Friday, October 13, 2006

Bookstore Sales Continue To Fall

And they don't know why. Hmm, maybe high prices for hardcovers and increasingly absurd high prices for paperbacks that come out a year or two or more after the hardcover? Maybe charging $15 for 50 year old novels, even when they're part of a 12 volume series you expect readers to buy each and every one of? Holding back on paperback releases when the rest of the world often offers hardcover and paperback releases simultaneously? Trying to make people pay twice to own a book electronically instead of including it in the cost of a hardcover and offering the eBook as an expected "extra" the way DVDs offer loads of extras? Doing the same with audio book versions? Imagine if you bought a hardcover and got both a key to download an audio version for your iPod or car and an eBook version you could put on your PDA or EBook reader and take with you on a plane or wherever. Suddenly, hardcovers might seem cutting edge and fun rather than overpriced.

Meanwhile, some idiots still think libraries should only carry books THEY approve of. Why do libraries feel obliged to cave in to pressure like this? By their own admission, not one book had EVER been challenged by a library patron. So the very first time it happens, instead of saying, gee, you're the only person who has ever objected, if you think a book is "bad," don't check it out; instead of doing that, they pulled the books, and formed a committee to decide what books in the future should be allowed onto their shelves. Nice going. The graphic novel "Blankets," by the way, is very good.

1 comment:

Me said...

Hmm, maybe high prices for hardcovers and increasingly absurd high prices for paperbacks that come out a year or two or more after the hardcover?

So very true!