Requiem for the Small Book Store

My book was published by Bound by Faith Publishers. This is a new independent publisher that was started in the midst of a severe crisis for small book stores and the majority of publishers. The Internet has become or is fast becoming the largest distributor of books the world has ever known. This, in many ways, is good for the publishers and authors, provided the buyers can find their books among millions being offered It has become a world of reviews, team efforts by authors and competition. This is good for those who got in early like Amazon.com. I remember some twenty years ago when Amazon.com first started and later when they were losing millions of dollars a year. Now they are the leader. Recently Borders Books shut down 200 of their stores.Fewer people are buying new books in the stores. I don’t know how this is affecting used book stores, but I went into a Christian book store on a trip to Beaumont, TX. It was the only store left in a 90 mile radius. The manager told me the Internet was the cause. They are experiencing great difficulties in competing, especially now with the price of gas approaching $4 per gallon.

I’ve found in working with my publisher, that it is as difficult for him to get his book into stores as it is for new writers to get their manuscipt read by editors. What is the answer for authors? Do we quit writing? Give up? Do publishers quit printing? No–like everything else we roll with the flow and adapt. It’s going to require a lot of thinking outside the box.

People are never going to stop reading. They will purchase books from somebody whether hard copy or an ecopy. The upcoming generation carries Nooks, Kindles and Ipads everywhere they go. We as authors must understand our market. We are embarking on a new world of authorship where social networking, platforms and being involved in the marketing process are critical. We can no longer just write and leave it up to the publisher to sell our books.