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Kindle or Not, a Resurgence In Used Bookstores
The growing availability of books via internet (whether instant, in the form of downloads from Amazon's Kindle store or the Google Play store, or in physical form by post) puts pressure on conventional bookstores. The Washington Post reports, though, that some bookstores are thriving, and some new ones are getting started, in a particular niche: used books. The phenomenon springs in part from the disappearance of many large chain bookstores, leaving gaps that smaller and nimbler shops can fill; as the article points out, a used bookstore in many places is the only one around. Nonetheless,
It is by no means an easy business. Many used-book retailers — with either bad management or bad locations (or both) — still struggle against the digital headwinds.
For one, Amazon is still just a few clicks away. But some used-bookstore owners have made a shrewd move: widening their customer base by listing their inventories on Amazon’s third-party marketplace, an idea many new-book retailers despise. (The Washington Post is owned by Amazon founder Jeffrey P. Bezos.)
My favorite bookstores have mixed stock (used and new), serve coffee, and specialize -- the process of discovery is still easier at a place like Ada's Technical Books in Seattle than it is browsing through Amazon recommendations.
They are DRM free. You can share them with whomever you want. You can beat up people that don't return them. Go watch The Princess Bride. Lot's of reasons they are still read, and therefore produced.
Absolutely. Plus we can reread them in 5yrs, 10yrs... And they are still there in the event of power failure and other tech failures.
Not that we don't need ebooks. Both is better.
This is 2015. Why are books still being printed on paper?
Because a lot of people like them that way.
But here's a puzzler: This is 2015. Why are people still asking stupid questions?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
They are DRM free. You can share them with whomever you want. You can beat up people that don't return them. Go watch The Princess Bride. Lot's of reasons they are still read, and therefore produced.
And...
They don't need a battery. Ever.
They don't break when you drop them, even from heights that would turn a Kindle into a bag of shards.
The feel good in your hands.
The TSA won't make you take them out and "turn them on" when you fly with them.
You can share them with your children and instill a love of reading in them.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
To expand on Junta's comment; drm free, no internet connection required, no subscription fees, no electricity required, easier to search, easy to use "hands off", can be a tactile experience, easier to read in daylight, and easy marginalia..
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Or the stoarge format changes and renders e-books unreadable.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Let's Not Forget that a pre-requisite for owning a Used Book Store is the proprietor must be clearly insane. I don't mean that he or she would "have to be crazy" to be in the used book market in a "market" sense ... I mean that if they were not certifiable lunatics, they would not even consider possessing large quantities of used books sufficient to offer them for retail sale. Plus, the inventory multiplies like rabbits, since they sell one used book for every 20 used books they buy.
One of the big issues Used Book Stores have to deal with are commercial leases ... they are not necessarily ideal tenants because the weight of the product they sell is probably higher than just about any other product, and that includes New Books, since resellers of new books generally make an effort to have the inventory look good, versus stacked 10 rows high covered in dust with extremely narrow shelf pitches making browsing difficult except for the super skinny.
What they have going for them as tenants is they are very reluctant to move. So shady landlords love them, since the leaseholder is putty in their hands. Want to raise the rent? Go ahead, and make it unreasonable while you're at it. 50/50 they will pay rather than move.
Did we even notice that this article is about old, secondhand books? Derp, derp, derp. It's just unsettling to see people so willing to discard the old way of doing things and completely fail to see the problem with the new way, up to the point of harshly criticizing those who decline to change. A short story called "The Right to Read" should hopefully make an impression, though I doubt it.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland. A full city block, multiple floors, of new and used books (and maps and book-related kitsch). So big (and popular) that they had to expand their technical books to another storefront nearby.
On many days, the place is backed with shoppers - and it's a huge store. They even have a map of the store, so that you don't get lost. The store is divided into general subject sections: Reference, Mystery, SciFi, Art, Languages, Magazines, etc.
It's such a trip to browse, and find, practically any book you can think of. And, if it's not on the shelf, go to their website and see if they have it in their warehouse. (You can check their website from any of the many terminals set up throughout the store) If they do, you can buy it and have it appear in Will Call at the main store.
You can sell them your old books at their buying counter. (I've sold a couple hundred there myself...)
If you're into books (the kind that are made of paper), you should visit this place at least once.
(I'm not associated with the place - just a customer for the last 20+ years)
Unreadable? My girlfriend had her kindle for a day before she found some software which could not only strip all the DRM for any formats, but freely convert between them all and plain text.
At the moment this is as solved of a problem as DVD-CSS.
To expand on Junta's comment; drm free, no internet connection required, no subscription fees, no electricity required, easier to search, easy to use "hands off", can be a tactile experience, easier to read in daylight, and easy marginalia..
