I recently met Katielase in the British Library gift shop. In one hour, we exchanged perhaps eight words with each other. Occassionally we would catch sight of each other and wave the nearest book above our heads, in hysterical excitement. We lost each other a few times.
Many of us harbour a deep-set love of bookshops and libraries. But we eschew them because ordering on line is easier. One click, and you’re done. We forget what it’s like to wander aisles, to speak in hushed whispers, to pick up book after book just because we can.
Katielase argues the case passionately. Of course she does:
I don’t usually set resolutions, of course I have goals in my life, things I would like to do and achieve, but I rarely make concrete resolutions come New Year’s. This year was different. I made just one resolution this year: I will buy no books online for the entire duration of 2013. Every single book I buy will be from an actual real-life bookshop. I will rejoin my local library, and actually use it. I will endeavour to shop in independent bookshops as well as Waterstones. I will not download any more eBooks to the Kindle app on my iPhone. I will cancel my Amazon pre-orders, set reminders in my calendar and go down to the shops on release day to buy the books I cannot wait for (that’s you, Divergent Book 3, I am coming for you).
I’m frightened for bookshops, you see. At the end of 2012, the entertainment chain HMV called in the administrators. I don’t think anyone was hugely shocked; this had been coming for a long time. The switch from CDs to mp3s, the advent of on demand services like NetFlix and LoveFilm, the huge rise of online retailers like Amazon and Play, with lower overheads allowing them to undercut the high street at every turn. We’re moving into a digital age, and HMV couldn’t keep up.
I’m not a big music person, I’ve never spent my money on cassettes or CDs and I still don’t spend it on iTunes. But I can see parallels with the book industry now. How many of you reading this have a Kindle? I would bet at least 50%, and I know this may sound over-dramatic but just typing that made me catch my breath.
I realised that even though I don’t, and if I can help it never ever will, own a Kindle, I am still part of the problem. Amazon One-Click ordering has become my friend. I think of a book, I tap my phone screen once and it’s on the way to me. Every time I do that, I support an online retailer and I don’t support a high-street or independent bookshop. I have been tempted by convenience. And I’m missing out.
In January 2013 I went to my local Waterstones, and it was simply glorious. I wandered around the shop, touching the spines of books, and shivering. I imagined the worlds contained within those pages, the stories, the adventures, the love and heartbreak and pain, the facts and figures, the recipes, the countries, the beauty, the analysis, and the magic. I chose three books, and as I approached the counter I stopped, my toes scrunched up in my shoes, my eyes closed, my arms around my choices and I… bounced. There’s no other word for it. I was so excited by my books, by the experience of choosing, by the purchase of them, I literally bounced up and down 3 as I approached the counter. My husband gave me that “my wife is WEIRD but adorable” look. Luckily the sales person was a fellow book lover who felt that a bookshop is a most reasonable place to get carried away with excitement, and agreed not to judge me for the slightly odd book-hugging and bouncing.
The thing is, I loved that experience; it’s an experience I want my children to have, and their children too. And I also want them to be able to find tucked-away independent bookshops, the magical ones with twists and turns, and stories and facts and myths and legends at every step of the way, just quivering beneath the covers, waiting to be discovered. I want them to feel the thrill of opening the cover of a book for the first time, or the 500th time, the smell of the pages, the feel of them. I can’t bear the idea that one day it might all be gone.
I refuse to lose that magic without a fight.
I know I’m just one book-obsessed loon, and my resolution won’t change the world, but me and my husband, we do buy and read a lot of books. In fact I worked out a rough calculation of what I we bought in 2012, and it was over 80 books in one year. Might have been more, it’s possible I’ve convinced myself I bought less than I did in a bid to salve my conscience and the screams of my bank balance. That’s 80 times we probably didn’t walk to a bookshop and fight for the magic we both love.
I understand a lot of you have Kindles, I understand that it’s easier, eBooks are more convenient, more immediate, easier for travelling or commute, and they save of storage space (she says, typing from a house which likely holds more books than it does grains of rice). I understand all this, but I do believe that real books are special. I hope that most of you agree, so please, try not to abandon bookshops altogether. Next time you need to buy a present for someone, walk to your local bookshop, browse the shelves, ask for advice, be there, feel the magic. A lot of people tell me they think that despite the advent of eBooks, real books won’t fade away. I hope very much that this is true, I hope that enough people still love real books to make them worthwhile printing, but most people who tell me they believe in books don’t use bookshops regularly themselves anymore. Indeed, I didn’t last year. Can we be sure that books will survive? Who are we relying on to save the bookshops? Well from now on, I’ve decided to do my bit.
67 Comments
Aw Katielase a girl after my own heart, nothing beats the feeling of going into a bookshop and browsing through the aisles lookong for that hidden gem. Much better and more satisfying than looking on Amazon. I dont have any local bookstores near me unfortunately but make a point of going into Waterstones at least once a month to buy some books, either for me or as a gift (I’m known as the book lady because everyone gets a book for their birthday from me).
As part of my job I go to Waterstones twice a year to buy books for my library, I love filling up crates of books for my pupils. I always get so excited when its book buying day, to the point where I don’t really sleep the night before as I am too busy thinking of all the books I want to buy.
We should all make a resolution to actually go to our local bookshop and buy our books once a month instead of using Amazon.
Xx
One of my favourite places ever is foyles on the southbank, it’s not very big, it’s part of a chain, but for some reason it makes me insanely giddy and I can happily browse the shelves for ages. I’m very guilty of amazoning, will definitely try and buy in person more.
