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Bookstores 2.0

JA July 31

What will the bookstores of the future look like? Galleycat was asking the question last week after novelist Moriah Jovan came up with a blueprint on her blog, while at the same time ranting (rather irritatingly it must be said) against traditional booksellers.

Her idea is something like this: a double-story Kansas townhouse, where the second floor would be used to store traditional paperbacks and the first would be dedicated to print-on-demand machines. In Jovan’s perfect world, the Espresso – a new-fangled device that can spit out a paperback in around 15 minutes – would be the technology of choice. The ATM-like machine made its earliest debut in 2007 and currently retails for around $20 000. Jovan sees this as the perfect answer to the present system. ‘You booksellers have been rolling around on the back of the consignment system like it’s catnip for too long—and it’s still going to bite you in the butt,’ she writes, ‘Honestly, I do not know why this has to be difficult. The technology’s there, waiting—no, begging—to be used. The consumers are there and will grow as the economy cycles back up again. With one Espresso machine, Quaint Mom’n’Pop Bookstore could get rid of its book stock, but still be a bookstore.’

I agree that ebooks are here whether we like it or not, and so is POD, which can be used to great results (for example, see Faber Finds). But I shudder to think of a bookstore that is nothing but a glorified computer ordering station. It would be great, for example to have a small section of a traditional retailer with a POD service for our-of-print books, but if we want ebooks and the like, we can do so at home. Indeed that’s what ebooks and online stores are meant for – to eliminate the barrier of distance and bring the convenience of shopping to you wherever you are. Bookstores on the other hand serve a completely different and vital purpose. I could wax very lyrical here about my nerdish love for stacked tables and overflowing shelves, but I’ll refrain, save to say that I find something utterly luring and very calming about walking into a bookshop. I doubt that strolling into a place filled with computers and whirring machines would have quite the same effect.

Judging from the comments page, people either love or hate Jovan’s idea. My opinion is evident, but the question of what the bookshops of the future will incorporate is a relevant one, especially as we pass the advent of Kindle and the Apple Tablet.

Last week, Barnes & Noble launched a goliath of an online store – around 700 000 ebooks available for download on a veritable bevy of platforms (iPhone, BlackBerry, Mac, Kindle and PC). Datachondria, speculates that the emergence of online shops will lead to a change in consumer behaviour and expectation. For example, they argue that the ease of purchase will be the defining factor of success – usability, speed, universal access, navigation and definition will all come into play. They also claim that impulse purchasing will decline as there will no longer be a need to hoard books for fear of not being able to find them later. Kevin Drum writes:

‘In the past, I’d go to the bookstore and buy several books at a time. Naturally I meant to read all of them, and just as naturally, I didn’t… With the Kindle, though, there’s no pile. When I finish a book, all I have to do is decide at that moment what I feel like reading next.

I’m not so sure. The ease of access – a mere click of the cursor – probably means that you might be tempted to buy more. You no longer have to walk to the bookstore or wait for it to open. If you want the newest Coetzee at 1am in the morning, then it’s yours. Although hopefully, the option of going into a bookshop the next day and buying a traditional paperback will still be there as well.

 

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