Buying books and not buying books
Sep. 6th, 2011 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
megwritesI had something of an illuminating experience at the Borders "going out of business" sale this weekend.
For those who don't know, Borders is (was) one of the major brick and mortar retailers here in the U.S. They've been fighting bankruptcy and financial woes for years, but it's finally caught up to them. They're going under and individual locations are going out like light bulbs.
Here have a link about it from the Wall Street Journal.
This is very bad for the employees who are losing jobs. I feel genuine and deep sympathy for them, especially with the way job markets are right now.
But as a person who buys books and is deeply interested in book retail and the publishing industry, it was something of an instructive experience.
What made the experience interesting was that not only was that particular Borders in the (in Charlotte, NC if you're curious) more crowded than I have ever seen it in the handful of times I've been there. The place was wall-to-wall customers. The employees at the registers (bless every single one of their hearts) couldn't get a breath between one customer and the next.
People were buying. A lot. Including me.
However, it wasn't the frenzied "wow, this thing is reduced from twenty bucks to a dollar, I must have it!" type of rush inspired by being raised in a culture that indoctrinates you in thoughtless consumerism from the time you're old enough to comprehend a toy or cereal commercial.
Instead, people in the aisles were looking for specific books. Around me they were saying, "hey, I'd been wanting to get that book!"
It seemed like a good portion weren't just randomly taking stuff because it was cheap, but because they'd wanted it previously but didn't buy it then. I was one of those people. I bought five books (coming to a grand and happy-making total of only $20.07). All books I'd been interested in before. All books I'd walked away from upon seeing the price tag on the back of the mass market paperbacks.
I'll say upfront. I'm not an economist, I'm not a business specialist, not a retail expert. I'm an SF/F writer and a reader, no more and no less.
I'm just customer who has left Borders (and Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million) empty handed each time I've visited them for probably the last four years, possibly longer. I buy books almost exclusively used.
Thus, visits to such stores are just so I can see what's new and do sample reading if I'm in a mall or an airport and need to kill a lot of time. I find a chair, mellow out, and decide what goes on the list of things I hunt for in used stores and online retailers.
It's something I don't feel guilty for. I don't apologize for not having oodles of money to spend on everything I'm even remotely interested in. I have to make choices, and most of the time I choose the cheaper option.
The only time I deviate is when I really, really, really love an author or if something just utterly blows my mind by the first chapter. Both of these circumstances are rare.
What can I say, it's hard to resist the kind of math that turns a book more expensive that the lunch I ate that day ($8.99 paperback) into a book cheaper than a decent supply of peaches for a week ($3.60 where peaches are $1.99/lb which means you can get about five of 'em for what the book cost).
Again, read the "not an economist!" sign above. It kinda seemed to me that if it took a drastic reduction in price to get that sort of commerce going, then the price of books are way too high.
Now, apply the brakes. When I say the prices are too high, I don't mean that books aren't valuable or worth paying for. Medicine is valueable and worth paying for. Food is valuable and worth paying for. But if you don't have the money or can't make them a priority for yourself, then the price of them is too high for you.
Doesn't mean food and medicine are worthless.
Here's the thing for me as a customer/reader. People have this really silly idea that when I buy books, I'm buying the words on paper or screen.
No. I'm buying enjoyment and/or information. Possibly and frequently both.
However, with media, you don't always get what you pay for. It's not like an apple where you plunk down money and walk out with an apple. You can buy a book and get zero joy and no useful information.
It's like buying a sealed crate marked "apples". You pay $8.99, go home, and pry it open. Except, you might find an empty crate. Or molded apples. Or just a couple of very sad, small, bruised ones rolling around. Of course, you might find the best apples ever and some bonus oranges and pineapples.
You just don't know until you get to the bottom of the crate.
But if you get an empty crate, too bad. The author, publisher, and store aren't obligated to ante up if you despise what you've purchased.
Lately, I just don't want to make that gamble, at least not with money that I really need for other things. I have to keep the lights on here in Casa Del Meg. Can't read in the dark.
