Out of Print Books

In this day of electronic books and Google scanning thousands of books to be available free online, I still think there is a place for the paper out-of-print book. Actually several places.

First there is the old book that one remembers from one's childhood, either a personal favorite (mine is The Little Toy Soldier - NOT the Hans Christian Andersen tale) or something the adults were reading and you weren't allowed (Colleen McCullough's The Thorn Birds).

Second there is the old book about something or by someone who interests you and with whom you feel closer because of the physical paper. I have a friend who loves Frances Parkinson Keyes' historical novels. For me, it is the feel of the paper when I read a classic - like Edgar Allan Poe or Henry David Thoreau.

Finally there are those books which are too recently out of print to have electronic versions. This includes a huge amount of popular fiction, from serial romances to westerns, science fiction, mysteries, and thrillers.

Literally millions of these books (in paper form) are available online for reasonable prices. I have featured a couple sellers on this blog. I, also, have little online business with books that primarily fit the criteria above. It also has some classics and some books that have been published electronically - some Nora Roberts titles and the works of Dickens, Austen, Shakespeare, etc. for example.

My little enterprise has recently reduced prices on over 8,000 titles for the holiday season. It also features free shipping and coupons for multi-book purchases (all at the landing page). So if you, or someone on your holiday shopping list, is a bibliophile and is interested in paper books out of print in all media, I encourage you to take a look at the many online sellers, and start :-) with mine.

Brick and Mortar Bookstores - The B&N Conundrum

(Photo courtesy The Dusty Bookshelf, Manhattan, Kansas)

Barnes & Noble reported, this morning, that their losses have more than doubled over the same time last year. This puts the question before lovers of physical books, and the experience of browsing through shelves, as to whether the chain will need to close some or all of their remaining 675 stores. Since B&N is the last chain of bookstores of any significant size is the end of the physical book store experience nigh? I certainly hope not.

My expectation is that B&N will need to shrink but my hope is that the loss can be replaced by rejuvenated local independent book stores, with the support and nurturing of the publishers, both large and small. My two local independent book stores both have cafes and loads of programming - readings, author visits, music, kids' programs, etc. as well as knowledgeable and personable staff. They encapsulate everything that the monster B&N store has, but in a smaller, more intimate setting.

I, personally, would love for more indies to return to more neighborhoods. The survival of the small independent stores would require the support of publishers large and small. They would have to back off of selling everything cheaper on Amazon than the brick and mortar store can afford. As a buyer, I am willing to often trade the convenience of being able to order anything I want any time I want online for the experience of shopping/browsing but I, as a bibliophile, cannot pay a premium.

What do you think?