News

Don't write off physical too early, trade warned

30.09.11 | Graeme Neill

Publishers should not be too quick to write off physical products and should encourage competition between a number of digital players to avoid the mistakes the record industry made, the director general of the Entertainment Retailers Association has said.

Kim Bayley gave a presentation to more than 100 indies at the Booksellers Association’s Independent Booksellers Forum conference in Coventry on Monday (26th September) and discussed the Record Store Day initiative. Record companies provide independent stores with exclusive products, mostly vinyl albums and singles, created especially for the day. It is now in its third year, and 180 stores took part in 2011.

The number of independent record stores has plummeted from more than 700 in 2005 to just under 300 in 2010, as customers have shifted more to digital. Bayley said there were parallels with the digital changes the book trade is experiencing. She told The Bookseller: "The music industry probably got it completely wrong and is fighting a losing battle. The danger is for the publishing industry to write off physical products too early. It was the music industry who decided it was not going to produce CD singles any more so it just stopped. And now it’s iTunes that dominates that market."

She said publishers had to encourage competition between retailers in the growing digital market, as once it has fully established "it is very hard to introduce new players of note".

If booksellers and publishers were to adapt Record Store Day for the trade, it would be a way of selling limited edition products at full price and making them valuable. She said: "Where the music industry went wrong is it has almost devalued the price of CDs, and made them cheaper and cheaper."

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By Fran

Kim is so right in every way & we love the idea of limited edition books for just independent bookshops to sell on one night only. Publishers really do need to get their act together & stop devaluing books. At the moment we as a bookshop support authors by holding events where they showcase their new books. The authors work hard, touring the country, talking & signing & all the writers we have hosted do so with grace and good humour. But what do we find the publishers have done? We are busy working hard launching a BRAND NEW TITLE only to find it discounted by "The Book People", by Amazon & remaindered in "the Works" If that is not devaluaing books I don't know what is. Customers feel cheated that they have had to pay full price for the book & think we are making huge profits - if "The Works" can afford to sell a new title at £4.99 & still make a profit, many of our customers cannot understand why we should be charging £18.99 for the same title - they assume we must be making about £16.00 profit on each book! Publishers, support the printed word, the beautiful thing that is a book, that smells, feels and looks good, that is relatively cheap, easy on the eyes & if it gets swept away by the sea while on holiday, stolen from the beach or lost on a day out will not break the bank to replace. Where is the advertising campaign for this little wondrous piece of technology?

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:23
By Caroline B

I worked in the indie (music) sector for many years and now in publishing. Small runs of "special" D2C items (with higher margins) was a good little profit center for labels, likewise the initiative for record store day. (although, the comment about cd singles is a bit off!)

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:36
By Freddie Mercury's teeth

Do people not realise that music is quite different to a book?
You can't drive your car, walk down the street, lie in the sunshine drinking and chatting, and so on whilst reading a book.

I wouldn't recommend it, at any rate...

They are two very diferent industries and physical books aren't going anywhere any time soon.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:43
By Caroline B

I agree. But hardbacks are suffering at the moment. Comparing cd singles to books is absolutely non-sensical but supporting indie shops with some new initiatives is not a bad idea.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:56
By Peter Townsend, Silver Link Publishing

Perhaps you could contact us 'off list' to discuss the points you raise...

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 12:33
By JULIAN RIVERS

It's not writing off ....more writing down physical . But the write down is going to be very substantial .Virtually zero HB fiction ahead and non fiction will be mainly illustrated. When? by 2016.
Niche publications will hover around the edges like vinyl LP's.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 18:40
By Derwent closed today

Fran, I agree with every word. Publishers have colluded in the devaluement of the book - they have aided and abetted the strangling of the goose that lays the golden egg. JB

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 21:20
By Jackanory

I'm no tech-dyslexic - I've had computers since the only way to have one was to build one. But I'm no pushover for every new gadget either.

But the 'digital book revolution' leaves me cold. I'm a keen reader with a large traditional book collection, and the very idea of trying to view most of them via a titchy screen is laughable - we don't all read airport-rack thrillers. I've not long bought a large-format volume of Japanese prints - try that on a Kindle. Digital readers are just one more example of industry trying to push products that people with more money than sense buy because they're 'cool'.

I do, in fact, see a real use for digital readers like the Kindle - but to date they're geared far too much for media industry priorities and not nearly enough for my own, given that I'm the paying customer. I shop at Amazon and W.H.Smith (among a LOT of others) - but bugger being told I'm limited to the source that issues the reader or that there's a permanent record somewhere of everything I read - it's a sick joke. They're not managing your book collection - ultimately they're managing YOU.

In fact I'll go further - the Kindle and similar devices aren't book readers - they're DRM managers and data miners that people are expected to actually pay for. Try dropping an e-book off at your local charity shop - or buying one there!