It also doesn't help that in the last two to three years, I've become increasingly disappointed with what the big name publishing companies are putting out. Especially in the genres I like.
Paranormal romance is something I've talked about, but I can say the same for other types of fantasy and SF. It's gotten to the point where there are certain imprints or publishers I automatically go past because it seems like every time a book really sucks, their label is on it.
Not to mention that I'm also finding that diversity goes hand in hand with quality and it seems like it keeps getting rarer and rarer.
Thing is? I don't read just to be some kind of proper, better-than-thou social justice warrior. I read to enjoy myself and the time I put into it (I am a veeeeery slow reader), but since I've made the effort to consciously and willfully expand my horizons and seek out books and authors that might not have been on my radar before? I've enjoyed reading more. I've found some really awesome reads. I've had more fun, but that also means I have looked with more and more despair at the shelves in stores.
I know that the situation with Borders is more complex than a need for diversity on the shelves and pricing issues. But I just can't help but wonder what would've happened if they had focused on demographics that get underserved by other chains and if the prices had been lowered a few bucks.
Because the one thing I was really certain of when I went in that store? People want to read. People want stories and books. The audiences are there. As a writer that's reassuring. As a would be published author, it kind of scares me because it means that somewhere, somehow this business is doing something to push them away.
I certainly know that for a cheaper price and a better selection, I might have gone more often and left with more than just a shopping list to take to the Book Barn.
For those who don't know, Borders is (was) one of the major brick and mortar retailers here in the U.S. They've been fighting bankruptcy and financial woes for years, but it's finally caught up to them. They're going under and individual locations are going out like light bulbs.
Here have a link about it from the Wall Street Journal.
This is very bad for the employees who are losing jobs. I feel genuine and deep sympathy for them, especially with the way job markets are right now.
But as a person who buys books and is deeply interested in book retail and the publishing industry, it was something of an instructive experience.
What made the experience interesting was that not only was that particular Borders in the (in Charlotte, NC if you're curious) more crowded than I have ever seen it in the handful of times I've been there. The place was wall-to-wall customers. The employees at the registers (bless every single one of their hearts) couldn't get a breath between one customer and the next.
People were buying. A lot. Including me.
However, it wasn't the frenzied "wow, this thing is reduced from twenty bucks to a dollar, I must have it!" type of rush inspired by being raised in a culture that indoctrinates you in thoughtless consumerism from the time you're old enough to comprehend a toy or cereal commercial.
Instead, people in the aisles were looking for specific books. Around me they were saying, "hey, I'd been wanting to get that book!"
It seemed like a good portion weren't just randomly taking stuff because it was cheap, but because they'd wanted it previously but didn't buy it then. I was one of those people. I bought five books (coming to a grand and happy-making total of only $20.07). All books I'd been interested in before. All books I'd walked away from upon seeing the price tag on the back of the mass market paperbacks.
I'll say upfront. I'm not an economist, I'm not a business specialist, not a retail expert. I'm an SF/F writer and a reader, no more and no less.
I'm just customer who has left Borders (and Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million) empty handed each time I've visited them for probably the last four years, possibly longer. I buy books almost exclusively used.
Thus, visits to such stores are just so I can see what's new and do sample reading if I'm in a mall or an airport and need to kill a lot of time. I find a chair, mellow out, and decide what goes on the list of things I hunt for in used stores and online retailers.
It's something I don't feel guilty for. I don't apologize for not having oodles of money to spend on everything I'm even remotely interested in. I have to make choices, and most of the time I choose the cheaper option.
The only time I deviate is when I really, really, really love an author or if something just utterly blows my mind by the first chapter. Both of these circumstances are rare.
What can I say, it's hard to resist the kind of math that turns a book more expensive that the lunch I ate that day ($8.99 paperback) into a book cheaper than a decent supply of peaches for a week ($3.60 where peaches are $1.99/lb which means you can get about five of 'em for what the book cost).
