The drawn-out death
throes of the mom-and-pop bookstore is old news, and book lovers tend to
greet each new door-closing with a certain weary resignation."
However, in my opinion, the idea that big
stores are hurting smaller stores is a mistake.
Does the
existence of John Street’s Chapters hurt Pages? Maybe
initially, but the consumer decided, years ago.
In fact, Pages staffers have told me first-hand that Chapters stock
doesn't reflect the neighbourhood’s taste -- which actually boosts sales for
Pages. Because, Pages knows their
clientele inherently better.
However, the megastores and their teenaged
employees aren't as cold and heartless as you may think. If approached correctly.
As a past megastore employee, I’ve seen vanity presses come in and sell
200 dollars worth of books in an hour.
"In general," remarks Pages Bookstore mainstay and
web editor Shaun Smith, "the indie bookseller has more mobility
than big box. To me, the shifting of This Ain’t reflects the
shifting demographics of neighbourhoods in Toronto. Rents are so high in
the overly gentrified zones of the city that booksellers are driven out
because margins are low relative to, say, shoes. But that doesn’t mean
bookselling must die, or is dying. You move to more "bohemian"
areas, to areas that will likely remain removed from big box and
franchise influence. That’s just a logical business decision, if
regrettable for your old customers. It is an evolving city and smart
booksellers are identifying new markets and plunging in. Those who cling
to old ways and old neighbourhoods risk being left behind."
For me personally, as someone who works in a variety of factions in
the literary communities, labeling of stores is what I call classic sales prevention.
Retail after all, when you come down to it, is psychological. If people
sense negative vibes, they stay home and watch reruns of Friends.
Sure it’s great to support "indie" bookstores, but
sometimes, these so-called crusaders are the same people who don’t buy
books at live launches and can be found browsing through magazine stands
300 hours a year, not once buying a single book. We have to take the
immorality out of bookselling, and empower the consumer to think for
themselves, and never see us pinch-fighting with one another in front of
the self-help section.
What it comes down to is "indie cred,"
which for some reason people think is important, when all that is
important is having good working relationships, doing business, selling
books and not getting so politically elite about these simple
transactions.
Is it just me or are there so many book-buying method preferences and
hypocrisies occurring daily on the Internet, it’s mind boggling how
anyone can come up with these dogmatic notions about book consumer
morality?
"It’s just you Nathaniel," whispers a faint voice that
sounds like Heather Riesman.
Publishers and authors can actually negotiate with the vilified
brand, the same way they do with the "indie" hero stores. You
can have a reading, the support of dozens of staffers during their
event, just like you can with your local indie store. These bored stiff
staffers might even become allies down the road who can recommend your
book to customers. And local authors are just as local when they are
inside an evil giant bookstore.
"I don’t know about the rest of the country, but the indie
bookstore scene in Toronto is actually healthier than it has it has been
in many years," says Smith. "In the past while we’ve seen the opening of two Type
stores and Ben McNally. There is a McNally Robinson store
opening in Don Mills next year. Book City has always been a
nimble organization, unafraid to test a market and retreat if it doesn’t
work. (And if I’m not mistaken, the Yonge and Charles store was a
stopgap while the St Clair store was being rebuilt.) Their departure
from Yonge and Charles should probably not be interpreted to indicate
renewed weakness in either that company, or the indie bookselling
market. I’m not saying that it is boom time, but there is substantial
growth in Toronto, so it is certainly not doom time."
The question remains the same, how big is our book-buying culture?
How has online book sales contributed, if at all, to the overall
"health" of the industry? Where are we buying our books? How
many stores do we truly need, large or small? How is the internet (book
media sites, blogs, Facebook, Youtube, Myspace)
helping our national profile? Does this sometimes daily-maintained
virtual razzle dazzle lead people to "add to cart" online, or
walk to their local bookstore? I want to know.
Smith explains some of the finer (and human) points of the
book-buying culture. "The pleasure of a bookstore, of course, is no
different than any good retail store: it is a place for communal
stimulation, a place to engage with new sights, sounds, smells, ideas,
textures and, on occasion, even tastes. (Good coffee, no?) It is a place
to people watch. It is somewhere to go when you want/need to get out of
the house. It is a place to discover new (and old) things."
What troubles me with these perennial bookstore alarmist campaigns is that it provides no solution. And that’s what I’m
looking for. I don’t have let’s say, the marquee presence to lead a
coupe, but can we as a community figure this out?
Every few years or months we seem to rehash the swan song of indie
versus giant bookstores, a debate with no end, a debate that always
seems to side with the mom and pop shops being abused by thoughtless
stuffy candle-pushing bullies.
From a publishers standpoint, no one takes a side
when it comes right down to it, simply because, at the end of the day, a
book sold is a book sold. Regardless of whether it’s by Wordsworth Books in
Waterloo, or Kingston’s Chapters. What if you are
buying a book by a very poor die-hard Canadian small press lover in
Victoria who has to suck it up and work at Chapters?
"If anything will save the indie bookstore, it’ll likely be
that kind of attention on community, something that the web, for all its
unique advantages, can’t replicate," says Broken Pencil’s book’s
editor Erin Kobayashi in Halliday’s article.
"Bookstores reflect
our culture," she continues. "Indie bookstores need to
continue to be wonderful treasures," she says, "carrying
unusual titles, promoting quirky authors, having local readings and
signings, using their walls to support art, to stay significant. I think
we’re not just buying books at these stores, but supporting and
celebrating culture, beauty, and difference."
Will that be enough? asks Halliday.
Enough for what?
In the same way that Starbucks, Ikea and Indigo
have trained the vast majority of Canadian consumers on where to drink
coffee, buy lamps and buy candles/books, we as a community have to stop
fragmenting our opinions on book buying options and start examining a
bigger reality. How to sell our books to consumers (outside of our
communities) period.
"Would they rather Borders or Chapters have a monopoly?" said
a manager at the Indigo-owned World’s Biggest Bookstore
recently. "At least with Indigo running things, you have rent
controlled locations," the manager informed me. "Chapters was
losing a lot of money paying ridiculously high rents, like over a
million a year for the [Chapters] 110 Bloor location." (Which
closed in 2005).
What goals are we setting as literary communities? Who will bring the
balance of power back to Canadian publishing? Who is the chosen one?
This is not a taste test. If we woke up tomorrow and all "indie"
bookstores in Toronto flat out refused to carry "local"
authors what would we all do? I think the problem is much larger and
complicated that good guys versus bad guys. I believe that every
positive thing such as readings, signings, can be achieved at all levels
of bookstores. If this is not the case, please prove me wrong. All I’m
saying is, let’s find a solution before we get light bails and dust
off the ol’ pitchforks.
What it comes down to is a sensitive approach to interpreting then
appreciating the differences between indie and evil, (exploiting both)
and migrate between the large and small publishers here in Canada, to
show a unified happy ending book industry, and to do what’s best for
all.
Let’s do business, move the attention away from the morality of
book-buying/selling until we can find a solution proper.
