I'll be glad to see the end of "bestseller" (that nobody wants) push-marketing.
Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
11–20 of 58 posts
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#12The best indie book shops I’ve been to have a kind of dank cramped feel to them, it’s not nice.
Plus they carry used books, I always love finding the old math/engineering/music books. I don’t think B&N even carries used fiction.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#13I’ve been to one of the new stores. It should have been like that ten years ago.
I remember Borders saying they suffered defeat by not getting their ordering from publishers worked out correctly. They wouldn’t stock the right books based on demand and that was one of the reasons they failed.
Hoping BN can make this work.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#14The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection.…
Maybe, Amazon is better at it than you may think, and you are in fact, judging books by their cover.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#15We all figured this would be coming, but man does it feel weird to be rooting for B&N to stay afloat when they were basically the evil empire of book stores just a handful of years ago.
The indie bookstores will probably be around forever, but I'll be super sad the day that the big book store is dead. I'm still fucked up from Borders going under.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#16The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection.…
There is only one physical bookstore I go to anymore, and it's for exactly the same reason. The walls are positively stuffed with books. Nothing can beat Amazon for speedy search. If I know exactly what I want, that's where I'm going. But that feeling of browsing around and coming home with a bag full of books you'd never have thought of, or of hanging out in a community of readers, is not replicable online. I think both curation/browsing and creating hangouts (really good coffee or whatever) are ways physical stores can still compete.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#17The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection.…
I believe that selection is the reason why Danish book stores struggle. They try to present the same best sellers as the super markets, I assume because it's a safe bet.
At the same time I'm pretty much forced to buy from Amazon and buy books in English, because only the most popular books are translated, and primarily fiction. I don't get the impression that the bookstore really care to sell a larger selection of books, just more copies for the same 20 best sellers.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#18The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection.…
I imagine Barnes & Noble could become a much more interesting place just by letting any staff member who wants to have free reign over their own end cap. The least common denominator, barely-more-interesting-than-what-Amazon's-adventures-with-linear-algebra-can-manage spreads that they place on their end caps right now aren't doing it for anyone.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#19The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection.…
I believe that selection is the reason why Danish book stores struggle. They try to present the same best sellers as the super markets, I assume because it's a safe bet. At the same time I'm pretty much forced to buy from Amazon and buy books in English, because only the most popular books are translated, and primarily fiction. I don't get the impression that the bookstore really care to sell a larger selection of bo…
Not just as “safe bet” - margins are higher on new hardbacks.
Re: Barnes and Noble’s new plan is to act like an indie bookseller
#20We have one large B&N in town - diverse selection of books and mags, clean, and a sizable quasi-Starbucks cafe with tons of power outlets. I really enjoy it, and frankly compared to our indie bookshops, I prefer it - its volume, sterility, service and anonymity combined with familiarity and an unpretentious attitude. I don't need to see the same homely indie bookmonger making eye contact with me every time I walk in…
Come visit us at Books on Beechwood in Ottawa, Canada.. we have no background music, no attitude, no one will bother you unless you look a bit lost, there are 7K books in the shop.. and we can order in anything you want from about 15 Million titles we have access to.
"expectations and shawls" .. hilarious ;-)