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Why Borders failed and Barnes & Noble didn’t
I just came across 
this article on my twitter feed from @HuffPostBooks. As I was driving yesterday I heard the second Borders in Santa Fe was following in the footsteps of its sister store, i.e. closing. And that the whole company would be gone by September. Poof!
I love and support indie bookstores. I also buy online, and I’m acquiring a kindle in the not-too-distant future. But I have to say the Borders at Sambusco Center was a place I liked to go to get lost. It seemed to be the anchor of that little center near the historic (and still running) railyway of Santa Fe, and indeed I think it was for at least ten years.
This article is very interesting and points to the sign ‘o the times: If you’re in a pre-internet business, especially one with such antiquated ideas as returns, and don’t keep up and innovate, you’re going to be left in the dust.
The article is from npr.org. The whole piece can be found at this link.
But in the mid-1990s, Borders lost its edge.
“It made a pretty big bet in merchandising. [Borders] went heavy into CD music sales and DVD, just as the industry was going digital. And at that same time, Barnes & Noble was pulling back,” says Peter Wahlstrom, who tracks Barnes & Noble for the investment research firm Morningstar.
He says Barnes & Noble also invested in beefing up its online sales. Eventually, it also developed its own e-reader, the Nook.
Wahlstrom says Borders is disappearing at a time when, as consumers, readers are more empowered than ever. He says he still reads paper books but also reads on his iPhone, computer or tablet.
“Just as I’m probably device agnostic, I am supplier agnostic. I can go online, I can go to Barnes & Noble, I can go to Apple, or I can go to Google. Or I can borrow it from a friend or I can go to a library,” he says.
Choices. We have a plethora of choices; which is another thing I noticed reading last Sunday’s New York Times Book Review. The e-book best seller list was HUGE. And it wasn’t lost on me either there were a few titles whose authors (and publishers) had the good fortune to have themselves on the hardcover bestseller list, the softcover bestseller list, and the e-book bestseller list.
Am I being too optimistic/altruistic/naive when I say, this seems like a win-win for everyone?
To e– or not to e–? That is the question.
I’m an old fashioned gal in a lot of ways. I like to curl up with a good book just like thousands of other people. I love the feel of it in my hands, marvel at the way it was constructed, and usually consider it a magic kingdom I get to enter for a respite from the world at large.
That said I am also enthralled by the idea of being able to have several books on one gizmo, whether it’s novels on Kindle or illustrated titles on the iPad. This, from a photographing woman who swore she would never own a digital camera. I only shoot digitally now.
A blog? What’s a blog? It took an encounter with a professional blogger on a plane in 2002 before I even had an idea of what it was. Pretty much all I remembered from that conversation was her iteration concerning a recent post about Grace O’Malley, the 16th century pirate who commanded three galleys and 200 men. Still, something eventually sparked: I’ve created four blog sites since 2008.
It also took me a while to get on Facebook. But I’m on. I’m connecting to old school pals (for better or worse) and various people all over the world. And Twitter? Tweet what? I’ve succumbed to Twitter, too. I’ve learned a lot by following certain people and seeing what they’re up to. It has inspired me tremendously. Listening to a podcast from blogcast.fm.com I heard an author share he organized an entire US book tour using Twitter. Now that’s some powerful chirping.
I get psyched when I go to the public library and see kids checking out books. And there are plenty. I still like to write the occasional letter on paper and send it through the mail. I will continue to read books made of wood fiber and ink. And I’ll often call instead of sending text messages. Much like Ansel Adams I’m a firm believer in several levels of grey from black to white. Do we have to completely give up what we’ve known for centuries? I don’t believe so. There’s room for most anything that enriches people’s lives. And that to me is a very exciting prospect. Am I participating with all of these e-options all the time? No. Not by a long stretch. But it’s nice to have the choice.
Heraclitus (b. 535 BCE) said, Nothing endures but change. Were that I was a fly on the wall when the monks learned of Gutenberg’s “artificial writing” machine.
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Power to the Podcast
A few months back my friend Sue loaned me the book The Help. I’d wanted to read it for a while so it was nice to be able to make a start. I read the first chapter. I liked it. I liked the approach the author took with each chapter being spoken through a different character. I liked the writing style, and my interest in the civil rights of the 1960s gave me a ready empathy for the material. Still, I set it down, not really being able to get into it.
Cut to: two months later. I subscribe to the Philadelphia Free Library’s Author Events podcasts. What a rich resource. Downloading the latest subscriptions I found that Kathryn Stockett, author of The Help, had visited in May. I listened to it immediately. She captivated me. Her soft Mississippi drawl, the slow, pahrticulahr way she recounted stories, the way she shared how the book had come about. And how she had been rejected by 59 publishers. How her friend optioned the rights for a movie (due out August 12th), and a particular adventure they had shared in high school. I was very inspired listening to her, and I actually felt like I was sitting right there in the audience, rather than hundreds of miles away in the southwest.
Later that day I picked up The Help and began where I’d left off. I couldn’t put it down and finished it within a few days.
I marveled at how there’s always a story behind a story. And when people share their stories, authentically, we are so enriched. And inspired. And I also marveled at my little iPod. Then that got me thinking about Steve Jobs and his genius and the wizards with whom he surrounds himself. And then I thought about Kathryn’s last words to the audience: “Please”, she said, “go to your typewriter and write your story. You just never know what’s inside of you.”