Are Books a Thing of the Past
Are books Dead ?
Obviously not completely but are they on their out?
With an older generation of readers gradually leaving us and a new generation of non-readers coming into the fold is it time to consider that books are on their way out both for collectors and readers?
Clearly they will always be with us and remain popular to some extent, but will they continue to hold the lure they once did.
I believe not and here are some of the reasons why:
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The amount of information on the internet has rendered many non-fiction and reference books all but useless. I myself have always been a fan of large, quality dictionaries but cannot remember when I last looked at one!
Huge swathes of subjects that were once popular with readers and collectors now lay gathering dust in secondhand bookshops, unwanted at any price. Millions of them now reside on various internet sites as cheap as a penny or 1c each, again still nobody wants them.
A new generation that has not grown up with books now have many more sources of entertainment and education, most of them requiring less effort from the consumer than reading.
Speaking as someone who has been in business selling secondhand books, the trends have been dramatic. General mid-range collectable books, say £10 to £35 now seem all but un-sellable.
I have one private website which can sell such books but it is geared to mystery fiction. When I try to sell anything outside that genre on other venues it proves to be both pointless and unviable on a business level.
There is, it has to be said, oversupply in the market. The number of people selling on the internet as risen hugely whilst the rise in buyers is very modest. When Amazon’s sales are factored out they are in fact surprisingly low.
Whatever the reasons there is undoubtedly a general malaise in the market, I am only grateful that I no longer need to look at selling books for a living giving the current state of the market.
I can usually sell £1,000+ books instantly but try selling something for £15, even if it’s signed !!!
I believe it all boils down to a general lack of interest in books, people no longer want them in their houses etc.
Of the 1,000s of people visiting this site and reading my ramblings every week I wonder how many of you read, collect or have abandoned either or both.
Rod said,
November 23, 2006 @ 12:50 pm
To test this theory in a small way it will be interesting to see if anyone comments and if so how many compared to other posts.
I also know a lot of book related people also visit this site, again is there even the interest amongst those with a clear bias still strong enough to leave an opinion or give an account of their experiences
I shall also submit this to various sites as I do with the other ‘fluffy’ stuff and see what happens traffic wise!
All comments and opinions are welcomed from anybody not just readers, collectors and sellers
Regards
Rod
Jordan said,
November 23, 2006 @ 2:38 pm
Rod.
Re: “To test this theory in a small way it will be interesting to see if anyone comments and if so how many compared to other posts.”
Can’t see you getting more posts than normal as you are not commenting on, or have any scantily clad female/men pictures!
That said, to reply to your posting, books could never be dead, though I know a few book dealers who should be!! (I don’t class you as a dealer or SC)
Jordan
Rod said,
November 23, 2006 @ 3:18 pm
Jordan,
I am sure you’re right, I thought it may be interesting to see just how big the difference is and how much traffic this pulls in from elsewhere compared to your namesake etc.
Nice to know SC and myself are not on your hit list.
Keep Reading !
Rod
Witches of Eastwick said,
November 23, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
Rod, big changes have happened in the past few decades with regard to how people spend their time and money. The women of my mother’s generation did a good deal of reading as I recall but their contemporaries are out working now. Those with children are exhausted catering for out of hours school activities plus everything else they have to do….. hardly time to eat let alone read. A combination of technology and ease of information gathering plus the plight of working women, is probably the cause of the decline in book sales. Are libraries as popular as they used to be? Childrens book sales seem to be doing very well these days despite all the technology at their fingertips so it’s not all bad news. In our next book ‘Getting to Grips with Daniel Craig’, we expect very few words but a plethora of high definition shots. A picture paints a thousand words …… WoE
Rod said,
November 23, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
WoE
you mention some very interesting aspects which had not initially occurred to me. My mother sat me down with books and taught me to read etc, now, as you say, she would be at work.
Thanks to JK Rowling children are once again reading more the problem is that there are 3 dead decades coming through before they materialize.
Libraries are now much less popular and stock far fewer books. This I suspect is due to a greater general affluence, books being relatively cheaper than they were and the reduction in interest.