There is something special about that Foyles. I’ve live abroad for the past 6 years but love walking that stretch of the Thames when I’m back home, and often pop in there for a mooch. Plus there’s the Southbank centre shop around the corner, heavenly gifts. But I digress x
Ah, I read this with so much guilt! I am a kindle owner, bought mostly for the convenience whilst in a job that required frequent travel to London. After the third trip carrying 3 books in my hand luggage, I gave in. Now, it’s the instant gratification that gets me. Finish one book, instantly download the next. Strangely, Kindle books are the only things I ever buy from Amazon.
I do buy hard copies of the books I love and want to keep. Sadly, I live in rented accommodation and we just don’t have the space for all the books I’d love to own. As it is, I have boxes of books stored in my parents AND grandparents attics.
But I remember the joy of getting vouchers or money for Christmas and spending hours in our local-ish (30 miles away!) book shop making the tough decision about what to buy. I want my children to experience that too, so I pledge to buy more from bookshops and less with my kindle.
I genuinely didn’t intend to make anyone feel guilty, I do very much understand how useful a kindle is on a commute, and I would never want people to stop reading altogether, so if a kindle makes you read more, that’s awesome! I think it’s just remembering to occasionally pop to the bookshop, particularly for gifts etc. Or to get advice on which books to buy!
K x
Our local library has just been renovated and I am in love with it. In fact I’ve been known to get stuck ib there for an hour after popping in on my way home. I love the idea of not wasting books by only reading ghem once.
I’m guilty for using Amazon when I do buy a book though not only is it easier but it is so much cheaper. Most books I have bought are at least 1/2 the price online and I have a big book habit to feed!
Xox
I have confess, I am awful at using the library. I always return books late, I just forget that once they’re in my house they’re not mine! I am trying to be better though, because I can’t bear them to close the libraries!
Luckily I do reread books all the time (I have to because I could never afford to buy enough books to keep up with my slightly psychotic reading speed). I have spent more on books since abandoning Amazon, but personally I decided I’m totally happy to spend more and make savings elsewhere. It is frustrating how much cheaper online retailers are, because I know most people won’t want to pay more if they don’t have to, and I can’t blame anyone for that. Catherine sent me this fascinating link on Twitter this morning… I wish we implemented this in the UK! http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/the-german-solution-saving-books-by-keeping-them-expensive.html
K x
Bookshops have to stay! I bought my AOW swapee’s book from a bookshop as I wanted to pick the exact copy and make sure the cover and corners were perfect, not creased at all. Bookshops are my fave shops in the world, you can spend hours trying to find clothes / shoes etc and come away with nothing that fits or makes you feel good, bookshops are the complete opposite, you can always find something that makes you feel good.
Today I have the day off and a friend and I are going for a mooch in the local high street, can’t wait to hit the second hand bookshop, and Oxfam, it has the biggest book section – I am so excited, and know exactly what you mean about the ‘bounce’
Great post x
I LOVE this comment. So true, you never leave a bookshop disappointed.
K x
Totally with you on the fears… I think it will be more of an evolution than complete destruction of the printed word (I can’t see e-books completely surpassing print where the tactile, robust element is more important – say for children’s books) but I do worry that online trading will wipe out physical bookshops completely. I would love to be able to support independent, but even in a big city like Leeds we only have a Waterstones now. I suspect that’s the same for many cities these days.
The problem, for me, is that we are in a recession, I’m earning a good deal less money than I did six years ago, and it’s affected the way I buy books. I do still buy from physical bookshops but I’m more likely to buy from charity shops, second hand (often online on sites like abebooks) or borrow from friends or the library. I’m very conscious of the fact that I’m not supporting the industry by doing this and try to buy new books from real shops whenever I can justify it, but this is only a fraction of the time. The problem is I love books, and I can’t abide not reading as much simply to allow me to afford to buy “properly”. I do feel conflicted about it though, and interested to hear what others think.
As for Kindles, I have one and I don’t love it – maybe I’m in a minority. I only buy for it when I’m going on holiday or, as last night with the Patrick deWitt book we’re reading for book club, it’s an enormous amount cheaper (less than £3!) than it would be to buy the physical book. I hate not being able to see the cover of what I’m reading – I quickly forget the name and author and all the books I have on there have blurred into one mush. I hate not holding a proper book and I hate not being able to flip backwards and forwards. They are brilliant for travel though, and for someone who normally only travels with hand luggage only (and on Ryanair – the Nazis) it has been a godsend.
I would like to say that I also bounce about books. I think we should get t-shirts printed.
Px
I don’t like my kindle either. It’s insanely useful for travelling but I see it as a neccessary evil.
PS: Yeah, totally getting “I bounce for books” t-shirts printed!
K x
I saw a GENIUS mug and book bag in etsy that I would love to buy but it’s from the US and postage costs a fortune. It has the motto “I love big books and I cannot lie”. Actually makes me hug myself in glee!
I can definitely see the value of a kindle when travelling, my suitcase is usually 90% books and then a few random clothes. I don’t know if I could take a Kindle abroad though, what if it broke?! Then I’d have NO BOOKS. (Yes, I am a bit neurotic to be worrying about this)
I do think the price is the biggest issue with books now, it’s hard to escape how much cheaper online retailers and second hand books are, and it’s hard to justify spending sometimes twice the price for no reason other than wanting to save bookshops. I wish I had an answer for this, I really do!
