davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine) (09/24/85)
In article <5577@fortune.UUCP>, under the Subject line "Re: Let's try to roll back the SF price increase rip-off!" horton@fortune.UUCP (Randy horton) writes: > ... I almost never purchase books at list price. I >usually patronize a local chain called Crown Books. Their motto is *If you >paid full price, you didn't buy it at Crown Books*. I am not entirely sure >that buying books only at discount prices has any effect on publishers, but >I save money, and I support a business whose pricing policy I agree with. I'm afraid that buying books at megachains such as Crown Books (and Waldenbooks and B. Dalton's) does have an effect on publishers. This effect is that only books that will sell millions of copies get published at all. This means a diminished number of titles, a limit to experimentation in literature, and a glut of mediocre books by "name" authors while interesting new authors can't get published. See, Crown Books and their ilk buy books by the carload. Go into any of these megachain stores and you'll see shelves and shelves of books, but these consist of hundreds of copies each of a limited number of titles. You'll note that these are mostly recently-published books, too. The chain stores don't feel they can afford to keep a book around unless it's "moving." If a book fails to sell, they tear the covers off and return them to the publisher AND THROW AWAY THE TEXT. (They're not even allowed to GIVE away the insides.) On the other hand, independent bookstores buy books in much smaller lots. Go into any well-stocked independent bookstore and you'll find many fewer copies, but of many more titles per foot of shelf space. Only the independents have books published more than two years ago. Only independents have books from small publishers and obscure authors. Only independents have personnel who really care about books and will help you track down those out-of-print gems you've read about in SF-LOVERS. In my experience, the vast majority of chain-store personnel might as well be working at K-Mart for all they know or care about books. (There are, of course, certain notable exceptions.) The problem is that the large chains buy books in such overwhelming quantities that they become the publishers' major concerns. Today, there is an increasing trend for large publishers to buy manuscripts that they think will sell, not to the public, but to the bookstore chains! The chains, of course, only buy books they know will sell in the millions. This leads to a glut of "Bestsellers" and a dearth of experimentation by the publishers. The authors, who, of course, want to sell to the large publishers, may feel pressured to tailor their wares for mass consumption. This leads to swarms of Tolkien clones and "Bestsellers." (Have you ever noticed that "Bestseller" is a book category like "Non-Fiction" or "Romance?" "Bestsellers" are written not to be read, but to sell.) Of course, by buying in such large quantities, the major chains can afford to charge very low prices for their books. The smaller stores can't. However, for the money you get personal service, attention to detail, people who care, and an atmosphere that the chain stores lack completely. If your local bookstore doesn't have all these qualities, you can probably find one that does nearby. That is, if it hasn't gone out of business. Today, the smaller bookstores are in desperate straits because of the size and buying power of the chains. With a book-buying populace as small as America's is today, competition for your book dollars is fierce, and the chains are winning because of their low prices and top locations. Many small bookstores are being forced out of existence. Therefore, I buy my books at independent booksellers as a rule. It's a small price to pay for continued variety and experimentation in literature. I'll get off my soapbox now. Thanks for your time. Any followups belong in net.books, not net.sf-lovers. David D. Levine (...decvax!tektronix!teklds!davidl) [UUCP] (teklds!davidl.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA/CSNET]
samson@h-sc1.UUCP (gregory samson) (09/26/85)
In article <1066@teklds.UUCP> davidl@teklds.UUCP (David Levine) writes: > >I'm afraid that buying books at megachains such as Crown Books (and >Waldenbooks and B. Dalton's) does have an effect on publishers. > >This effect is that only books that will sell millions of copies get >published at all. This means a diminished number of titles, a limit to >experimentation in literature, and a glut of mediocre books by "name" >authors while interesting new authors can't get published. > True. There's little to be done, however, if you live in an area that offers few small or used bookstores, than to go for the maximum discount that you can get your hands on. In the upstate NY area, there's Waldenbooks, with the 15% on >=$15 for Otherworlds members, and there are general discount paper-goods stores (with a constant 20% discount) and, to top it off, something called the Discount Bookseller with discounts from 10% to 36%. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G. T. Samson Commander-in-Chief, Harvard MicroWizards (Ret.) gts@wjh12.ARPA or samson%{h-sc1,h-sc4}@harvard.ARPA
trewitt@Cascade.ARPA (09/28/85)
I was in Crown Books last week and asked if they had a copy of "Books in Print". No, they didn't -- they aren't allowed to buy such things. More precisely, Crown won't reimburse the franchise (I assume it's a franchise) for the expense of "Books in Print", so they don't have a copy. So, if all you value is the price of a book, go to a chain. I put the books that I had selected back on the shelf and went to Printer's Inc., a pleasant, funky, well-stocked private bookstore, where they know something about books. I also paid full price. You can also get coffee and cake there. - Glenn Trewitt Stanford University trewitt@amadeus.arpa ...decwrl!glacier!trewitt
sharon@uw-june (Sharon M. Tuttle) (10/01/85)
(my apologies if my rough draft of this was posted; gotta beware of those control-deletes!) :-) I agree that small bookstores are important, and should be supported-- they are too nifty to allow to be killed off!--but I do take exception to the generalization of chain bookstore personnel as being uncaring and uninformed about books. I'm sure such jokers do exist, but having worked in a couple of chains myself, I've only worked with fellow book-lovers. No, no one is perfect, but we try to be familiar with what we carry, and help folks to find what they want if we haven't got it. That includes--gasp!--referring people to small bookstores, specialty bookstores, used bookstores, etc. We'll even help someone to order a book from the publisher. In short, please do support the independents--but recognize that the chains are not all bad, and those who work there may actually do so because they enjoy it... Sharon M. Tuttle, U. of Washington Computer Science (how much is that k-nuth in the window? arf! arf! arf!)