Comments on: The Borders Problem http://booksquare.com/the-borders-problem/ Dissecting the publishing industry with love and skepticism Mon, 21 May 2012 06:15:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Kassia Krozser http://booksquare.com/the-borders-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-165467 Kassia Krozser Thu, 29 Mar 2007 04:30:08 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2007/03/28/2344/#comment-165467 By the way, I totally can read on the small screen. I'm not ashamed to admit I've read smaller and with less resolution! It's the sign of a true reading junkie. By the way, I totally can read on the small screen. I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve read smaller and with less resolution! It’s the sign of a true reading junkie.

]]> By: Kassia Krozser http://booksquare.com/the-borders-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-165466 Kassia Krozser Thu, 29 Mar 2007 04:29:12 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2007/03/28/2344/#comment-165466 Tom -- I'm glad I could offer even a little bit of help. As much as I live my life online, I cannot resist a bookstore. And once I'm inside one, I cannot leave without making a purchase. My shopping goals are entirely different when it comes to online versus real-live bookstores. Also, as regular readers of the site know, I strongly advocate serving wine to customers (g). Basically, thinking outside the traditional bookstore experience. Okay, going further with the wine thing. I am a member of a bookclub that has been meeting monthly for many, many years. I joined at Jane Eyre and they'd already done quite a few of the Russian classics and all the Jane Austens and a whole bunch of other good stuff. Through the good and the bad and the weird books, we meet regularly. And we sit and we talk and we drink wine and we eat and we talk about the book. It's a social experience. Imagine if you had a group of customers sitting around, drinking a glass of wine while talking books. It's still a bookstore, but it's also a community. I think the reason that book clubs have been so popular for so long is that they allow groups of people with common interests -- especially, I think, women -- to get together in a more or less structured manner, with a goal. Why can't bookstores offer this level of fun? Tom — I’m glad I could offer even a little bit of help. As much as I live my life online, I cannot resist a bookstore. And once I’m inside one, I cannot leave without making a purchase. My shopping goals are entirely different when it comes to online versus real-live bookstores. Also, as regular readers of the site know, I strongly advocate serving wine to customers (g). Basically, thinking outside the traditional bookstore experience.

Okay, going further with the wine thing. I am a member of a bookclub that has been meeting monthly for many, many years. I joined at Jane Eyre and they’d already done quite a few of the Russian classics and all the Jane Austens and a whole bunch of other good stuff. Through the good and the bad and the weird books, we meet regularly.

And we sit and we talk and we drink wine and we eat and we talk about the book. It’s a social experience. Imagine if you had a group of customers sitting around, drinking a glass of wine while talking books. It’s still a bookstore, but it’s also a community. I think the reason that book clubs have been so popular for so long is that they allow groups of people with common interests — especially, I think, women — to get together in a more or less structured manner, with a goal. Why can’t bookstores offer this level of fun?

]]> By: Tom http://booksquare.com/the-borders-problem/comment-page-1/#comment-165464 Tom Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:56:53 +0000 http://www.booksquare.com/archives/2007/03/28/2344/#comment-165464 Thank you for this great piece. I gives me hope (and some ideas) for the bookstore I am planning to open soon. A lot of what I read about book sales is doom and gloom, but the last two paragraphs really hit home to the experience that bricks-and-mortar store can give that no online store can, and I think that will be the factor of survival for the bookstores (indie or chain) who recognize that getting people back into their stores will prove more profitable than expected. I have had numerous people tell me that their shopping online consists of a search for a specific item. Getting people in to a physical store can only help to increase the impulse purchases that help businesses survive. And to comment on the article on the iPhone, me personally, until the screens get larger and lighter, I can't see reading a large novel on a 3.5 inch screen no matter which way it is oriented! Thanks! Thank you for this great piece. I gives me hope (and some ideas) for the bookstore I am planning to open soon. A lot of what I read about book sales is doom and gloom, but the last two paragraphs really hit home to the experience that bricks-and-mortar store can give that no online store can, and I think that will be the factor of survival for the bookstores (indie or chain) who recognize that getting people back into their stores will prove more profitable than expected.

I have had numerous people tell me that their shopping online consists of a search for a specific item. Getting people in to a physical store can only help to increase the impulse purchases that help businesses survive.

And to comment on the article on the iPhone, me personally, until the screens get larger and lighter, I can’t see reading a large novel on a 3.5 inch screen no matter which way it is oriented!

Thanks!

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