K x
We are going on a 7 week honey moon squee! And my main concern is how will I fit enough books in my rucksack!
Where are you travelling? if it’s on a popular travelling trail, I found (when I did some travelling a while back) that a lot of book shops will do semi-swaps. You take in a book you’ve finished and you can use it to get money off a book you choose from there. It was a complete god-send as it meant I wasn’t carrying around loads of books all the time!
THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENEND TO ME! I took my Sony Reader on holiday to Turkey and the charger I’d bought for it not only didn’t charge it, it drained the battery. I thought we were going to have to fly home and then I found a cafe with lots of 2nd hand books – phew.
I too only use my Reader for holidays – for a fortnight I take at least 10 books and that was most of my allocated weight. The Reader is more expensive to download books than the Kindle too – very annoying. But undeniably convenient. Just check your charger before you go…
I KNEW IT WAS A RISK! I feel totally justified now. It’s a long-running joke in our house that if I had a kindle I’d still pack 15 back-up books, just in case.
K x
Penny I’m the same, the books I tend to buy are second hand or from charity shops so nothing goes to the author and I’m not supporting bookshops.
The great thing about borrowing books from libraries is that authors do actually get some money from it – it’s not a huge amount, but it’s better than nothing! Also, I think it’s better to give your money to a second-hand book retailer or a charity than a massive tax-avoiding company like Amazon if you can’t afford to buy new from an actual bookshop…
I didn’t know that about libraries! That’s awesome. Definitely will borrow more now!
Px
I remember a twitter conversation at the beginning of the year (or was it the end), where a few AOW readers were talking about how terrible a world would be without bookshops. That got me thinking, and I too have made a pledge to actually go into a bookshop and buy books from there, instead of online. I would hate for there to no longer be any bookshops.
I also don’t have a Kindle, and while I understand why people have them, but reading books on the Kindle app just doesn’t feel right. I was explaining this to my youngest brother, who loves reading as much as I do, but has a Kindle. When you pick up a book, there so much more to the experience of reading than just the words on the page. There’s the weight of the book as you pick it up, the smell of the pages as you open it, the sound of the pages turning. As a child and teenager there was also the rush to find something, anything, to mark the page I was on when my mother asked me to do something. And the size of the book, the fact that when you’re younger it’s so big you can hardly see anything around it, and as you get more into the book, the rest of the world disappears and all you can see are the words you’re reading.
I am guilty of not going to bookshops or libraries as much as I used to, but I hope to reverse that trend this year.
I meant to say the end of last year, not the end of this year!
Bravo Katie! What a great resolution and a fab piece of writing. I love books with all my heart, and you’ve made me realise that when I’m in the UK (finding specific books in HK is like chasing unicorns), I buy most of my books from Amazon, and after reading this, I’m going to try not to. I got a Kindle from M 2 years ago – it has its uses (travel, convenience, etc), but for me it’s not a patch on a book. I think it’s the difference between beauty and function. Almost like – you need a get from A to B, you could go by car, by bus or by horse-drawn carriage. Books for me are my horse-drawn carriage. Kindles are fine for literally reading, and some of my friends utterly love theirs. Great for a good, no-nonsense read. Thing is, I love the nonsense. Plus I got told off by a well-meaning but bossy lady for ‘almost getting myself mugged’ by a toe rag on a London bus. I ‘should have my wits about me’, she told me, crossly. But I’m reading, I thought. Of course I don’t have my wits about me, I’m lost in the story. So that’s a win for a real book- no one wants to steal it, the battery doesn’t run out and you can read it in the bath,
I’m sold. And I now have a new resolution. Xx
My husband jokes that letting me go in a book shop is like leaving a child unattended in a sweet shop. I can’t be trusted to only buy one thing and can get lost in the big Waterstones in Kingston for hours.
I hate to say it but I am considering getting a Kindle. My work handbag isn’t accomodating enough for all the hefty paperbacks I like to read on my commute and I hate carrying a second bag just for a book.
I like to think that particular authors and books that I know I would like to keep I would still buy in hard copy.
For those of you interested I have dabbled on http://www.readitswapit.co.uk for years now. You request books from someones book list, they choose one of yours and then you both post them so you get lots of new to you books to read for the price of postage. It’s great!
I have swapped so many books on that site! It’s amazing. Although yet another way for me to avoid actually buying books from shops, unfortunately.
Px
I don’t buy many books either Penny. I treated myself to one from Waterstones a couple of weeks ago and I felt so smug carrying it home knowing I was going to go on an adventure when I opened the crisp pages. That £8.99 was money well spent in my view. What else can give you that feeling for less than a tenner?
Personally I like the idea of a kindle for travel, but I don’t travel enough to justify the outlay. I also like the idea of having one so I don’t have to struggle for space to store more books in our cottage. But I think the answer for me is to rejoin the library. Libraries need saving, if we don’t go, they won’t be there for our grandchildren.
I bet Leeds has a great central library. The one in our village is only open a couple of hours a day, and I forget what hours they are, so Tom and I are going to join the one in our local town instead.
I use Amazon as it’s cheaper and also because unless I’m at my parent’s it’s highly unlikely that I’ll be near a bookshop. Where they live where it’s a big thing to shop locally & support local businesses but even with that support their main book shop has closed down because they can no longer compete with online companies. When I buy on Amazon I try to use a seller from the list of alternative sellers (if it’s not massively more expensive or charging a huge postage) rather than clicking on the first option amazon throws up or if I’m buying something other than books online I will search around to find a smaller business offering online options. I know it’s not much but some support is better than none at all.
