RETAILING
Book sellers buck e-trend
Analysts say there's a place for stores that do their job well
By David Kaplan -  Houston Chronicle
Aug. 12, 2010,

Faced with mounting threats from electronic books, online retailers and discounters, some bookstore owners may wonder if they've reached the final chapter.

The nation's largest bookstore chain, Barnes & Noble, put itself up for sale this month.

And Amazon recently announced a milestone that might bode ill for brick-and-mortar bookstores: As of this summer, Amazon's e-books are outselling its hardbacks.

But the bookstore is not going away, some analysts say, and the ones that operate effectively can survive.

"Saying that bookstores won't be around in the future because Wal-Mart and Amazon sell books is like saying Italian restaurants will go out of business because we have canned spaghetti sauce," said Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, a researcher and adviser for publishers. Part of the value of a bookstore is the expertise of its staff, he said.

As for the e-book market, it is growing, he said, but it's still far behind the printed book market. Nine percent of U.S. adults bought e-books over the last 12 months, compared with 57 percent who bought printed books, he said.

While Amazon's e-books are outselling hardcovers, many of the books for its Kindle readercost less than a dollar, and some are 25 cents.

"Well, duh," Norris said. "A 25-cent e-book is easier to sell."

Hardback and paperback sales in 2009 are estimated at almost $10 billion, compared with e-books at $82 million, according to Publishers Weekly. Including textbooks, professional books and Bibles, the printed word book market is worth $35 billion.


Read Kaplan's full story at Houston Chronicle