Cuts Like a Knife

Deep discounts on Harry are killing retailers. Die, retailers, die! (That's just German for "The, retailers, the!")


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Edited by author 07-21-2005 09:25 AM
Bankruptcy
 
Is Harry's success leading to bookstore failure? How ironic. What was that about the rich getting richer? Wasn't Harry Potter lauded for singlehandedly (I know books don't have hands) getting the wee tykes reading? Now where will they buy the next installment?

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Edited by author 06-22-2005 09:46 AM
Lost in translation

Mary Duncan on the fate of her Moscovian Shakespeare & Co. bookstore.

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Edited by author 06-15-2005 04:57 PM
I think that the market often has more to do with publicity than quality of material and Indigo will certainly have the dollars to put behind their new line of products; small presses are already pretty invisible in the marketplace. If you want a small press book you pretty well have to know about it and go seek it or else have a conscientious bookseller bringing it to your attention. In my experience these sellers are rarely in Indigo. In the Chapters in my neighbourhood, the first half of the store is recent releases, mostly HC and the odd PB where the press has been able to afford a few weeks co-op, then come the reams of candles, health kits, and yoga supplies, then the cook books, self-help. The fiction is a mixture of pulp and lit, the odd title face out (if paid for or particularly nifty looking). All decisions come from above in a Chapters/Indigo I've heard (I may be wrong) -- my first book ended up on display for some time without my press paying and when I asked why, the staff said they were directed to put it there and it was probably due to a strong Globe & Mail review. So I was briefly lucky. How many other small presses are though? Award winners, I guess. And don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter. I'm just trying to be realistic. And yes, I agree this may make the lives of 'any book publisher in Canada' difficult. Branding, if done well, can be very enticing indeed (Penguin is an early example). Will Indigo publish new poetry, fiction etc.? They will if they think they can accrue. Same as the other publishers, you may argue. And you may be right. As for cyber storefronts like the one Anansi has initiated, this seems to be acres apart from what Indigo is up to. Anansi has only control over their own stock; Indigo is a massive outlet. How is this fair if Indigo now decides that the best point of purchase will be Indigo brand. That means Anansi, even if they have the means won't be able to display there. What does mean spiritedness have to do with commerce? All's fair, I suppose even when it is bereft of integrity.

K

Will Indigo's new line of books *really* put small presses out of business? I'm not so sure. Small presses have always produced books that are worthy of being published but which are not moneymakers, which larger presses are not typically interested in. I have a hard time believing that Indigo's new publishing line is going to be seeking out the best in new poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction...

Or perhaps by "small press" you mean "any book publisher in Canada"... which is another matter altogether.

Edited by author 06-15-2005 10:13 AM
Indigo goes generic

Watch out for their new line of green products. Folks, its another big corporate squeeze. President's Choice is busy putting small operation farmers out of business; what will this mean to the our small presses? Ack! Spread the word before it's too late.

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Speaking of the superstore question...

This piece seems to have an answer, if not the answer.

Virgil can't turn away from a volume about "Sex and the City." John Milton is locked in a staring contest with "Dealmaking in the Film and Television Industry From Negotiation to Final Contracts." Such a cruel irony of juxtaposition. And yet that's the essence of the contemporary bookstore -- a place of clashing cultural interests and dueling human needs.
...
That has always been the magic of a Barnes & Noble. It manages to seem friendly and folksy even while you know -- you know -- that every nook and niche has been vetted by multiple focus groups, that every detail has been polished for maximum consumer appeal. Yet even with all the hyper-charged corporate scrutiny, a Barnes & Noble never feels cold or sterile. You can chalk up this phenomenon to two factors: The softly comforting presence of books; and the inarguable truth that if you can fake sincerity, then you've really got it made.


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Edited by author 06-06-2005 01:34 PM
Which came first?

Sure people are more focused and less able to idly browse bookstores but might this be, in part, because you can barely enter a bookstore (hell, any store) these days without being queried by a smiling, uniformed clerk or sometimes several smiling, uniformed clerks as to how you might be helped? No wonder no one feels they can hang out. The other problem is that rarely does one find something truly unusual in a bookstore any longer unless, of course, you are where I was this weekend or somewhere like it.

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Janet of Annex Books at Bathurst and Dupont in Toronto is a bookwhisperer, fer sher.

G

Although less exotic and more British, Mr. Hatfield, the independent bookseller in Place Bell on Elgin Street, is one of my favorite booksellers. He frequently tells me what I should read. He's one of the best.
-JM

Edited by author 05-26-2005 10:21 AM
Bookseller whisperers

I've known booksellers like this.

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Supermarket books bring down prices, intellect

Article states obvious.


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Edited by author 05-06-2005 09:41 AM
Swap shop in the air

Paradies airport-based shops start a grass roots buy-back program and it works. This reminds me of a little cafe bookshop in Thailand where farangs could trade in two for one.

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Edited by author 05-03-2005 02:01 PM
I remember taking a Poli. Sci. course which required readings on the Meech Lake Accord for a paper due. I am dating myself. With a great reputation in books on Canadiana, I went to the Double Hook and asked if they had this particular book. One of the old ladies working there said they didn't but would be happy to order it. I said that it wasn't necessary as I did have other books already. She goaded me into giving her my name and phone in any case with no obligation to buy it.
How could I lose? Well, the book came in a MONTH later and I promptly got the call. I said no thanks. However, the calls came in weekly saying that if I ordered the book why wouldn't I pick it up? I was harrassed for over the next couple of weeks with these types of phone calls. Yikes -- never again. It was a book about the Meech Lake Accord for God's sake. This experience left a bitter taste and I don't think I ever went back. Yes, it's sad, but not that sad. Still was a nice bookstore nonetheless.