I’m worried of the day when someone gives me a kindle and I have to pretend to be happy about it. There’s an app on my tablet – I downloaded a freebie out of curiosity and just couldn’t get on board with it – paper all the way for me. I like seeing them on my shelves, I like friends looking through and asking for lends, I like seeing what they have to lend in return, I like seeing them and remembering the characters and storylines. Plus with books when I inevitably drop it in the bath I know I can dry it out and the worst that will happen is a few curled pages.
Great post Katie! It’s definitely a case of use it or lose it with libraries and bookshops! We live in interesting times.
I do love a good bookshop – Barter Books in Alnwick is amazing (roaring fire, tea and biscuits, train track with model train that runs along the top of the bookcases…. then there’s the books!). I’ve fond memories of my childhood visits with my mum to the local market for the food shopping on a Saturday, and being allowed to sit on the floor at the bookstall, which had crate and crates of second hand books to flick through. An absolute joy for me, as a child who’s hearing was very bad and had her nose in books because it was just so much easier than trying to hear what was going on around you.
Now, though, I love libraries more than bookshops. The fact that you can borrow a book, or lots of books, for free (whoever you are), bring them back and swap them for lots more, that’s incredible freedom and power. When I was a child, I used to go every Thursday evening to our local library with my mum, and come back home with armfuls of books.
I still do that now – my husband and I have ‘library dates’ where we go to the library, get lots of books out, go to the local tea rooms and have a drink & a slice of cake and look through all the books we’d just got out and talk excitedly about them. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is!
I now want to gatecrash your library dates, sounds like possibly the best thing ever!
K x
We had library nights too, Lucy. I love the sound of the shop with the train running around the bookshelves!
The way you describe your library dates with Mr G is exactly why I am excited about starting library dates soon.
I must confess I don’t really buy books. Our flat is not big enough and I rarely reread books. My husband blatantly ignores this reality and buys books like they’re going out of fashion! His solution is that we just need to buy more bookcases!
I do go to the library all the time though. I’ve spoken many a time about how much I love my local library. It’s massive and old, with reading rooms, a theatre and a cafe/bar. I love it!
I’ve also used Waterstones online to reserve and collect books for presents. It’s often the same price as other online shops and they phone you to let you know the book is definitely there before you go in and pick it up.
This is so much better than my New Years resolution. My resolution was to not buy any books this year (I know, I can almost hear the gasps from you all….what a crazy thing to do)…but you see I am a book hoarder and I can’t read them as fast as I buy them. I have shelves and shelves of books I haven’t read yet I still buy more because I have to have choice when selecting my next read. Bascially I want my own bookshop but instead of actually visiting one I click away on Amazon. This piece has made me realise how much I am missing out on – I can have the choice I desire by going to a bookshop for each new purchase….I get exactly the same feeling in bookshops as Katielase but I can’t remember the last time I visited one. So this has inspired me to adopt Katielase’s New Year’s resolution instead and will be taking myself off to a book shops this weekend….
x
My husband’s resolution this year was to buy no books for himself, because he reads slower than me and therefore has loads of books on the shelves to read. I don’t think he’ll last a year though… he’s as much of a book hoarder as I am.
K x
Oh Katie. Brilliant. I flat refuse to have a Kindle – I actually think I’d be quite upset if someone bought me one! My reason is always – ” it just doesn’t smell/feel like a book”. (yes I’m a book sniffer…)
What I love about bookshops rather than online ordering is that it always means I buy something I may never have read otherwise. There’s something so much more tangible about being able to pick up a book, feel the cover, read the blurb. A story feels much more real once you can do that, so I try to avoid buying online now if I can. And I re-joined a library for the first time in years last night
We have some fantastic charity shops with massive second hand book sections in our local village which I frequent a lot!
Oh yes to all of this, Katielase, you are so wise.
We just recently discovered a 4 floor second hand bookshop in Leiden (De Slegte) and I fell in love. De Slegte is a chain 2nd hand bookshop, that we knew already, but the one in Leiden is just so big it’s paradise. And it has books in different languages too.
When I was in London we also spent a good 3 hours and a half at the Waterstones, while waiting for the snow to calm down a bit, while eating carrot cake and drinking mint tea. It was like heaven. Specially because it was the one in Gower Street, near Russell square. Which means it was full of medical / biology / biochemistry books. Bliss.
I also love that in the UK charities (The Red Cross, local ones) sell second hand books, for as little as 1 GBP, even at small train stations. The feeling that I was somehow helping to a good cause, recycling, and supporting the printed word for so little was great.
The thing with online retailers is that sometimes you find difficult to find books quite easy (but sometimes these books surprise you while you wander at a museum’s boutique).
Anyhow, here are some “I pledge to read the printed work” badges for you fellow bookworms:
http://readtheprintedword.org/
And I still hesitate to get a Kindle, I love the touch and feel of books too much, but we can not keep that many. (Which is why, I tend to recirculate them; if I did not get attached to them, I lend them / give them away, as books are meant to be read, not gather dust).
I love my libraries! It costs £1.20 to request a book in the county where I live, they usually deliver the books to my local library within a week and I can collect them in the evening when they open late or at the weekend when I’m in town. It costs only 95p to do the same thing in the county where I work and I can pop in to collect on my lunch hour. (I hardly ever browse the shelves as I, and the librarians, can never find the books that are supposed to be there but it would be free). I used to be rubbish at returning books on time too, although the fine would rarely cost more than the books if I’d bought them. Now both libraries email me alerts and if there’s no way I’ll make it to the library in time, I simply log on and renew.
