The Bookselling Business

17Feb08

A brief quote from the introductory note by Thomas Joy:

“It is necessary for a bookseller to be abreast of the times not only with his buying of stock, but with the systems of successful retailing. He must get rid of old-fashioned methods which inhibit his business, but hold fast to that which is good in the old methods. I believe a main reason for the demise of bookshops over the years, especially in the sixties, was largely their failure to move with the times…Above all, some old-established booksellers fail to appreciate that with the loss of the ‘carriage trade’ people must be attracted into bookshops by improved window and interior displays.”

“Bookselling is more than a trade – it is a vocation. Few booksellers regard their shops as simply money-making enterprises…”

(1973)

How many booksellers today have even heard of the Net Book Agreement?

The catalogue has increased from the 240,000 titles from 5,600 publishers listed by British Books in Print in 1971 to 3.4 million active ISBNs (1.9m unique titles) and at least 12,700 publishers in 2006.

The internet has forced a much greater change on the industry than ever seen before – and the fundamental changes being forced aren’t yet fully apparent.

I still remember microfiche and manual ordering (yes it was dire) and don’t get me wrong I’m not bemoaning these changes, just hinting that, actually, booksellers are rather good at coping with change – we just need to put our minds to how to harness them best.

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