High Street Booksellers Face Bleak Year Ahead

Sky News UK, Saturday January 23, 2010
Gilberte Phanor, Showbiz correspondent

Booksellers are facing a difficult year ahead as e-books become a more powerful force in the industry.
Waterstone's has already had to cope with a Christmas sales slump, while Borders closed its doors on Christmas Eve.
Add to that the decreasing number of independent bookshops and the popularity of the internet book retailers, those selling printed books are feeling the strain.

"It's under pressure, the physical book market, Neill Denny, editor-in-chief of The Bookseller said.
"Supermarkets are selling from more sites, and the independent sector is also under pressure but has pockets of health.
"Things are moving to a digital play both in terms of content and distribution and that's been the case for four or five years but the pressure is now starting to become acute."
High street sales fell by almost 7% last year while sales of digital books are expected to rise.

Currently they only account for about 2% of sales but, over the next 10 years, the Booksellers Association expects it to jump to 20% - because of new technology, the demand for enhanced e-books could make that figure even higher.
In future, e-books will offer more than just text, you could have 3D moving images and animation.

"The mobile devices, phones and tablets are coming and they will offer an immersive experience for reading, which will have animation and all sorts of other things attached to it," digital publishing expert Martyn Daniels said.
"I think then we start to see a real difference in digital, but that's not there today, it's probably two years away before it starts."
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