With the growth of Internet retailers over the last fifteen years and the convenience of click-and-buy, you might legitimately question the place of a bookstore in our lives. Once Amazon hit the big time, more and more people I knew simply surfed the Internet, performed specific searches, bought books online, and waited for the mailman to deliver them. Easy as pie, ain’t it? A few Christmas seasons ago, I purchased nearly all my gifts online. It’s a brilliant way to get exactly what you want without the hassle of yuletide traffic.
Selection is another big plus for online retailers. You want that esoteric, one-off title by your favorite author, the one published before the author hit the bestseller lists? Go online. It’s there. There are dozens of sites that take you directly to where you can buy anything. No more scouring of used bookstores in fruitless searches for obscure tomes. Click and it shall be delivered unto you.
Which brings me back to the question: do we need bookstores? What functions do bookstores perform for us?
One of the things missing in the online environment is the casual browse. With all the algorithms used by online retailers, you start to get browser pages keyed to your interests. While it’s nice to have an “if you bought this, you might like that” feature, you miss the happenstance glance at a book whose cover catches your eye. You miss the opportunity to pick it up, thumb through the pages, and make an impulse buy. Sure, you might end up hating the book, but you still bought it on a whim. Can’t replicate that with an e-reader.
Another aspect of a bookstore you can’t duplicate with electronics is the figure of a bookseller. I’m talking the actual person here. Earlier this summer, I purchased Jeremy Wade’s River Monsters book. It wasn’t where I expected it to be so I asked a bookseller. Turns out, as he walked me to the table where I found the book, he told me how much he like’s Wade’s television program. We chatted for a few minutes, two strangers linked by a common interest. Unless you’ve got 2001’s HAL at your house, a conversation with a computer isn’t in the cards.
Bookstores bring people together. How many times have you been in a bookstore and overheard a conversation about a book you’ve read and enjoyed? Now, how many times have you joined that conversation? I’ve actually had conversations with customers in which I have sold books for the store. Hey, where’s my commission? It’s like real live Facebook but you interact with other humans.
Author events are a special way to bring people together and, in the words of old-time evangelists, have a happening. I’m not sure how many extra sales an author event generates, but the goodwill is usually worth more than money. Events are a blast and you get to see the broad cross-sections of people who enjoy reading a common author. Murder by the Book typically has more author events in a calendar month than there are days. Their reputation as excellent hosts enable them to get creative. In July, they hosted Noir Night 2011, featuring Duane Swierczynski , Megan Abbott, and Sara Gran. Over the course of nearly sixty minutes, we got to see a fun, lively discussion about their books, writing styles, influences, and life on a book tour.
If a line between author and reader exists, events like Noir Night prove that the line is dotted. As excited as readers are to see their favorite authors in person, the authors are equally excited to meet their readers. Heck, even Duane snapped a photo of the audience for his memories or Twitter or both. You may like one particular characteristic of an author, but it’s neat to hear an audience member or, in this case, a fellow author, throw out a question on something you’ve never considered. The answers and discourse shed new light to a book or an author, and it’s something that only a bookstore can deliver.
So do we need bookstores in this golden age of the electronic book?
I think Duane’s tweeting “Absolutely.”
Scott D. Parker is a professional writer who discusses books, music, and history on his own blog, and is a regular columnist for Do Some Damage.
I don’t tweet, but I echo Duane: ABSOLUTELY.
What a great piece, Scott–thanks so very much for it.
I live near Houston, and love Murder By the Book. I work and a book store as a bookseller, and I just wanted to thank you for recognizing the value of what the store and we as bookseller, that love everything about book and the people that love book do. Thank you.
I need bookstores. Browsing the shelfs is essential to life, and talking to book sellers is a great way to find new authors. Our local mystery book store here in Northern California, M is for Mystery, has fabulous author events. When we lose bookstores, we lose part of the community.
I love my local bookstores. I just wish they weren’t all going out of business. It’s hard being the only apparent reader in a county of 1.74M people. I especially love talking to the booksellers in the independents.
While I am a online “virtual store” bookseller, it is because of my disability, not because I wouldn’t love to be in a brick and morter store. I love the time spent just browsing the shelves, sharing conversations and questions with other book lovers. There will never be any replacement for picking up a “find” to read a few pages to find it fits just perfectly in your personal book world. Talking books is just as essential as browsing books!
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