Again, read the "not an economist!" sign above. It kinda seemed to me that if it took a drastic reduction in price to get that sort of commerce going, then the price of books are way too high.
Now, apply the brakes. When I say the prices are too high, I don't mean that books aren't valuable or worth paying for. Medicine is valueable and worth paying for. Food is valuable and worth paying for. But if you don't have the money or can't make them a priority for yourself, then the price of them is too high for you.
Doesn't mean food and medicine are worthless.
Here's the thing for me as a customer/reader. People have this really silly idea that when I buy books, I'm buying the words on paper or screen.
No. I'm buying enjoyment and/or information. Possibly and frequently both.
However, with media, you don't always get what you pay for. It's not like an apple where you plunk down money and walk out with an apple. You can buy a book and get zero joy and no useful information.
It's like buying a sealed crate marked "apples". You pay $8.99, go home, and pry it open. Except, you might find an empty crate. Or molded apples. Or just a couple of very sad, small, bruised ones rolling around. Of course, you might find the best apples ever and some bonus oranges and pineapples.
You just don't know until you get to the bottom of the crate.
But if you get an empty crate, too bad. The author, publisher, and store aren't obligated to ante up if you despise what you've purchased.
Lately, I just don't want to make that gamble, at least not with money that I really need for other things. I have to keep the lights on here in Casa Del Meg. Can't read in the dark.
It also doesn't help that in the last two to three years, I've become increasingly disappointed with what the big name publishing companies are putting out. Especially in the genres I like.
Paranormal romance is something I've talked about, but I can say the same for other types of fantasy and SF. It's gotten to the point where there are certain imprints or publishers I automatically go past because it seems like every time a book really sucks, their label is on it.
Not to mention that I'm also finding that diversity goes hand in hand with quality and it seems like it keeps getting rarer and rarer.
Thing is? I don't read just to be some kind of proper, better-than-thou social justice warrior. I read to enjoy myself and the time I put into it (I am a veeeeery slow reader), but since I've made the effort to consciously and willfully expand my horizons and seek out books and authors that might not have been on my radar before? I've enjoyed reading more. I've found some really awesome reads. I've had more fun, but that also means I have looked with more and more despair at the shelves in stores.
I know that the situation with Borders is more complex than a need for diversity on the shelves and pricing issues. But I just can't help but wonder what would've happened if they had focused on demographics that get underserved by other chains and if the prices had been lowered a few bucks.
Because the one thing I was really certain of when I went in that store? People want to read. People want stories and books. The audiences are there. As a writer that's reassuring. As a would be published author, it kind of scares me because it means that somewhere, somehow this business is doing something to push them away.
I certainly know that for a cheaper price and a better selection, I might have gone more often and left with more than just a shopping list to take to the Book Barn.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 04:48 pm (UTC)Borders just closed its flagship store in Singapore, though, making this a highly timely post for me!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 05:04 pm (UTC)*nods*. I know what you mean. I'm just old enough to recall when paperbacks here were cheap and when the economy was better so people had the relative amount of disposable income to buy them. I look back at going into a bookstore and leaving with three new books and just boggle. A lot.
What other major bookstore chains are there in Singapore, btw? Is this affecting them in anyway?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-07 04:51 am (UTC)Other major stores here include the local Popular chains which sell mainly textbooks and stationery (as well as their Harris subsidiary, which is more up-market), and Kinokuniya which seems to be thriving (I say seems because one is never sure!). Locally owned MPH has been dwindling out of the market of late, and WHSmith folded about a decade ago.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 06:49 pm (UTC)I can't speak for other readers/buyers out there, but I stopped associating price and quality a long time ago. There's only so many times I have to waste almost a whole tenner on a book that turns out to be atrociously bad before I realize that price doesn't mean that much.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 04:59 pm (UTC)Now, if I were a person who only reads 2-3 books a year, then no. Price wouldn't matter to me. But if you read in volume (let's say 50+ books a year), then yeah, price starts mattering to you. And I think when you're buying that many books a year, you're more likely to go for the 99 cent books than the 7.99 books. Because seriously? 7.99 for an ebook? That's ridiculous. That's not even taking into account the 12.99 ebooks for those books that come out in hardcover first. And while, no, there's no guarantee that a 99 cent self-pubbed book will be good, there's also no guarantee that a 7.99 ebook from an NYC publisher isn't going to piss me off either. Even with samples, I'd rather take a chance on the 99 cent book than the 7.99 one if it's a new to me author.