No DRM, but you can't legally copy any portion of a paper book without permission. You only need the internet connection to download the book, not to read it. You don't need a subscription fee for an ebook. You only need electricity to charge a kindle and then it's good for over a month depending on usage. It's just as easy to use hands off, maybe easier, I don't have to worry about it flipping close and finding my place again. Ebooks are much easier to search than a paper book. It doesn't even have to be in the index, I can digitally search for any word or words throughout the book, or even library. E-ink is just as easy to read in daylight as a regular paper book.
Advantages of ebooks?
I can carry a library of tech manuals with me in my pocket. If they get lost, destroyed or stolen I can replace my books for free(I might have to pay the price for the new kindle, but some of my books cost more than a kindle, plus I have multiple kindle devices and a smartphone.) They don't fill an entire room of bookshelves. They don't get moldy. I can buy a new book any day or night and have it in my hands in minutes and it will be cheaper than a new hardcopy version of the book.
One advantage of the paperbooks is that you can get a used copy that is cheaper than the ebook copy. I have done this from Amazon, it's amazing what you can find and have sent to your house for cheap.
Because a lot of people like them that way.
But here's a puzzler: This is 2015. Why are people still asking stupid questions?
Not a puzzler, people aren't taught to think anymore. They are only taught to answer pre-set questions.
Hey, if someone thinks me flashing the book cover of my old copies of Tom Clancy or an Isaac Asimov means I'm signalling either virtue or status ... then that person is a fucking moron.
I'm sorry, but I have never heard of this bullshit, and I don't give a fuck about what anybody else thinks about what I'm reading. While I'm sure society will always have some proportion of shallow, vain idiots whose life is dependent on being seen doing stuff .. I still think the vast majority of people reading actual books aren't doing it to signal status.
That guy in the corner with the cover folder around a beat up paperback? He doesn't give a crap what you think of what he's reading.
Pretentious college students? Maybe. Real grown ups reading books for pleasure? No bloody way.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
* Have randomly sized text
* Are impractical to carry in enough quantity for 1-2 weeks away from home
* Require an external light source
* Can't be easily searched
* Annotation is messy and often frowned upon
* You lose your place if you fall asleep while reading them
* Can't read themselves to you
* You have to visit a physical store to get a new one
I don't disagree with your list, just think there's an equal (or in my view greater) list on the other side.
DRM is the big problem, but honestly - screw what I've signed up for, I just treat them as if I'd bought the book, I hope governments will eventually forcibly equalise this difference.
1. Strip the DRM
2. I don't find ePaper to be a problem, but I don't like reading a phone or tablet. On the other hand, every ebook I have has the spacing, margins, font and font size I want it to have - not that which fitted the format the publisher wanted or typesetter liked one day.
3. The last three I bought (on Amazon) were 1/3rd cheaper than their paperback versions.
4. Yes - biggest problem, gifting a used book is problematic, though Strip the DRM and it's not so hard to sideload them to most devices.
5. Didn't you just say that? Strip the DRM and remember not to read them or loan them out to others while your recipient is reading them.
Honestly, the industry is going to have to learn that restricting ownership rights to licensing for personal use is a dead end and a bad move that will increase piracy. Until then, I'll just buy eBooks and notionally treat them as paper books.
Yes, and...
:)
If a service desk makes you wait, pull out a real book and start reading it. See how long it takes them to realise how bad this makes them look and start serving you
I love e-books, but the submitter of the article is right about one thing: most e-readers offer a terrible browsing experience, are piss-poor at providing meaningful recommendations, and suck at helping you organize your library. There is a lot of room for improvement there.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
And they have a tremendous carbon footprint (cutting down trees, moving logs to mill, mill to paper plant, paper plant to printer, printer to warehouse, warehouse to store, store to home)... They also look great on bookcase. There is a thriving business in selling used books by the linear board foot as a decorative item
The economy boomed in the 1950's, and people were genuinely happy by most accounts.
Pretty sure quite a few people opposed the Vietnam War.
I seem to recall a large backlash against Disco, culminating in a dramatic anti-disco record burning party.
I don't recall that being a wildly-popular position in the 80's, but then again, like most Americans I was busy working, paying taxes, etc.
That was far from a universal position.
Bush won in 2000 because Gorecwas seen as an extension of the Clinton scandal-riddled administration, and the electorate RARELY lets one party control the whitehouse for three consecutive terms - Reagan/Reagan/Bush were last to do it on the Republican side, Rosevelt/Rosevelt/Rosevelt/Truman were the last to do it on the Democratic side. Re-elected? Pretty sure Bush beat Kerry despite Kerry supporters representing nearly, but not more than, half the voters in that campaign. More people voted against Kerry than voted against Bush, but you can't argue 'everyone' thought re-electing Bush was a good idea.
This is true, and it raises the importance of design and build quality in paper books -- which is often lacking. Find a volume from the late 1800s in a used bookstore; in many ways that era was the pinnacle of dead tree book UX, or at least the surviving books from that era are. Good enough but not elaborately precious typography, quality paper and binding, fine covers -- they're a pleasure to use in a way that a ten year-old paperback or even most 21st century hardbound volumes are not.
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