E-Books and Bookshop's Future

by Casey Coonerty Protti

It is hard to have a conversation about the state of bookselling these days without discussing the topic of e-books. Whenever those discussions come up at the store, my thoughts go back to the main question at hand: What is the value of a book? Are books beloved because of their physical nature or because of their content? At Bookshop, we don’t view it as an either/or situation. We love books for both reasons. Our first love is sensory—the smell of books, the weight of it in our hands, how it feels to discover a new book you never knew about as you browse through the aisles of a physical bookstore. This is why there is a place for independent bookstores now and in the future. The second reason we love books is because of the way the content of books can change an opinion, a relationship, or even a life. We know that this is something that will continue to exist even if the book is delivered electronically. If someone wants to read To Kill a Mockingbird on their e-reader and will walk away with the same sense of wonder, we are happy because we’ve fulfilled our mission as booksellers.

However, if more and more of our customers start reading To Kill a Mockingbird digitally, there are certainly going to be repercussions for independent bookstores. First, and most important to the future of Bookshop Santa Cruz, if you buy a Kindle, you will only be able to buy your e-books from Amazon. Amazon, the creator of the Kindle, produced a closed e-book system, which means that only they can sell books for their device. If you want to buy local when you go digital, you can buy any e-reader—except a Kindle. Almost every other e-reader, including the iPad, Nook, Sony Reader, and Kobo, allow you to buy your books from any source, including bookshopsantacruz.com. Beyond that major hurdle, e-books are less profitable for bookstores, so a wholesale switch to digital from physical books will have a direct impact on the financial sustainability of Bookshop Santa Cruz.

If you listen to the media on this subject, you might already believe that e-books have put a major dent in independent bookstores. In fact, e-books currently account for only 8% of total book sales. That means that 92 out of every 100 books sold are still print on paper. True to this fact, Bookshop Santa Cruz is alive and well, with new and exciting works of fiction and nonfiction coming through the doors every day of the year. However, Bookshop Santa Cruz would like to play an increasing role in the e-book market because we want to serve our customers no matter how they “consume” their book content. In the next few months, we hope to launch our new e-bookstore in partnership with Google Editions, providing millions of titles at competitive prices. Sign up to receive Bookshop email newsletters to keep in touch with our upcoming e-book efforts.

E or not…either way we will continue to be obsessed about books. If you are obsessed too, come see us. We look forward to getting the perfect book into your hand—or your device.

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Casey Coonerty Protti is the owner of Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Tell us what you think about e-books. Head over to our blog: bookshopsc.com/ebooks to join the conversation.

This article is from our 2010 Winter Newsletter