Archive for July 15th, 2009:

With the publishing industry immersed in difficult economic times, marketing budgets for new releases have been shrinking. New or relatively unknown authors may feel their works are not getting the publicity they deserve or need, so some have taken matters into their own hands. For instance, I just read an article about writers who visit book groups in order to promote themselves and their works. While this may be taking things into the realm of the extreme, it is, without doubt, pretty darn innovative!

The article, written by Francesca Mari for The Daily Beast, introduces us to author and creative writing professor Joshua Henkin. Henkin has visited some 175 book groups by phone, in person, or via the Internet. As Henkin told Mari, “With 10 people in each group, that’s 1,750 books sold right there.” Positive book reviews alone aren’t enough to ignite sales, so some authors feel enthusiastic participation in promotion is necessary.

Increasing numbers of authors are speaking at book groups, including such well-known writers as Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) and Robert Alexander. The dynamic between authors and their audiences has shifted a bit as a result, with authors becoming more accessible to readers or perhaps readers believing authors should be accessible. A final point in the article stresses that authors who visit large numbers of book groups aren’t in it just for book sales—”Certainly the initial impetus and the continuing impetus is: sell books,” Henkin notes. “But I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it.”

Amazon, far from an evil behemoth, gives customers what they want: low prices, unlimited choices, and easy shopping from home. Unlike Wal-Mart, which often peddles low-quality products, Amazon sells both the good and the bad, the passing fad and the classic. Try finding a rare book by a Senegalese writer, and you’ll be relieved by Amazon’s deep reach into even the most obscure corners of publishing. So what does that leave to the independents?

Their strong points have always been personal service, informed recommendations, browsing of real books . . . But now, emerging on the fringes of the book world, might be a new weapon for independents, as well as bookstore chains, in their battle with Amazon.

Meet the Espresso Book Machine.

Browse a screen for book titles, read a few pages of a book, and click. The machine will print out a copy of the book in front of your eyes. You think Amazon’s two-day delivery is great? Try instant gratification.

Although not all books are available on it, more will be coming soon. Here is a video about Angus & Robertson of Australia, the first retail chain in the world to adopt the Espresso Book Machine.

In Manchester Center, Vermont, the Northshire Bookstore recently became the first independent bookstore in the United States to have an Espresso Book Machine.

Imagine the independent bookstore of the future. Walk in and browse through shelves of real books. Talk with sellers who know publishing and can suggest titles you would never have found on your own. Still can’t find a physical book to buy? Step up to the Espresso Book Machine, view virtually every book known to humankind, and click.

Amazon, now seemingly unstoppable, is dependent upon an antiquated and environmentally questionable distribution system: trucking books to warehouses, sending packages through the mail. In a world connected by wires and wirelessly, it’s hard to see how that system will survive capitalism’s unforgiving drive toward lower costs.

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