Really sad story in BusinessWeek about Cody’s Books, an independent bookseller. I’ve blogged about the decline of the media many times, but this is the first story I’ve seen on the carnage taking place in the world of independent booksellers. It’s amazing how many famous authors Cody’s has hosted, and it’s sad that these forums will no longer be present.
I don’t know what the solution is, and I live in the suburbs…
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This is a very sad story. I thought it was interesting to note that there was no mention given to the internet’s impact on indie booksellers. The rise of the internet has made it a lot more affordable for people to publish their works, I have to believe that that hits hardest at the indie level where authors may be their own publishers, and going electronic is just a more feasible/affordable option. You can see it hitting the newspaper and magazine industry hard as well. Damn you internet! I love you… but I hate you!
That is indeed sad…
Sad, but also infuriating because we could have saved Cody’s. No one goes there to buy, I mean actually buy, books. The books there are rarely on sale. The big chains always have the same books you want to buy on discount, and of course there’s Amazon used books for pennies. Granted, I’m guilty of buying Amazon used books for pennies… Point is, Cody’s didn’t have to die.
Before this one dies, anyone in the area should also support this bookstore: http://www.asiabookcenter.com/
I have yet to find another place other than East Wind Books that is devotely solely to Asian American literature.
I bought a book from Powells just last week, so I’ve lent my support!
What I find hard is that when I want to learn about books, I’m actually more likely to go to Amazon.com to read the reviews than to go to the bookstore. I don’t even know if authors come all the way out this way. But if I were in the city, I’d be out there all the time. And quite honestly, the feedback and interaction you’d get from a community meeting place like a bookstore is probably better than Amazon.