In the book industry, while online sales develop inexorably, and the “bestsellerisation” of sales reinforces chain stores (less references, no storage, no need for a specialized clerk) in their M.O., the outlook on the Internet of most book publishers reminds the blindness of record publishers in the late 90’s. To this day, when I speak tout book publishers, reminding them the consequences of its development in the record industry, the answers are almost always the same:
1 / you don’t download a book 2/ People will never read on a computer 3/ (In France) we are protected by the law on the set price of the books. End of conversation. The problem is trashed is such fashion, and the age-old arguments about the size of the offer, the disappearance of big readers, and the marketing considered as a plague are preferred instead. Because they did not ponder the problem beyond the “Google case”, the book publishers and all players in the book industry let “Amazon”, its application, “probe the heart” and its online sales service capture an audience growing by the day. This audience is slowly but surely going AWOL in the stores, and first and foremost in the independent bookstores, guaranteeing so far the visibility of “difficult” books, and the width of the overall offer. So the record and film industry scenario is bound to repeat itself. First, a weakening of the independent stores that will further the dependence of the publishers on the chain stores. Second, these distributors, having profitability goals based on a quick turnover (bestsellerisation) tend to shrink the width of the offer and notably, the space devoted to “difficult” products. Third… a lot of publishers will suffer. The foreseen crisis in the book industry is regrettable, because it could have been avoided if the book publishers and the bookstore owners had worked together through their professional unions, instead of burying their heads in the sand. Even more maddening. Supported by government authorities, the various professional syndicates could afford to develop services that would have lessened the impact and the damage with the proper tools. These new endeavors could even lead to a new approach of promotion, and a new approach of the distribution networks. All is not lost yet. But the response has to be quick. One wonders though: why don’t the various branches on the entertainment industry communicate and learn from what happens in another sector?
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