Bookstores Battle it Out Online

In the movie You’ve Got Mail, the cozy bookstore around the corner was pushed out of business by the big superstore down the block. But then Meg Ryan fell in love with Tom Hanks and everyone left the theater smiling.

The ending isn’t quite so happy in real life.

In 1995 there were over 5000 independent bookstores in the US. In the past five years, over 2000 have closed. On the silver screen and in the press everyone blames the superstores, but in a recent report another culprit has emerged: the Internet.

According to a study released early this June by the NPD Group, 1999 online book sales represented 5.45% of all books sold–up 1.9% over 1998. Overall book sales, meanwhile, rose just 3%. Over 5% of all books purchased in 1999 were bought online.

We know who won in the percentages: Amazon.com and B&N.com.

And we know who lost: the independent book store owners.

"Of course we are losing sales to the big online stores. Between them and the superstores, this business has become hard as hell," says Neal Soloman, owner of A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books in San Francisco.

Amazon doesn’t have to operate in the black, Soloman explained. "They can just continue to raise capital and offer deeper and deeper discounts to lure our customers away, but a single bookstore that employs 10 or 20 people cannot do that."

Yet independents are not the only victims in this war. Authors and readers are.

In a separate study, also released last month by the Author’s Guild, midlist books including literary fiction and serious non-fiction titles lost significant sales to bestsellers. Publishers, according to the report, are putting out as many midlist titles as ever but they are not selling as well. The report linked the loss of independents to the loss in sales.

In the past, independent bookstores hand-sold these midlist books. Now that there are fewer independents, such books languish on the shelves. Roxanne Coady of R.J. Julia in Madison CT, says the true value of the independent is in handselling titles to customers one on one. "Industry-wide it is well known that while superstores sell massive numbers of bestsellers, it is the independent’s word of mouth that creates bestsellers," she explains.

Meanwhile, midlist sales are declining as a percentage of total book sales. Soloman says America is falling victim to the "bigger is better" syndrome in books as in everything else. But there is a beacon of light on the virtual horizon of the Internet.

Independent bookstore owners–those who made the cut–are getting feisty and many are taking to the web to fight back. The question is whether customers will follow.

Later this year, Booksense.com will go live. This web site is a cooperative effort giving every independent bookstore a web presence and an ability to compete with the online benefits that Amazon.com and B&N.com now offer.

Right now only a few hundred independents have signed up, but Booksense director Len Vlahos is confident that as the free beta testing continues, the numbers will multiply. If the plan fails, however, it will be more than the independent bookstore owners who lose. Authors and readers will also suffer. Bestsellers are likely to get bigger as the midlist shrinks even further.

"Yes, a book is a product," says Solomon, "but it is also an art form. And nothing matters more to me than putting a book in someone’s hands that will make a difference in their life."

Soloman said he and every other independent can offer that service because they read the titles on their shelves and know their customers. Via Booksense.com, independents will be able to make recommendations and offer ordering 24/7.

"But the real issue here is that customers have to want our recommendations," Soloman continues. "They have to talk with their dollars and decide to support us. Or not to. They have to believe that no giant store can know them the way their local bookstore owner can."