RANT

I posted this earlier over on my genealogy blog as well:


I work for a major bookstore chain that's been going through
some tough times for awhile but is still around and fighting to
stay that way. Recently I've been looking at some of online
financial analysis and message boards and have been
dumbfounded at some of the comments I've read from the
"professionals" and others on retail bookselling.


Nobody under the age of 30 reads books for pleasure. They
read more online.


Really? So all those people who have been reading the
Twilight, Harry Potter, Clique, and Gossip Girls series are all
over 40? The kids who put a reservation in for the next
Wimpy Kid book are actually adult midgets?


Most people buy their bestsellers at Costco or Wal-Mart or
some other discount store.

And where do they buy the older books that aren't on the best
seller list? Where do the students buy their summer reading
list books?


The day of the bricks and mortar bookstore is over. More
and more people will buy their books from Amazon and
other online dealers.


Not everyone has a computer. And not all of those who do feel
comfortable buying online. And there are countless people for
whom browsing in a bookstore is the only way they choose
and purchase a book.


Hand held electronic readers with downloadable ebooks will
replace traditional books.


Not until the prices drop much lower and every book is
available in a universal format that works on any reader. And
can you see a 6 year old reading Junie B Jones on her Dad's
Kindle? Thought not. Neither can I.


People should save money by using their local libraries.


A good thought except one of the first areas town governments
cut funding is the library. They cut back hours, staff, and
budget, so you might have a copy of a hot bestseller at your
library, but you have to goon a waiting list to read it and be
able to get there when the library is open. Given the current
economic crisis, that is going to be much more common nation
wide.


There are other reasons why we need bookstores, both the
national chain I work for and the smaller local stores. It would
be disastrous for new writers who will find it more difficult to
get their books out in the public eye, for example, and make it
less likely that many older authors' books stay in print and
available. And of course from a genealogist's viewpoint, it
would be harder for us to find the history books we use to
fill in the background of the times our ancestors lived in.


One of America's strengths has been the easy availability of
books to all classes through bookstores and libraries. To think
it is no great loss if there are less bookstores because of the
reasons I mentioned is to ignore the effect it would have on
our country's future.