Bookstores, Publishers Suffer as Enthusiasts Exchange Online
Facing record lows in sales recently, bookstores and publishers cannot place blame squarely on the shoulders of the economic crisis, the New York Times reports. The real culprit? Web sites like ViaLibri.net, where readers the world over meet to buy and sell books, often for little more than shipping costs.
In the wake of these Web sites' successes, publishers have been instituting hiring freezes and laying off employees. Publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the Times tells us, are, in a truly bizarre turn of events, no longer accepting manuscripts.
Just as the well is dry, so is the bucket. Used and new bookstores alike are currently suffering; such institutions as Cody's in Berkeley, California and Robin's in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have called it a day. Even the owners of Powell's -- the monolithic new and used store in Portland, Oregon -- have encouraged their employees to take unpaid leave from work.
Meanwhile, those online book-trading sites see more and more traffic, very much akin to online music stores, where folks not only find products to be less expensive than those in the store, but much easier to find in the first place. Generally, the books go for a dollar or less, often in quite good condition.
Unlike that of the music industry, though, the mood in the book camp seems to be one of melancholic resignation rather than angry denial. Buying books online, former owner Andy Ross told the Times after locking the doors of Cody's for the last time, "was not morally dubious, but it is tragic." [From: New York Times]
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