Quotation for the Week of February 27

"The one function TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were."
-- David Brinkley

How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em In Brick & Mortar Once They've Done E?

Well, well ... it looks like Barnes & Noble is taking a page from Amazon's ebook (so to speak) with regard to adding features to its digital publishing platform. As this item from eBookNewser indicates, B&N has created a PubIt! bestseller list (presumably the B&N equivalent to that other online retailer's bestseller list -- you know ;).

Other expanded marketing capabilities include "the opportunity to be selected for B&N’s 'Read In Store' program, a platform in which Nook owners can read free content while inside a Barnes & Noble bookstore." That's nice.

Does this mean brick and mortar bookstores are doomed? Not necessarily. As long as they have something to offer and can stay relevant, they'll continue to do business.

Please note this blog post about Powell's Books, a Portland, OR, bookselling mainstay (or to quote the post "the most vaunted brand in the independent bookstore world"), which recently laid off employees due to a drop in sales last year.

You'll notice the post focuses on solutions. Ways to fix the problems. Imagine!

Here's one: Integrate your digital and brick and mortar strengths - If you offer great service in the stores, try to offer it online

Hey, what a concept! Here's another:

It's obvious that Powell's can't compete on price, and it's also clear that Powell's want to increase sales at stores as they don't want to stay an online business. To get there they need to extend their best comparative advantage - being a local business in Portland. The problem is that just being a local business is usually not enough and works in very few places ....

Powell's should adopt a strategy that is based on providing local incentives - for example partnering with other local businesses ...

Wow! Who'd have thought? Do something to set yourself apart from the others. Make yourself unique. The essence of branding. Gee. And I don't even have a degree or training in this sh*t.

But ... what's really awesome is the third one!

Get POD into your stores (at least to one of them at first) by adding the Espresso Book Machine (check at McNally Jackson in New York). This machine can print in minutes affordable, library-quality paperbacks and can also print anything in the public domain, increasing the store's inventory by over 4 million potential titles. This is something that can really increase the value of a visit in your stores for your customers.

Hello? What have I been saying? Give POD a chance. Print isn't dead yet. But bookstores could order books as needed. Returnability could become moot if print runs were reduced in size or eliminated. Seriously. Am I the only one who can figure this out?

Or are we just going to beat this dead horse some more? Rehashing old information, over and over? Expecting new answers to emerge like magic or something?

Anyway, I recommend you read the Powell's Books post. Great suggestions! That make actual sense.

Quotation for the Week of February 20

"Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards."
-- Robert Heinlein

Inevitable, Unsurprising and Sad

Right. I come here not to gloat or say mean things about the inevitable news about Borders Books that's only been coming down the pike for months (years? some would say 20 years???). Unfortunately, like a train wreck, I feel compelled to gaze upon the spectacle, yet feel dreadful.

Simple fact: I don't hate bookstores. In fact, I love them. They might not carry my books, but that doesn't make them any less pleasurable to me as a reader.

So maybe I could argue about their policies regarding the returnability of books. Meh. I can still sell ebooks with no problem. So who cares, really? Who's really getting hurt by that policy now? Oops, let's not go there, okay ... we're not here to bury bookstores, right? Sorry, sorry, mea culpa!

Anyhow, all is not lost for Borders. They're filing for Chapter 11, so it's not like they're going to completely up and disappear.

They will be closing lots of stores. But one in a revitalized section of Maryland will remain open! So -- yay! :)

Quotation for the Week of February 13

"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand."
 -- Kurt Vonnegut

Ebooks, Brick and Mortar, and All That

This post is little more than a compilation of links, really. Hopefully, you'll find them interesting.

First, The Author's Guild on How Apple Saved Barnes & Noble. Probably.

But wait! It would appear that even as we wait breathlessly for Borders to file for bankruptcy, Barnes & Noble may do so, also. (At least, in one blogger's opinion.)

Meanwhile, Publishers Lunch continues to issue reports with words like "decreasing," "decline," "smaller," "reorganized" and the ever-popular "moved on to other pursuits" with an amazing increase in the ratio of those words to the total word count of their reports.

Hmm ...

So, in light of all that, and when you look at how badly authors get screwed by publishers who sell their ebooks who, in turn make out so well, according to this post ...

You have to ask yourself why you'd want to have a traditional publisher, right?

This certainly applies to authors who write children's and young adult books, because even the New York Times has acknowledged that young adults and kids are totally getting into ebooks now.

So, why not be your own publisher? An author-preneur. You can do it.

Don't have the bucks? That's okay. There's a resource for creatives called Kickstarter. "A new way to fund & follow creativity." That includes writers, natch. :)

And a hat tip to Elisa Lorello's blog for the link to Kickstarter. Thanks, Elisa! :)

Quotation for the Week of February 6

"I'm just a person trapped inside a woman's body."
-- Elayne Boosler

A Meaningful Ebook Bestseller List

As most people who keep their eyes and ears open in the publishing business know by now, the New York Times is soon rolling out its ebook bestseller list.

The only catch, of course, is not all ebooks will be on it. It will be skewed as Publishers Lunch points out primarily toward larger publishers' books. (What a surprise -- not!) And the self-published will not be included. (Well, no sh*t.) Thus, significant bestselling authors, such as indie author Amanda Hocking will be conspicuously absent, despite the fact that she estimates she's sold at least half a million downloads of her ebooks. I mean, what kind of bestseller list leaves an author like that off, anyway?

Anyhow, take a look at this article in Publishing Trends, because it'll give you an idea of the big picture when it comes to the development of all these ebook bestseller lists. Because there's more than one of them. (The New York Times doesn't corner the market on these things, you know.)

And, BTW, do check out the link at the very bottom of the article. The one with Publishing Trend's own ebook bestseller list. Guess who's on it? ;)