The fate of bookstores

[Fidel_Castronaut]

I think ultimately books will one day go the way of the do do.

If we think about costs of producing a book vis that of an online book through a kindle or whatever, then really, the logical option from a financial perspective is to produce the online format.

Logic has nothing to do with production - otherwise, dollar store shit wouldn't exist. Kids don't need all those toys, yet people keep making them and parents keep stuffing stockings with them.

Also, less trees being cut down = good for everyone!

Something of a misunderstanding about environmentalism - we farm trees now for paper for the most part. If we wanted to end clear-cutting, we'd have to change the way we structure housing, and agriculture. We cut down more trees for suburbia and for cattle than we do to make books.

I know how trees are farmed, and it's good for a country like the US that's got vast swathes of land in which trees can be farmed through generations.

The UK however has very little forestry in which to farm left, which is why almost all out publications use imported pulp from elsewhere around the world. Cutting this out alone would save on logistical costs which can be astronomical. I agree with your point re: farming and house production (very few houses in England utilise wood as their main structural component) and I concede that point. However, even if more trees are cut down for purpose x than purpose y, eliminating purpose y from the production chain still produces a net benefit (Environmentally speaking, assuming ceteris paribus for other production purposes).

I disagree regarding production; I think logic is 100% linked to it. IT just depends on the unit of utility one is looking to get out of it or, rather, what one is measuring their margins against.

Cheap plastic toys with relatively little overheads and costs of production but with large mark-ups are a cash cow for manufactures. I would state as a fact that can be backed up with relevant figures that margins for book production, from hardback (considerably more expensive than paperback) through to paper journals and even newspapers are much tighter, and diminishing year on year as production values increase and general circulation decreases.

I am more than happy to be proven incorrect if figures can be shown that disprove my theory. Publishers are hitting the wall, and book stores are suffering as a result. It's a fact that there is now only 1 big book retailer left in the UK which has stores throughout the country - all the others are shut. I used to work for it (Waterstones, owned by Russians after the original owners decided to sell off the business due to lack of sales), and the mark-up for selling a book in store vis selling it online was around £3 for a paperback (retail average for £7.99 in stores, around £4.99 online).

Consumers are beginning to move away from book sales at increasing rates, so much so waterstones now actually sells the Kindle in its stores to make up the short fall. It's actually signed it's own death warrant because of it though as repeated business through an online format will kill the demand for hard copy formats in the medium to long term.