News

Indies continue to decline on high street

15.06.12 | Lisa Campbell

Booksellers Association chief executive Tim Godfray has renewed calls for publishers to "seriously consider" their business models to support independent bookshops as their numbers continued to decline in 2011.

Casualties included Dartmouth's Harbour bookshop, opened by A A Milne's son, which closed after 60 years, Bookthrift in Southwold, Derwent Bookshop in Workington, Cumbria, and Pritchard's Bookshop in Formby, near Liverpool.

The BA membership records also indicate that bookshop closures are not being offset by new openings, with the figure showing the lowest number of new bookshops for several years. Those to open included the Monmouth Bookshop in Wales, which opened in December, and Belgravia Books in London's Notting Hill, owned by publisher Gallic Books.

There are now 1,094 independent bookshops trading on the high street that are BA members, a net decline of 65 in 2011 from 2010's tally of 1,159. Over the year, 73 bookshops closed, which is only one more than in 2010 when 72 closed. The rate of bookshops opening has also declined year-on-year, with only 36 opening in 2011 compared to 50 in 2010, and 40 in 2009.

According to Godfray, most indie closures took place in the first half of year, with the majority of new openings in the second half of 2011. "Our latest BA membership numbers confirm a continued reduction in the number of bookshops on Britain's high streets and campuses‚ a cause for real concern and something which we urge publishers to consider very seriously and address when formulating their business plans," he said.

"Though it was gratifying to see an increase in openings in the latter part of past year, the competition from the internet and the arrival of e-books are putting pressures on high street and campus bookshops never before experienced."

According to Nielsen BookScan, printed book sales are at their lowest level for nine years, with few indies able to benefit from the take-up of digital reading. However, Nic Bottomley, owner of Mr B's Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath, said he thought the net decline in numbers was more likely to be down to the recession. "We have had some sad closures, like the Dartmouth bookshop. I don't think that closed because of the rise in e-book sales. It's more likely because people aren't travelling to that part of the country and more people are going online to buy and sell books," he said. He added that high rent and business rates were also a heavy burden on booksellers.

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By Robert_Gottlieb

CORRECTED VERSION /

This is to be expected I had warned publishers early on that if they did not window the ebook format that they would substantially undermine the print publishing business around the world untimely undermining the entire industry. Publishers are paying a heavy price as a result of their head long rush and it has had a huge ripple effect in the industry. I lay the blame at the publishers door step for not windowing. Some will say well this is what consumers want. My answer is a simply one. Consumers would also like to buy newly released films for very little money, watching them at home and not paying to see them first in the theaters. The film industry is in effect windowing and it is paying off. The theaters are still open and people are still attending them. We have not seen a mass closing of theaters in markets around the world as we have with book shops. The ebooks have virtually wiped out the margins that allowed bookshops to stay in business.

Here is an example. Publishers in the mid-20th Century had the common sense to window mass market reprints when they came to market. In the early days of publishing mass market reprints were less then a dollar. If publisher had offered the mass market reprint at the same time the initial hardcover came out the result would had been the same as we see today with destruction of the print and retail business.
By not windowing (Amazon was strongly against this practice), this bad decision by publishers enabled Amazon to become a virtual monopoly in the retail online space and it also has brought down the walls around traditional publishers. This was always Amazon's strategy. I can attest to this fact as I see from the inside what is taking place with downsizing and a search to find ways to complete in the shifting ebook space.
Now that this shift is in full mode, my advice to publishers is in order to stay competitive they must improve their ebook royalties they pay to authors to a higher percentage then is being offered today by the majority of houses. If they do not they run the risk of authors seeking other alternatives to publishing their works in the ebook format and then seeking a paper publisher only. Amazon and others have stepped into this space and authors have options like never before. This is the trend line.
Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Sun, 17/06/2012 - 17:18
By Robert_Gottlieb

This is to be expected I had warned publishers early on that if they did not window the ebook format that they would substantially undermine the print publishing business around the world untimely undermining the entire industry. Publishers are paying a heavy price as a result of their head long rush and it has had a huge ripple effect in the industry. I lay the blame at the publishers door step for not windowing. Some will say well this is what consumers want. My answer is a simply one. Consumers would also like to buy newly released films for very little money, watching them at home and not pay to see them first in the theaters. The film industry is in effect windowing and it is paying off. The theaters are still open and people are still attending them. We have not seen a mass closing of theaters in markets around the world as we have with book shops.