With libraries you can request online like Amazon, it costs less than half the price of the Amazon delivery (it’s completely free if you have time to browse), you don’t have to find shelf space like Amazon, you can take books back if you don’t like them and you’re supporting free access to knowledge, culture, literature and learning for everyone. It’s a win, win, win all round in my book!
£1.20! Interesting, Nottinghamshire libraries charge 40p (and I thought that was a bit steep!).
Kerry! 40p is not steep!!
Free in Glasgow!
Really good to read this, Katielase.
I work in publishing so have seen first-hand the effect that Amazon has on sales and royalties, and the effect that it has had on physical bookshops. I stopped buying books from Amazon a few years back as a result, with the thought that if I really wanted to read something I should be prepared to pay full price for it out of respect for the author and everyone else involved (though I should hold my hand up and admit to getting a very generous discount on books published by my company) – and it was also around the time that Waterstones looked like it was going to disappear, and so it felt even more important. (Though, in order to be fair, I should point out that Waterstones aren’t entirely blame-free in the plight of small independent bookshops, and I would generally prefer to buy from smaller shops than them, but would hate to see our biggest bookshop chain wiped off the high street).
Books are expensive, which I admit can be a problem – but when you know just how much work goes into making a book, not just in writing it but editing it, setting it, designing it, producing it…., they’re worth every penny (especially when you consider that a lot of authors will never make any money other than their measly advance off their books as it’s the big sellers that enable publishers to publish smaller books that few people buy). If you can’t afford to buy a book at full price then I’d always say that you should get it from your local library, if you can – god knows, libraries need our help just as much as bookshops at the moment under the current government – or from a charity or second-hand retailer.
But then, I’m biased – I think Amazon are evil tax-dodging scum and now refuse to buy anything from them at all…
Also, there’s just something so so satisfying about browsing for books, picking one up, feeling and weighing it in your hands, and then actually physically buying it. Plus, most independent bookshops are brilliant at ordering things in – our local bookshop will generally get a book in for you within 24 hours, which beats waiting for Amazon super-saver delivery any day. And you get to speak to an actual person – and an actual, book-loving person at that.
x
Amazon and other online retailers (the ones that aren’t actual real life shops on a real street somewhere) are doing to books exactly what supermarkets have done to meat (see yesterday’s Jobs for the Girls post). We have been conned into thinking that this is the actual price we should pay for books, when in fact the true cost is higher.
I find this so tricky!
I love love love bookshops (I actually met my husband when we were both temporarily working in one 11 years ago!) but I also have a Kindle, mainly because I got tired of hefting books around on the train/on holiday. Which means I am perpetuating the cycle I know. Having worked in publishing, I know that Amazon force publishers to sell at unfeasibly knocked down prices meaning that independent publishers can’t afford to sell through them and thus sell fewer books.
But every large retailer does this – magazines are going bust left right and centre because of the fact that supermarkets operate on how much money they can make per shelf space and clearly Vogue is going to make more cash than ModernRailways. You can still get Modern Railways in your local newsagents until they go out of business and are replaced by a Tesco metro because everyone is buying their Vogue at the supermarket.
I once wrote an assignment on this. I fear I may be ranting. Anyway…
My attempt at redressing the balance is to ALWAYS buy books for children’s birthdays and ALWAYS buy them from a bookshop meaning that I am spending more in this way than I do on my Kindle (I know a lot of children!). And I also try to buy in local shops for other things even if it is less convenient and means I don’t get my Boots Advatage points (dammit!).
I can’t buy children’s books online – I need to see them and hold them and make sure they’re something I want to read aloud too! I like a rhyme!
You see, illustrations are so integral to a read aloud bedtime book and kindles don’t accomodate those. A tablet maybe but they’re too small and how can you search for things in the pictures/turn the page together! Turning the page is SO important!
I remember when I was helping my baby brother learn to read and suddenly realised that he couldn’t in fact read but had memorised the words on each page by the pictures. Was hilarious! That couldn’t happen on a tablet!
I work in publishing so this topic is right up there with things that affect me on a daily basis!! Obviously there are many different types of books, and the large-scale art-type books that I work with aren’t the obvious candidates for the e-book market but I also work with a number of books that are – and are being made to fit the market because it’s a very competitive and hard market at the moment and we have to adapt to make any money.
The net book agreement that was brought in in 1900 and ran for 97 years before it was deemed to not be in the best interest of the buying public, meant that booksellers could not sell a new book below the rrp. This lack of discounts meant that being an independent bookshop was possible because your price was the same as the larger one down the road so why would people not come to your shop. When it was dissolved in 1997 large chain bookshops flourished as they were able to negotiate higher discounts from publishers in return for large orders. And then online retailers appeared and were able to compete on an even larger scale because their overheads were so much lower – so they pushed publishers for even larger discounts which publishers had to take because if your book isn’t on Amazon – it ain’t going to sell! And now publishers are having to adapt again – and the industry has turned from one led by the editorial decisions to those made by the sales and marketing teams. It’s a long way from the leisurely author lunch stereotype these days!