So I do think there's an intersection here between price points, ebooks, publisher pressure, and author pushback.
random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 06:32 pm (UTC)A thing which BOGGLES my mind so much - I just. can't. even.
I've also found myself thinking of niche markets. Once upon a time it was all about niche markets, then everything went mainstream, and now it feels like technology has evolved to a point where catering to niche markets can be a thing again - except it feels like publishers are caught up in remembering the good old mainstream boom days. And are disdaining niche markets and everyone involved in it (unless it's about half naked vampires)
I keep thinking the people sneering at .99cents ebooks are newer versions of people who sneered at dime novels - and yet from dime novels/pulpy noves came the modern mysteries subtypes, scifi etc... And now I wonder if those genres developed because they wre catering to what people were willing to pay for an enjoyable experience and not because civilization rested on their reading of xyz.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 06:45 pm (UTC)But then what do they do. They package those erotic romances in trade paperbacks for $15 a pop! It's like they never learn. What the heck. Samhain sells ebooks for $5.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 06:52 pm (UTC)It's really difficult to believe they honestly feel they are the only, or one of the only major ways to get entertainment. It's too unbelievable. And yet....
Seriously, I've a kindle I don't have to buy books for. And I can go weeks without reading a traditionally published book or watch traditionally broadcast media. And that's just me. That's not taking all to other stuff I just mentioned, vying for people's attention.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 07:12 pm (UTC)Whu? Seriously? Please point me to where some very mistaken person has said this because I just cannot EVEN. Really? Library loaning is theft from sales? Then I must be some kind of criminal mastermind. Also - the kind of blatant greed in that really makes my teeth grind.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 07:15 pm (UTC)I just, maybe you'll find it via search engine. Because it is out there. I just haven't wanted to run into it again. To me it was as ridiculous as 'every (non legally) downloaded book is a lost sale'. Cause no it isn't.
It came up because various publishing houses do want libraries to have to rebuy ebooks after a certain amount of loans. And how things were phrased. And how they saw libraries buying deadtree books.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 07:33 pm (UTC)Yeah, I never quite bought that argument, either. Especially since what kicked off one of the ebook piracy kerfluffles/discussions a while back was a reader saying they HAD to download the pirated version because the book wasn't legally available in their country. So I'm not sure how a sale that couldn't happen translates into a sale lost.
But that's a discussion that I have lots and lots of feelings about and it's whole 'nother post besides. Anyway, thanks for letting me know!
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 08:15 pm (UTC)The starter of the ebook version of it was easier to search engine. Will see if I can find the 'and also those deadtree book thieves the libraries'
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 08:34 pm (UTC)A friend of mine is a romance writer and she has google alerts set up for her author name just for curiosity's sake. She says half are reviews and half are torrents. The interesting thing though is that she found a torrent for her book in Spanish. Except her book was never translated into Spanish which means someone translated her work and made it into a digital file. She thought that was really neat.
So basically, yeah, piracy /= lost sale.
Re: random smooshy thoughts
Date: 2011-09-06 09:11 pm (UTC)http://censoredgenius.blogspot.com/2011/05/fight-goes-on.html
Linked from: http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php/weblog/comments/you-need-some-links/
Think I'm going to give up on finding what I'd found, for now. It was probably in the comments; which is why one should never read the comments.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 06:51 pm (UTC)And I thought Courtney Milan's $0.99 for Unlocked was a steal, even for a novella. (I hope her self-publishing venture works out!)
