"Bearpond Books

October 21, 2009

“It’s sort of like Godzilla versus Mothra,” said  publishing analyst Michael Norris of  Walmart and Amazon facing off. “It’s kind of exciting to see them fighting, but you also know it’s probably going to ruin the city.”

By now you’ve probably heard about the on-line book price war between Walmart.com, Amazon and Target.com.   Friday Walmart.com announced they would price ten not-yet-released books at $10.  Amazon jumped on the bandwagon, spurring Walmart.com to drop their price to $9.  The price war went back and forth, penny by penny until Target.com jumped in and now all three are offering these books at under $9 each.

Of course to the consumer this sounds like a good deal and of course it is, from the immediate viewpoint of your wallet.  But from this bookseller’s perspective on the whole thing is that it’s just plain depressing for anyone who loves books.  Three of the nation’s largest retailers are willing to sell books at a loss (and yes, they will lose money with every sale, books aren’t really that cheap) in order to position themselves in the marketplace.  What depresses me is the continued trend of devaluing books.  These e-retailers see books as another widget, another commodity to throw around.   Where is the love of reading?  The appreciation for a good book and a bookseller’s recommendation?

Why have books become the throw-away item for on-line sellers and box stores?  The wealth of information found inside a 6″ x 8″ book exceeds almost anything you can buy for $24.95.  It is difficult to think of another single item that is so richly informative, educational, reusable, and easily shared.  But I’m afraid the on-line race to the bottom is turning books into another cheap commodity that consumers will see only in terms of how big the bargain can be,  losing sight of all that they’re getting for what is really a relatively inexpensive  price.

None of this bodes well for the fragile publishing industry or for the even more fragile independent bookstore.  And if you’re not worried about your local bookstore, be worried about what will happen when the only books you can buy are the ones that Wal-Mart and Target deem worthy.  Lower quality and fewer choices follow close on the heels of cheap prices.

In the immediate situation, I don’t worry about Bear Pond Books losing too many sales to the on-line mega stores.  Most of the titles on that list are books we don’t expect to sell many copies of; some we weren’t even planning to stock.   Bear Pond is simply not catering to the same customers.  We live in a community that understands the importance of supporting local business but independent book stores can not thrive without a healthy publishing industry.  This race to the bottom is not sustainable for any of the players and is cheapening books and literature in the process.

As Barbara Kingsolver said on this controversy, “If this price war is another way of using volume discounts to put independent booksellers out of business, then every thoughtful reader is going to lose in the long run.”