I suspect your new book may well buck the trend, sounds like a winner if my traffic is anything to go by!
Best
Rod
Bacon Snatcher said,
November 23, 2006 @ 10:21 pm
Books are alive and well, especially my copy of ‘Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery’!!!
Dont worry, I shall be recovering from a vicious hangover on sunday so you can have your bacon and eat it!
Our Man in the Kitchen said,
November 23, 2006 @ 10:29 pm
I think instruction books must be a thing of the past, today somebody asked me if they should press the defrost button on their microwave at home to defrost something. Surpressing my desire to punch the idiot I suggested reading the instruction book, to my complete lack of astonishment said person thought that a good idea.
Seriously, anyone who asks me what gas mark to cook their Asda turkey on this year is going to get it.
Little Brother said,
November 23, 2006 @ 10:41 pm
WoE,
You seem to be publishing books every week, will the ‘Wayne Rooney-The Early Years (how breast feeding helped me score in the box)’ be out in time for christmas? Mr. Goldeneye is a big fan of autobiographies by the under 21’s, especially footballers who, he believes, have led such full and interesting lives.
Yours in eager anticipation,
LB
Witches of Eastwick said,
November 24, 2006 @ 10:01 am
LB,
The Witches have not the slightest interest in footballers of any age ……. instead we are about to begin our research on the spicy lives of head chefs, featuring the glamour, the danger and the underground networks. With this work of art we expect to pull in the budding cooks, the romantics, the curious and the thrill seekers. Just so you know where to put it on your bookcase …. somewhere between Lady Chatterley and Jamie Oliver. We shall place all the ingredients of this epic into a prepared dish and then steam gently. WoE
p.s. can we rely on your chocolate fondant?
Jordan said,
November 24, 2006 @ 10:06 am
With all this talk of writing books, I think I may join in with the throng; here are a few Annual titles I was thinking about:
1. Footballers Annual 2006 – How to get rich kicking a bag of air
2. Cricketers Annual 2006 – How to get rich scratching your balls all day
3. Dole Scum Annual 2006 – How to get rich my doing nothing but having kids
4. WaG Annual 2006 – How to marry a rich footballer with no brains
5. Politicians Annual 2006 – How to lie yourself to riches
6. Pigeons Annual 2006 – How to aim your shit
7. Dog & Cat Annual 2006 – How to annoy everyone but your owner
8. Book Dealers Annual 2006 – How to get rich by pieces of paper – It is scarce!
9. Alcoholics Annual 2006 – One more for the road
10. Pot Smokers Annual 2006 – Is the grass really greener?
11. Eunuch Annual 2006 – How big is your glass?
Rod said,
November 24, 2006 @ 12:54 pm
Jordan,
a fantastic selection, well played. I think your books, whilst appealing to me, may not find favour with the general public, there seems to be an Annual to upset everyone there !
Here are a few titles I am thinking of publishing:
1: How do drink moderately from now on
2: Practical advice for parents on child rearing
3: How I got the body of Daniel Craig in only 6 weeks
4: Designing women and how to avoid them
5: Buying shirts on a tight budget
6: How to make your house more welcoming to visitors
7: Bacon: How to get your fair share
8: Talking whilst not being understood by anyone else
9: Achieving a work / life balance
I could go on, and frequently do I hear you cry
Best
Rod
Jordan said,
November 24, 2006 @ 1:15 pm
Rod
Re “I think your books, whilst appealing to me, may not find favour with the general public, there seems to be an Annual to upset everyone there!”
The “general public” who fall into any of my Annual categories are a waste of space anyhow, if I offend, then I have hit the right nerve!
Rod said,
November 24, 2006 @ 1:26 pm
Jordan
nice one! we can always rely on you to tell it like it is!
Shoot from the hip!
Watch out for powder burns on the Miss Sixtys though
A Retired Bookdealer said,
November 24, 2006 @ 3:03 pm
Are Books and Bookselling Dead ???????
That is the Question
Well here we go and I regret the answer will not fit on a postcard.