Here is an example. Publishers in the mid-20th Century had the common sense to window mass market reprints when they came to market. In the early days of publishing mass market reprints were less then a dollar. If publisher had offered the mass market reprint at the same time the initial hardcover came out the result would had been the same as we see today with destruction of the print and retail business.

By not windowing (Amazon was strongly against this practice), this bad decision by publishers enabled Amazon to become a virtual monopoly in the retail online space and it also has brought down the walls around them. This was always Amazon's strategy. I can attest to this fact as I see from the inside what is taking place with downsizing and a search to find ways to complete in the shifting ebook space.

Now that this shift is in full mode, my advice to publishers is in order to stay competitive they must improve their ebook royalties they pay to authors to a higher percentage then is being offered today by the majority of houses. If they do not they run the risk of authors seeking other alternatives to publishing their works in the ebook format and then seeking a paper publisher only. Amazon and others have stepped into this space and authors have options like never before. This is the trend line.

Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Sun, 17/06/2012 - 15:13
By Robert_Gottlieb

Piracy is a huge problem in publishing and ever growing around the world. There is absolutely no statistical evidence that windowing books has any impact on piracy one way or the the other. This has been an assumption made by some in the industry who often rely on anecdotal information. This is not a piracy issue in my experience and to try to turn it into that conversation has nothing to do with the demise of book stores. Most books are pirated from files and not from the physical book or ebook. That is why many publishers today are refusing to allow files to be sent out of the house.

80% of all books sales today is in the physical book in the U.S.

The biggest market for ebooks at this time is the U.S. and we have had a virtual meltdown of brick and mortar shops as a result of creating two competing products that are the same, publishing them simultaneously and pricing one cheaper than the other.

Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Tue, 19/06/2012 - 16:07
By Andrew Rhomberg

If publishers had windowed ebook releases, as suggested, by say 6 months for example, then publishers would quite possibly be experiencing the kind of piracy problem that the movie industry is witnessing, where consumers see nothing wrong in "pirating" a movie if there is no legal option for downlaoding it.

It is also noteworthy that book stores are declining in countries where ebook penetration is low and book prices fixed by law, such as Germany. There are other forces at work here, too, which are pressure from online vendors, supermarkets and other forms of entertainment (Pinterest, Facebook, Angry Birds, etc.).

Fundamentally, there is simply less demand for printed books and a good portion of those sales will be online or through supermarkets. I think we could see books sales through physical books shops shrink by 50-80% in the next 5-10 years. Trying to stem this change is like Canute the Great ordering his soldiers to "hold the tide".

Mon, 18/06/2012 - 20:11
By Fleetstreet

I have to say I too would need evidence that windowing would result in more piracy. Windowing softcovers did not result in the demise of hardcovers in the 90s and early 2000s, when copying technology got very good.

I think ease of transfer has the greatest impact on piracy, along with demand for a particular item. Price has some impact, but as 99 cent songs and 10.99 cds get pirated, I doubt it is as much as advertised.

Wed, 20/06/2012 - 23:02
By Robert_Gottlieb

This is to be expected I had warned publishers early on that if they did not window the ebook format that they would substantially undermine the print publishing business around the world untimely undermining the entire industry. Publishers are paying a heavy price as a result of their head long rush and it has had a huge ripple effect in the industry. I lay the blame at the publishers door step for not windowing. Some will say well this is what consumers want. My answer is a simply one. Consumers would also like to buy newly released films for very little money, watching them at home and not pay to see them first in the theaters. The film industry is in effect windowing and it is paying off. The theaters are still open and people are still attending them. We have not seen a mass closing of theaters in markets around the world as we have with book shops.

Here is an example. Publishers in the mid-20th Century had the common sense to window mass market reprints when they came to market. In the early days of publishing mass market reprints were less then a dollar. If publisher had offered the mass market reprint at the same time the initial hardcover came out the result would had been the same as we see today with destruction of the print and retail business.

By not windowing (Amazon was strongly against this practice), this bad decision by publishers enabled Amazon to become a virtual monopoly in the retail online space and it also has brought down the walls around them. This was always Amazon's strategy. I can attest to this fact as I see from the inside what is taking place with downsizing and a search to find ways to complete in the shifting ebook space.