This is all terribly abridged and I could wax lyrical about it all – but here’s the thing. Books have turned into a commodity, like the shoes on your feet, or the food you’ll buy for tea, BUT, we’re playing with nostalgia and emotions far higher than those leading to what loaf of bread you pick up – or, an even closer analogy, the film you might watch on Friday night. My local video shop just closed down but I still have an indie bookshop and a library (privileged part of London!), and there was no fight or petition about the indie film rental place. Of course, it’s a credit to the people who have, over history, produced books so beautiful that they have become works of art. Publishing and the production of books is an industry, a business, and yet no one in that industry isn’t hugely passionate about the book (trust me, they worked that out a long time ago and pay us accordingly :-p) – it’s a tricky juxtaposition!
Me – I’m a book sniffer, book hoarder who uses books to decorate a room. And then I come into the office and negotiate an e-book royalty, sit with a pencil and edit a text, and take shipments of books from our printers in China. It’s a mixed up world which is constantly having to change and adapt – Go Buy Books!
Well you have clearly touched a nerve with this lot of bookworms!
I love books – as a toddler my favourite toy that I couldn’t sleep without was a book, I taught myself to read at a precocious age and I’ve pretty much carried on in that vein ever since. My husband finds it bizarre that I even read whilst cleaning my teeth (in fact, most people do) but it’s a boring 2 minutes that could be filled with literature! I couldn’t manage a whole day without reading – it just wouldn’t be possible or bearable.
I do love the smell of bookshops but is Waterstones really more ethical than Amazon? I do buy a lot from Amazon but I think if I had a local bookshop I would try and buy a title or two from them every month too. I also buy from W H Smiths just because killing time waiting for a train is often filled with mooching on the bookshelves. But they aren’t a bookshop – their bags don’t even hold books without ripping! I feel no loyalty or affection for them, they’re just a dealer.
I have a Sony Reader (as described above) which preceded the Kindle. I have it for holidays as I read so fast I need a LOT of books and this means that my suitcase isn’t perpetually overweight before I put any clothes in. I’d read more on it were the downloads not so expensive (it’s so annoying – there are lower physical costs without paper, printing etc so how come the titles are about a third more?) because my books are threatening to take over the flat. I have a fear that we’ll feature on a Ch4 documentary where we have tunnels built through the books to access our rooms – it drives my husband insane. I am happy to keep the odd title I’ll read again but what to do with the others? I may investigate this readitswapit site – but that’s just substituting not actually culling (sob).
I don’t know, personally I do think Waterstones is more ethical than Amazon, for one thing they pay their taxes!! And, whilst I do want to support independant bookshops as much as I possibly can, that just isn’t easy for everyone, not everyone has a local indy bookshop. In fact, I don’t, I have to travel to get to one.
Waterstones may be a chain, but it is still a high street bookshop, in some places the ONLY high street bookshop. And I just don’t want to live in a world where the high streets have no bookshops left at all, I’d rather have Waterstones than nothing but Amazon, I want my kids to be able to choose a book with their hands, not with a mouse. Plus, most Waterstones you go into are staffed by people who genuinely love books, and if you bounce around and chat to them will happily spend hours talking to you and recommending books (speaking from personal experience!). For those reasons, I will support Waterstones as well as any independant bookshops I can find.
K x
PS: I am WELL on my way to featuring on a TV programme about how I had to tunnel out through books to leave my house. Totally worth it though, books are more important to me than pretty much anything else in my home!
My friend’s husband works in Waterstones and he is totally one of those people – he loves job because of the people who come in and ask about books! And would happily lose hours reccomending books and chatting to people. And I’ve always had good experiences in Waterstones – I’m def. with you Katie on this, I’d rather have Waterstones on the high street than no book shops at all.
Oh I agree with you both. And if I can’t find an independent bookshop I will make an effort to use Waterstones a couple of times a month- thanks for the advice
I could spend hours and lots of cash in my favourite book shop which is an independent inside the Saltsmill at Saltaire just outside Leeds. If anybody is near by and gets the chance to visit Saltsmill / Saltaire then I thoroughly recommend it.
I love being able to pick up a book open it up and smell the pages, also the feel & design of books make me smile. I don’t own a kindle – whether or not I would If I commuted everyday I’m not sure.
I will hold my hands up and admit that I do also buy books from Amazon mainly on the budget front – and have been disappointed not so long ago when 2 books I ordered as gifts arrived damaged, so now after reading this I am going to log on to Amazon and cancel a pre-ordered book and wait till it’s out May, go to bookshop, pick it up, run my hand on the cover (weird I know) smell the pages and go up to the smiling guy at the counter and purchase it!
I’m totally with Penny re the recession affecting the way that I buy books. I’m another one trying to give up the Amazon habit (although I did resort to it for bookswap – bad Claire) but I can’t justify feeding my reading habit with brand new full price books. I have a small pile of books I received for Christmas and birthday (I sent a long list to my Mum) still to get through so I’m not allowed to buy new ones til they’re all read, so my saviour has been my local library. I tend to borrow all those books I will probably only read once and buy those I want by authors I love that I want to keep and re-read.
I love libraries so much and used to go and sit in the one in Wigan every Sat morning for an hour or so while my parents went shopping. I’m not working at the moment, so my ‘just popping in for a quick prowl round the shelves’ habit may have got a bit out of control as it happens several times a week…
Even for commuting, I can’t imagine a kindle. I love that books come in all different thicknesses and sizes and all look different and have the promise of a story within. I love seeing how far I am through and there’s something comforting about turning pages…I just think I wouldn’t love them as much on a kindle, they’d feel less real.
