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"At Barnes & Noble, ebooks are finally starting to take hold; the company announced this week that it sold three times as many ebooks as physical books during its fiscal fourth quarter. The Wall Street Journal reports that although overall sales rose 4.7% to $1.37 billion, the company lost $59.4 million, or $1.04 a share. Meanwhile, Liberty Media Corp., the Colorado-based owner of the Starz cable channel, has made a takeover bid for the bookseller."
Three times as many ebooks as physical books...? Considering my Nook sales are 1 per every 50 ebooks sold for Kindle, that's not exactly something to brag about.
I have mixed feelings about B&N slowly going under. I have a lot of fond memories strolling down the aisles finding something new to read to darting in to grab that book I reserved for the day it got released. But then again I also saw them kill some small independent bookstores I frequented a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI held out for a very long time and did not like it at first but my Kindle (and I am sure it’s the same with all ereaders ) is simply easier to use. I get to find a lot of new authors I would have never seen in a bookstore. I have been lucky to have read about 20 incredible books in the past 5 months and I can only think of one of them, WWZ, that would have been available in a store so I don’t much see the point of even going to a brick & mortar store anymore.
There are a lot of great small publishers to independent authors out there that B&N is ignoring as they seem to be relying far too much on massive publishing firms. I am not saying there is anything wrong with having big name books on your shelf of course but there is a lack of balance. I know I am not the only one who is enjoying going through so many new authors. I dunno…..maybe B&N can get rid of those racks of Godiva chocolate and trinkets and use the space for more indie type books.
I know what you're saying. I've been to my local Books-a-Million twice in the last month, and they were full of trinkets, toys, video games, dvds and ereaders accessories, yet I walked out without buying any books because I've really become addicted to kindle's indie authors.
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