote online purchasing options for that
same store that are easy to access and use.
Of course, an indie bookstore cannot offer Amazon Prime
prices on books without quickly going out of business. And the value and convenience of Amazon’s
self-publishing platform, and of things like the ability to buy an ebook directly
from your e-reader together with a discounted audiobook that synchs with where
you leave off so you can move between them seamlessly are frankly hard to
compete with. That is why it is
important for readers to feel like the bookstore offers some value beyond
another point of sale.
That’s why Independent
bookstores also bring additional value to
readers and communities beyond recommendations, such as author events, book
clubs, children’s storytime, not to mention other community activities like
trivia nights and wine tastings that the
book sales support. The bookstore is
a place to hang out and bond and celebrate books. And while readers are hanging out, surprise
surprise, they talk about what books they like – i.e. they discover books
through word of mouth from other readers.
It is important then
that readers come to understand that the discovery and community value of
bookstores is worth the cost of buying in those bookstores. I know I have to remind myself of this
from time to time, and so try to remind others.
After all, people
give more money in tips to their barista, waiter or Lyft driver per drink or
meal or ride than they save on the cost of the average book on Amazon. So why not buy that book in the store and
consider the extra dollar or two as a tip to the bookstore owner for a job well
done.
Bottom line, independent bookstores offer value to readers when
they help readers find new favorite authors, have online purchasing options for
books not in the store, and offer community events. In other words, when their customers feel the
value they get from the bookstore goes beyond finding the cheapest price.
But as readers, we
need to sometimes remind each other that value exists in the face of the
overwhelming convenience and pricing of places like Amazon. Not necessarily to drive Amazon out of
business, especially as a channel for self-published authors, but to create a
truly competitive environment in which independent bookstores and even chains
like B&N can all thrive together, filling different needs at different
times.