Such a good post (and a guilt trip for me too, ahem) – I don’t use libraries or independent bookshops enough, but I don’t live near any library or bookshops at all, let alone an independent one. There used to be a fantastic one in the town where I grew up, they could order any book and the staff were so knowledgeable and helpful. It closed down a few years ago, possibly due to the discount bookstore and the Waterstones that both appeared just down the high street.
I do have a kindle which I use for commuting as it’s useful to only need one hand to hold it when the tube is crowded, plus if I’m getting near the end of the book I can avoid the fear of running out of things to read. Having said that I won’t ever give up the smell and feel of proper books, and I like flicking back and forth through the pages to refresh my memory which you can’t do on a kindle.
I’m certainly going to try and seek out more independent shops – and I definitely want there to still be libraries for me to take a future family too on a Saturday morning…
I haven’t read all the comments but I can imagine everyone is agreeance with you
and it’s very apt as I have just returned from a whole hour in Waterstones and enjoyed a little book hugging myself! I love Amazon but I too, would be heartbroken if our book stores went the same way as HMV. You can’t buy the feeling of bliss of a bookstore, my Dad loves poking round dusty old bookstores whilst he dreams of opening his own in his retirement (it’ll be a complete snore fest…every book about every war EVER!)…I have just bought my BF daughter a book for her 1st birthday….a special edition of The Secret Garden, the cover is utterly beautiful and designed by Lauren Childs. I want to keep it for myself. I think I actually squealed when I touched it’s cloth cover…..can see a tug of war happening!
Life will certainly be worse off without the book store….’You Got Mail’ anyone?!
Mmmm the smell of a new book is great. Multiply that by 1,000 and you have a book shop that smells magical – and then there’s the tables stuffed with books; the mighty shelves packed with painstakingly catalogued books; the reading areas….
Yep, I’d forgotten how much I love the experience of going into a bookshop. Thanks for reminding me. I don’t shop much in bookshops anymore as our nearesti s a rather uninspiring Waterstone’s … but I’ll try harder and see if there are any independents nearby.
Here’s to many hours whiled away breathing in new books.
To all those of you book lovers who are ever travelling to/through Dubai and have some time to spend, you must visit Bookworld by Kinokuniya,Dubai Mall, http://www.kinokuniya.com/ae/
It stocks over half a million books!!! It is heavenly and so very easy to lose yourself in the peaceful magical world bookshops provide. x
And Waterstones in Piccadilly (London) has a BAR on the top floor – you can have a cocktail and then do some drunken purchasing of books. Or, you know, a coffee.
Drunken bookshopping???!!! Next AOW night out perhaps??!
The big Waterstones in Manchester has a bar/cafe on the top floor too
What a lovely post. My first job when I was 15 was at a little bookshop round the corner from where I lived and I still have really fond memories of those wonderful days surrounded by books (indeed I sometimes wish I could go back to that job when it feels like the NHS is sucking out my soul…) My bookshop of choice these days is Daunts in Marylebone, not only full of books but just so beautiful.
I do have a Kindle – never would’ve thought I’d like one but got bought one for my 30th and having just been away travelling for 6wks it was worth its weight in gold -but you do raise an excellent point Katielase about how we are moving into a digital age and whether that is really the right thing.
I think I might make a visit to Daunts this weekend…
I have been doing a lot of thinking about the future of the high street, the future of real life shops in general, recently. Within our lifetime I can see a country where there are no real shops anymore, not even supermarkets. City centres will become ghost towns and regeneration projects that will cost billions of pounds will be required to turn former shops back into housing. We’ll all pay far more in taxes to save former city centres from dereliction and decay. Small independent shops will struggle, the gap between what they charge and what online shops charge will widen, making them the preserve of the rich and principled.
The push to get everything online, to increase convenience (whatever that means) and to lower overheads is everywhere. Having a physical shop is just too expensive to run and to staff compared to an online retailer.
From a business point of view, they have to move with the times or go under. Online is what people seem to want, it’s cheaper, it is easier, it’s quicker. Pessimistic perhaps, but I don’t think we can blame companies for going with demand and giving that to us. If HMV had set itself up better to diversify into the online market, they could have postponed the inevitable. But they didn’t. They don’t know, or I suspect care, if that gloomy online only future is what we really want, why should they? But every item we buy online that we could buy in a store is contributing to that potential future. And we all need to think about our purchases now and how we might be contributing to that. Because the more we go online to meet our consumer habits, the more we are being conned into thinking that is the true cost of that item we’re buying. And one day the result might be that we have no alternatives left.
I so agree with this post. Having been militantly anti-e-book for ages I finally gave in and have a kindle now but I only use it for travelling and never for general every day reading. Its a firm rule for me that I have to read proper books bought from proper shops and not give in to the kindle, however easy that might be. Luckily I find I don’t really enjoy reading on the kindle – its functional but it doesn’t come with any of the pleasure of a real book, of the feel and the smell, of weighing how far through the story you are and of sitting on the sofa looking up at the bookshelves and getting waves of memories of stories and characters wafting over from the spines.