Physical books and digital readers don't need to be mutually exclusive of course. I'll be tempted to buy one when it plays any book format I put into it, allows me to buy or load from wherever I damn well please, and connects to absolutely nothing without my express permission. Until then, the £100+ I'd have to pay for a digital reader will buy a hell of a lot of books - real books.

Finally - digital book prices. Two quid a go tops if you want to sell to me - period. They're only files after all, with few of the overheads of real books. At those prices, I'd forego online backup, etc - as with ordinary books I'd be quite happy to pay a couple of pounds for a new copy of anything that got lost or corrupted. I'm sure that mass buying would offset lower prices. Or keep current prices and give away the readers - or have we totally forgotten the basics of emerging markets?

Mon, 03/10/2011 - 19:15
By Fran

Kim is so right in every way & we love the idea of limited edition books for just independent bookshops to sell on one night only. Publishers really do need to get their act together & stop devaluing books. At the moment we as a bookshop support authors by holding events where they showcase their new books. The authors work hard, touring the country, talking & signing & all the writers we have hosted do so with grace and good humour. But what do we find the publishers have done? We are busy working hard launching a BRAND NEW TITLE only to find it discounted by "The Book People", by Amazon & remaindered in "the Works" If that is not devaluaing books I don't know what is. Customers feel cheated that they have had to pay full price for the book & think we are making huge profits - if "The Works" can afford to sell a new title at £4.99 & still make a profit, many of our customers cannot understand why we should be charging £18.99 for the same title - they assume we must be making about £16.00 profit on each book! Publishers, support the printed word, the beautiful thing that is a book, that smells, feels and looks good, that is relatively cheap, easy on the eyes & if it gets swept away by the sea while on holiday, stolen from the beach or lost on a day out will not break the bank to replace. Where is the advertising campaign for this little wondrous piece of technology?

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:23
By Peter Townsend, Silver Link Publishing

Perhaps you could contact us 'off list' to discuss the points you raise...

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 12:33
By Derwent closed today

Fran, I agree with every word. Publishers have colluded in the devaluement of the book - they have aided and abetted the strangling of the goose that lays the golden egg. JB

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 21:20
By Caroline B

I worked in the indie (music) sector for many years and now in publishing. Small runs of "special" D2C items (with higher margins) was a good little profit center for labels, likewise the initiative for record store day. (although, the comment about cd singles is a bit off!)

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:36
By Freddie Mercury's teeth

Do people not realise that music is quite different to a book?
You can't drive your car, walk down the street, lie in the sunshine drinking and chatting, and so on whilst reading a book.

I wouldn't recommend it, at any rate...

They are two very diferent industries and physical books aren't going anywhere any time soon.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:43
By Caroline B

I agree. But hardbacks are suffering at the moment. Comparing cd singles to books is absolutely non-sensical but supporting indie shops with some new initiatives is not a bad idea.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 11:56
By JULIAN RIVERS

It's not writing off ....more writing down physical . But the write down is going to be very substantial .Virtually zero HB fiction ahead and non fiction will be mainly illustrated. When? by 2016.
Niche publications will hover around the edges like vinyl LP's.

Fri, 30/09/2011 - 18:40
By Jackanory

I'm no tech-dyslexic - I've had computers since the only way to have one was to build one. But I'm no pushover for every new gadget either.

But the 'digital book revolution' leaves me cold. I'm a keen reader with a large traditional book collection, and the very idea of trying to view most of them via a titchy screen is laughable - we don't all read airport-rack thrillers. I've not long bought a large-format volume of Japanese prints - try that on a Kindle. Digital readers are just one more example of industry trying to push products that people with more money than sense buy because they're 'cool'.

I do, in fact, see a real use for digital readers like the Kindle - but to date they're geared far too much for media industry priorities and not nearly enough for my own, given that I'm the paying customer. I shop at Amazon and W.H.Smith (among a LOT of others) - but bugger being told I'm limited to the source that issues the reader or that there's a permanent record somewhere of everything I read - it's a sick joke. They're not managing your book collection - ultimately they're managing YOU.

In fact I'll go further - the Kindle and similar devices aren't book readers - they're DRM managers and data miners that people are expected to actually pay for. Try dropping an e-book off at your local charity shop - or buying one there!

Physical books and digital readers don't need to be mutually exclusive of course. I'll be tempted to buy one when it plays any book format I put into it, allows me to buy or load from wherever I damn well please, and connects to absolutely nothing without my express permission. Until then, the £100+ I'd have to pay for a digital reader will buy a hell of a lot of books - real books.

Finally - digital book prices. Two quid a go tops if you want to sell to me - period. They're only files after all, with few of the overheads of real books. At those prices, I'd forego online backup, etc - as with ordinary books I'd be quite happy to pay a couple of pounds for a new copy of anything that got lost or corrupted. I'm sure that mass buying would offset lower prices. Or keep current prices and give away the readers - or have we totally forgotten the basics of emerging markets?

Mon, 03/10/2011 - 19:15

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