Now that this shift is in full mode, my advice to publishers is in order to stay competitive they must improve their ebook royalties they pay to authors to a higher percentage then is being offered today by the majority of houses. If they do not they run the risk of authors seeking other alternatives to publishing their works in the ebook format and then seeking a paper publisher only. Amazon and others have stepped into this space and authors have options like never before. This is the trend line.

Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Sun, 17/06/2012 - 15:13
By Robert_Gottlieb

CORRECTED VERSION /

This is to be expected I had warned publishers early on that if they did not window the ebook format that they would substantially undermine the print publishing business around the world untimely undermining the entire industry. Publishers are paying a heavy price as a result of their head long rush and it has had a huge ripple effect in the industry. I lay the blame at the publishers door step for not windowing. Some will say well this is what consumers want. My answer is a simply one. Consumers would also like to buy newly released films for very little money, watching them at home and not paying to see them first in the theaters. The film industry is in effect windowing and it is paying off. The theaters are still open and people are still attending them. We have not seen a mass closing of theaters in markets around the world as we have with book shops. The ebooks have virtually wiped out the margins that allowed bookshops to stay in business.

Here is an example. Publishers in the mid-20th Century had the common sense to window mass market reprints when they came to market. In the early days of publishing mass market reprints were less then a dollar. If publisher had offered the mass market reprint at the same time the initial hardcover came out the result would had been the same as we see today with destruction of the print and retail business.
By not windowing (Amazon was strongly against this practice), this bad decision by publishers enabled Amazon to become a virtual monopoly in the retail online space and it also has brought down the walls around traditional publishers. This was always Amazon's strategy. I can attest to this fact as I see from the inside what is taking place with downsizing and a search to find ways to complete in the shifting ebook space.
Now that this shift is in full mode, my advice to publishers is in order to stay competitive they must improve their ebook royalties they pay to authors to a higher percentage then is being offered today by the majority of houses. If they do not they run the risk of authors seeking other alternatives to publishing their works in the ebook format and then seeking a paper publisher only. Amazon and others have stepped into this space and authors have options like never before. This is the trend line.
Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Sun, 17/06/2012 - 17:18
By Andrew Rhomberg

If publishers had windowed ebook releases, as suggested, by say 6 months for example, then publishers would quite possibly be experiencing the kind of piracy problem that the movie industry is witnessing, where consumers see nothing wrong in "pirating" a movie if there is no legal option for downlaoding it.

It is also noteworthy that book stores are declining in countries where ebook penetration is low and book prices fixed by law, such as Germany. There are other forces at work here, too, which are pressure from online vendors, supermarkets and other forms of entertainment (Pinterest, Facebook, Angry Birds, etc.).

Fundamentally, there is simply less demand for printed books and a good portion of those sales will be online or through supermarkets. I think we could see books sales through physical books shops shrink by 50-80% in the next 5-10 years. Trying to stem this change is like Canute the Great ordering his soldiers to "hold the tide".

Mon, 18/06/2012 - 20:11
By Robert_Gottlieb

Piracy is a huge problem in publishing and ever growing around the world. There is absolutely no statistical evidence that windowing books has any impact on piracy one way or the the other. This has been an assumption made by some in the industry who often rely on anecdotal information. This is not a piracy issue in my experience and to try to turn it into that conversation has nothing to do with the demise of book stores. Most books are pirated from files and not from the physical book or ebook. That is why many publishers today are refusing to allow files to be sent out of the house.

80% of all books sales today is in the physical book in the U.S.

The biggest market for ebooks at this time is the U.S. and we have had a virtual meltdown of brick and mortar shops as a result of creating two competing products that are the same, publishing them simultaneously and pricing one cheaper than the other.

Robert Gottlieb
Chairman
Trident Media Group, LLC
www.tridentmediagroup.com

Tue, 19/06/2012 - 16:07
By Fleetstreet

I have to say I too would need evidence that windowing would result in more piracy. Windowing softcovers did not result in the demise of hardcovers in the 90s and early 2000s, when copying technology got very good.

I think ease of transfer has the greatest impact on piracy, along with demand for a particular item. Price has some impact, but as 99 cent songs and 10.99 cds get pirated, I doubt it is as much as advertised.

Wed, 20/06/2012 - 23:02

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