I think your resolution is so important Katie. We’re all guilty of disassociating our own behaviour from the collective impacts they have and the outcomes of all that aggregate behaviour. We all want bookshops to exist, but we make individual choices to buy cheap books online etc and almost rely on someone else to fund bookshops for us. I have a friend who goes and browses in a lovely bookshop and then writes down all the titles she wants and orders them off amazon at home. Drives me bonkers! People I rant to about this often say its up to bookshops to modernise, diversify, etc but I don’t think it is – if we like what they’ve always done (create lovely environments full of delicious books) we need to recognise that it doesn’t come for free, and that we, individually, have to invest in it, and not take the short-termist approach of amazon etc. Fact is, if we all just buy on amazon etc, there will be no more bookshops and we’ll only have ourselves to blame.
Interestingly, here in San Francisco there are loads of independent, small bookshops – one of two in every neighbourhood. They certainly struggle but they seem to have survived much more than similar shops back in the UK (despite this being a very tech-heavy, amazon adopting city). I often wonder why that is – and how we could get people back home to use their local shops in the same way people here do.
Sorry, epic rant post!
I had to leave my much loved book collection at home when I moved out to LA, and i can honestly say the los angeles public library (westwood branch) has saved my life. I get ALL my books from there (about 8 per month) and it hasn’t cost me a penny. Libraries are so vital to a community, and mine sends text alerts when the due date is approaching. Awesome post katie, there’s no sense of history in a kindle- i love knowing others have experienced my book before me.
Go Katie!!
I agree there is nothing, nothing that can replace a book in its true and beautiful form, whether a beautiful photographic-art-coffee-table type book, or a strokeable, crisp-paged magical-smelling story-awaiting-to-be-read novel. I’ve always been a librabry go-er, as where I grew up buying books was simply unafforable. I dont even remember there being bookshops, only a WHS type retailer and as a child, the book shelves were for the weathly only.
Moving to the UK I was blown away by the affordability of books and and sheer diversiy and quantity of bookshops. I joined several libraries but grew my collection with the special books I’d want to read again and again. Wondering around for an hour + in a library or a bookshop, sometimes not even borrowing / buying anything (!) was and still is one of my most precious ways to spend “me” time.
Moving to Australia was a very rude shock to my bookworld. There are few independent bookshops. The Waterstone type chain Dymocks, is smaller, the quantity and quality of choice is narrower and often we only get books in months after they have already been out in the UK. The libraries are ok, so Im half sane, but choosing my book swap book was actually a little sad as I felt like I had so little to choose from, and in the end I send it from amazon as I couldnt find the one I wanted to send. To think of this happening to the abundent bookworld I delighted in in London saddens me beyond belief.
My husband has now taken to reading on a tablet and I utterly refuse to – though I completely see the benefits of reading when its dark and and the portabiliy of loads of books without developing hunchback ..sighhhh, progress!! Ultimatly its a choice, and hopefully there will be enough who do choose the bookshop route to keep the printed word actually printed.
I typed a really long comment and then lost it but basically, I totally agree! I started working in publishing in London in September and it’s so interesting to see all the work that goes into one book. I can’t believe places like Amazon can get away with selling them so cheaply! There are many discussions on this topic in the office as you can imagine.
I was sent a link to this yesterday which has some scary statistics in it (the usual ridiculous comments underneath of course):
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/for-the-cunning-plot-to-lure-book-buyers-away-from-amazon-read-on-8530187.html
I absolutely see the benefits of e-books for travelling, for when you just don’t have room for books and for people like my mum who have pains in their hands and struggle to hold a book for long periods, but I can’t see myself ever getting one. I love printed books too much and, as someone said before me, I have to be able to flick back through the pages when I inevitably forget something. I also love having them all lined up on my shelves and seeing what I have read, what I still have to read and all the different designs.
My local book shop in Queens Park is wonderful. I regularly go and browse and the staff are so helpful. They will get anything for you, make recommendations and the children’s area looks so much fun! I got my Bookswap book for Bex there!
The only thing I still need to do is join the local library which is really near the book shop. I can see myself losing hours between the two and my lovely R wondering where on earth I am (he doesn’t read novels and doesn’t know what to do with himself when I’m lost in a book)!
I very much hope that book shops stick around forever. You just cannot get the same feeling browsing for books online. I will certainly be passing on my obsession with books when I have children.
A brilliant post, especially the bouncing!
I absolutely love this post – I’m just back from a quick trip out to my hometown of Whitby, which houses my favourite ever book shop in the whole universe (The Whitby Book Shop on Church Street – beautiful rickety old spiral stair case right in the middle of it leading up to another floor). I went precisely for the same reason this feature has been written, so that I could have the pleasure of browsing lots of books, of losing myself for 20 minutes in my own private world, of gently caressing the spines and covers and slipping into a book loving reverie for just 20 minutes. My own perfect, silent, beautiful experience.
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Waterstones in Newcastle Upon Tyne, where I went in to see if they were stocking my book (my first book was published 2 weeks ago). They were. And so I took it off the shelf, leafed through the pages and found myself beaming from ear to ear . I left Waterstones that day with a single copy of my book tucked under my arm and duly dropped off as a gift to the owner of another store on my way home. It was one of the most magical, pleasurable, wonderful things I’ve done in ages.
I don’t have a Kindle and I haven’t downloaded the Kindle App on my iPad. Despite SO many people encouraging me too, I just can’t bring myself to do it. I just can’t. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. A book is an object of beauty, all those elegant pages, the print, typography, the cover design,all that magic and adventure inside that the writer of this piece refers to, that ‘new book’ smell. That ‘old book’ smell, antique books falling apart – give me any one of these ANY day over an electronic hand-held device.
Such a thought provoking post and let’s hope it encourages others to do the same. Long live the book store I say!
A X
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