Yes,
Over the past few years we have seen a decline in the Second-hand,
Collectible and the new book trade.
A lot of which has been caused by online selling,
I hear you cry.
Sadly though the decline in the second-hand book trade has been partly bought on by the Booksellers themselves.
About four or five years ago,
I used to visit Bookshops on a daily basis covering at times
a thousand miles plus in a week.
In many of the shops I visited,
I used to spend what was to them at the time,regular and serious money.
All was going well.
Until they decided to invest in a Computer,
and give it prime position in the shop.
Then came the inflated and extortionate prices often asked for books,
Previously they would have thrown in the bin or not given a second glance.
“Because that was the price online they said”.
I pointed out at the time that they were making a big mistake,
the public will not like it and the trade will stop calling.
Which they very quickly did.
These Bookshops then for rescue and salvation subscribed to various online outlets.
Then to make things even worse for themselves,
continued to price there books at top prices.
“Because that was the price online they continued to sing”.
These shops very quickly saw a drop in sales, and I for one stopped visiting and spending, along with everyone else.
Within months these shops started closing down.
Then forced to trade from home,
they preceded to sell online, hammering there online outlets.
By now there are so many at it the market is saturated with crap.
So then starts the price war !.
Booksellers competing for sales by dropping there inflated prices
to what may seem to some more realistic levels.
Though one online venue has to be the ultimate with Booksellers selling books for 1p,
just so they can squeeze a few pence out of the extortionate shipping charges.
End of Instalment One : will be continued should you so wish ?
By
A Retired Bookseller
Rod said,
November 24, 2006 @ 3:27 pm
Retired Bookseller
Thanks for another great point of view. My own experiences are similar to yours.
Interestingly I know of some shops that continue to run along quite nicely. They have one thing in common, they do not bother with the internet.
The have a bricks and mortar shop and run it as such. Using the internet to check books and prices is not a mistake per se, it’s the conclusion one draws from these checks that tend to be the problem.
First: Because it is on the internet at a price does not mean that’s it’s value. By definition it is the reverse. The price you have seen is the price it doesn’t sell for, as th eworld can see it and nobody wants it!
Second: The tatty copy of Ian Fleming’s Man with the Golden Gun you have in your Lincolnshire bookshop is not quite worth the same as the absolutely fine copy Adrian Harrington has in his Chelsea bookshop !
Thanks again for the great comment, much appreciated
Regards
Rod
George said,
August 13, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
This is getting more difficult but … with rose coloured glasses still firmly in place … here goes.
Books may become a thing of the past if the future is left to online booksellers and antiquarian dealers.
If the only books deemed worthy of selling must pass some arbitrary test graded on a monetary scale as well as passing a tagalong test for literary value then the reading public will soon get wise enough to keep their money in their pockets and their reading habits to themselves.
Whenever an aspiring writer talks with me about writing a book I advise them to write for people who don’t normally read - then they can make a difference in the world - J. K. Rowling comes to mind!
The new book publishers and retailers seem to have P. T. Barnum’s philosophy firmly entrenched - “You’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public” or something similar.
In order to get new readers (we all started at the most elementary stage) we have to provide a format to make it as easy for them as possible. A brick and mortar used book business with a broad cross-section of books (including children’s chapter and picture books) is where it all has a chance to begin.
Most used books stores won’t handle children’s books on a large enough scale to attract and retain families as customers - because handling children’s books is just too much work.
Generations of readers have been ignored and will continue being ignored by the used books business operators who do not do the work required to cultivate early readers and attending to the needs of those readers who simply read as a pastime - but it sometimes seems that readers are not a focus of antiquarian dealers anyway … smile.
It is not my intention to offend anyone who truly cares about the state of the book and the book business - they are all lucky to have had books touch their lives in any meaningful way.
Each of us booksellers has an obligation to do all we can to keep our craft alive.
Working hard at something you love isn’t really work.
Dhayne (Dane) said,
April 15, 2008 @ 12:36 am
I believe that if people would just set down their controlers and keyboards, and just picked up a decent novel, they’d be hooked on reading for life