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 07:09 pm (UTC)The "it lowers the value of books" argument doesn't fly with me, because if people didn't value books there wouldn't be used bookstores and, for that matter, there wouldn't be piracy. People value books, they just don't have the ability or willingness to pay what is being charged, especially for ebooks.
Valuing something as a product and being willing/able to pay a too high price are very different things. I value food (very highly!), but I'm not going to go eat at the most expensive steak house in town every time I go out. Selling hamburgers for a dollar isn't devaluing food or burgers, it's just responding to a market that is more willing and able to pay when the price is lower.
Even with samples, I'd rather take a chance on the 99 cent book than the 7.99 one if it's a new to me author.
This. I've come to distrust the NYC published books a lot, actually. To the point where I honestly can't say that I consider them to be a reliable source of good stories. People keep saying that agents/editors/publishers act as gatekeepers to vet for what's decent and what's not, but I've read so many shitty books from the big name publishers that I don't believe they do anymore. I think they pump out as many books that are marketable as they can and whether the book is good is kind of an afterthought.
Again, not that this means that every self-published author who puts something up on Amazon is offering up deathless prose or anything, but I'm with you. All things being equal, a low price can be the deciding factor.
So I do think there's an intersection here between price points, ebooks, publisher pressure, and author pushback.
Yeah, there really is. Enough for a whole series of posts, really.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-06 08:32 pm (UTC)Yeah, look at YA dystopians. They've ridden that trend into the ground. No agent wants to look at it anymore and editors aren't really buying it anymore because their lists are stacked with dystopians for the next couple years. Anyone writing that kind of book now is going to have a hard time of it.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-08 11:45 am (UTC)YA as a genre has a lot of the same problems adult category romance and paranormal romance and SF/F have had - which is that if one book hits it big, publishers try to replicate that book a lot, and if a few other titles sell sorta well, too, they take it as an indication that the market wants that kind of book, rather than the fact that the market is taking what it can get.
And thus you get a lot of books with very graceful but really ~sad~ looking skinny white girls on the covers and publishing is all "that's what sells!".
But to me it's like a vending machine. Let's say you and your coworkers are really hungry and working really late at night, but all you have available to you is the vending machine in your office. So you go and you put your money in and pick what sounds best to you. Everyone else does the same. And it turns out a lot of you picked a certain kind of candy bar, because it has some elements you do like and it's better than nothing.
A food manufacturer would be really foolish to then ramp up their sales and flood the shelves with NOTHING but those candy bars. Because that candy bar isn't what you'd eat all the time, it isn't even what you want to eat most of the time. It was just the best of a limited selection and given a wider selection, you probably would've picked a lot of different things.
But nope, publishers are like that food manufacturer. They keep putting out lots of candy bars and when everyone is tired of them, they put out more potato chips, and so on and so forth. And I just want to scream, "Take some chances! Diversify! Offer me a frickin' sandwich or a baggie of carrots or some fruit every once and a while!"
Sorry for the wall of text at you. Like I said, I have a LOT of feelings about publishing. I wouldn't be as mad, but it seems like a very small collection of entities (companies, retailers, etc) have this stranglehold on what most people here in the U.S. can get access to for reading material and I really don't like it. I'm hoping technology can fill a lot of gaps, but I also know that for a lot people who are having a hard financial time or who have accessibility needs, eReaders still aren't getting it done. And those folks deserve to have lots of books, too (if they want them).
no subject
Date: 2011-09-07 04:48 am (UTC)Here in Australia, new paperbacks range from $25 to $35, with most priced at $33 (that's 26-37 USD). I'm a voracious reader, and as an aspiring writer I am also keen to support the industry by buying new books (especially by Australian authors), but...there's no way I can afford to at that price.
ETA: Also, add me to the people who are much more likely to buy more books at lower prices since getting an ereader. Holy shit, has that re-enabled by book-buying problem!