{"id":67,"date":"2011-02-16T17:52:51","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T22:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/club\/?p=67"},"modified":"2011-02-16T17:52:51","modified_gmt":"2011-02-16T22:52:51","slug":"sweet-sixteen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/w1.loganberrybooks.com\/blog\/sweet-sixteen\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Sixteen"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s my fault.\u00a0 I knew that a group of working women who wanted me to talk about my business would gravitate towards the media-saturated subjects.\u00a0 So I decided to confront these subjects head-on: the internet, Amazon, Borders, eBooks.\u00a0 Officially, I named the talk Loganberry at Sweet Sixteen, and focused on the industry changes over 1.5 decades.\u00a0 The changes are extreme.\u00a0 I illustrated this by beginning with the used book trade and an illustration of book searching with trade tools like the defunct AB Bookman<\/em>.\u00a0 Can you believe we used to read books wanted ads like personals, just 16 years ago?\u00a0 Even the ladies found this ludicrous.<\/p>\n

On to the new book industry: there’s so much to talk about here.\u00a0 There have been lots of format changes over the years — trade paperback originals, audio books, POD; chain stores, internet, wholesale terms — but none as incisive as eBooks.\u00a0 The media has hounded the advent of the eReader, and heralded the demise of paper.\u00a0 That everyone jumps to the conclusion that books are dead is unfortunate.\u00a0 Television did not kill radio.\u00a0 Paperbacks did not kill hardbacks.\u00a0 Audiobooks did not kill print.<\/p>\n

The evolution of format continues, and while we are still in this proprietary-technology stage, it is akin to the Beta era of home movie viewing.\u00a0 Isn’t it great that new readers are being cultivated by the allure of the device?\u00a0 Isn’t it nice to see people reading on the bus again?\u00a0 These are new<\/em> readers, folks, and of course they loaded up their new Christmas toys with new reads, and of course that makes a sales impact.\u00a0 I bet these new readers will be happy to discover paper books too, once their hobby becomes ingrained in the psyche.\u00a0 I hope there will be bookstores to peruse when this time comes, and more importantly, I hope the publishers survive to see the day.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the biggest threat to indie bookstore survival at the moment, Amazon.com, has declared war on proper citizenship by refusing to collect and pay sales tax.\u00a0 They have just declared that they will close their distribution facility in Texas and not build a proposed second one, so that they can avoid the sales tax mandate that the State of Texas has issued.\u00a0 What poor sports.\u00a0 We all live somewhere, and we expect our municipal services.\u00a0 Surely there is some justice left in the world, and reason to believe in a level playing field.<\/p>\n

This morning, as expected, Borders Group announced their filing of Chapter 11.\u00a0 It does not mean the end of Borders, but a third of their stores will close.\u00a0 It could mean the end of some of the smaller publishers, and one wonders how Penguin can sustain a $41 million loss.\u00a0 Do we care?\u00a0 Ah, but we do.\u00a0 I do.\u00a0 Books are the cultural hub of our society, in whatever format, and bookstores are a cultural center for thinking neighbors.\u00a0 We need them to be a cultured society.<\/p>\n

But the questions at my talk were all self-centered.<\/p>\n