4 ms·

The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see

The key is curation. Walk into a book store and look around. From different points in the bookstore count how many titles you can see. Which titles can you see entirely and which can you only see the spine of? Count them. Now go to Amazon.com and perform the same experience. Count how many titles you can view at any given time. 10? I buy and read a lot of books. What makes a good bookstore stand out is its selection. I want to be introduced to books that I would otherwise not know existed and frankly even with all of its algorithms Amazon sucks at this. I can walk into any bookstore and within 1 minute my eyes have scanned dozens of books. I take in their titles, size, color, binding, etc. All of this information impacts whether or not I will pick up a book to examine it further. I enjoy the selection process and I want a bookstore that gives me that. My favorite bookstores have floor to ceiling shelves so that I can cover more ground quickly. There's no way you can reproduce this on a monitor, it's simply impossible.

sithlord 7y ago
Maybe, Amazon is better at it than you may think, and you are in fact, judging books by their cover.
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  I hate that phrase because it's completely wrong. The cover (including the title) is absolutely a decent tell of the subject and quality of a book. It's not perfect, but it's the only thing to go by. Along the same lines, app icons are a fantastic way of judging whether an app is worth downloading from the the play store. Crappy icons pretty much always indicate a crappy app, in my experience, and can immediately be rejected. A polished icon doesn't necessarily mean the app is good though, just that it's worth taking a closer look at.
ellius 7y ago
There is only one physical bookstore I go to anymore, and it's for exactly the same reason. The walls are positively stuffed with books. Nothing can beat Amazon for speedy search. If I know exactly what I want, that's where I'm going. But that feeling of browsing around and coming home with a bag full of books you'd never have thought of, or of hanging out in a community of readers, is not replicable online. I think both curation/browsing and creating hangouts (really good coffee or whatever) are ways physical stores can still compete.
mrweasel 7y ago
I believe that selection is the reason why Danish book stores struggle. They try to present the same best sellers as the super markets, I assume because it's a safe bet. At the same time I'm pretty much forced to buy from Amazon and buy books in English, because only the most popular books are translated, and primarily fiction. I don't get the impression that the bookstore really care to sell a larger selection of books, just more copies for the same 20 best sellers.
- toyg 7y ago
  Not just as “safe bet” - margins are higher on new hardbacks.
  - mackatsol 7y ago
    I wish we were more like the UK.. there the hardcover, trade and paperback editions all ship at the same time unlike here where you might have to wait a year for the paperback.
    - sherr 7y ago
      I'm in the UK and I don't think that's generally true. You usually have to wait quite a while for the paperback to be released after the hardback is out. Sometimes a year. A pain sometimes but usually something I don't mind living with, as I am never short of things to read. And if the book is good, I might buy the hardback.
      - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
        I've never known it to be true. The industry staggers the editions - i.e. makes readers wait - precisely because there are much bigger margins on hardbacks and trade paperbacks, so they sell first to the enthusiasts and fans who must have the latest X now, and/or want a collectable.
    - davidro 7y ago
      should have checked my facts. :-)
mumblemumble 7y ago
I imagine Barnes & Noble could become a much more interesting place just by letting any staff member who wants to have free reign over their own end cap. The least common denominator, barely-more-interesting-than-what-Amazon's-adventures-with-linear-algebra-can-manage spreads that they place on their end caps right now aren't doing it for anyone.
snarf21 7y ago
This is true for you and other discerning readers. A lot of people just want the new Jack Reacher. I doubt there is enough volume or profitability here but who knows. Interestingly, the only department to actually make money in B&N in the last few years, is the board game section. I think this is how they win. Being more of a general edutainment destination and focusing on kids stuff. 6 page kids picture books cost $7. Parents and grandparents will drop lots on "smart" toys and gifts for kids. I'd be all in on this, expanding with more play area and story times making it a fun place to visit. They already smartly dropped CDs as they have to ability to compete there except maybe to have new releases at the register as an impulse purchases but streaming mostly killed that.
- dhimes 7y ago
  Interesting. I bought two games there this past Christmas. They had them- Scrabble, which I went there to get, and some board game based on the movie Jaws that I had never heard of. So I impulse-bought a board game there, and I'm not a board-game guy.
- mattferderer 7y ago
  Our local B&N does book readings for kids a couple times a week. I imagine most do. This drives a lot of kids & parents in. The kids play with a train & do arts & crafts afterwards. Everyone gets a coupon for Starbucks & they typically either have a treat or buy a book before they leave. In a lot of ways B&N is like an additional public library where you can buy the books & games or just browse. I think that's what makes it different than Amazon. I also think that's their closer competition.
- specialist 7y ago
  Very interesting point about board games. Thanks. I worked at Starbucks in Store Planning while they were trying to figure out how to makes their stores be a "third place" (early 1990s). Small stages for unplugged sets. Fire places. Big tables for study groups. I'm just a computer guy, but I always felt Starbuck's merchandising strategy sabotaged those efforts. WotC had great success for a short while as board gaming host, destination. Mox, the largest I know of today, seems to be successful. https://www.moxboardinghouse.com https://www.moxboardinghouse.com I would love to see Barnes & Noble pivoting to become a third place. Especially something kid friendly. (My kid was super into Pokemon.) Basically a public library vibe with a cafe, that also sells some stuff, located in a mall.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Spooks 7y ago
One main perk of amazon or online is the reviews. Now I don't just go by review alone (I have read some 3/5 books that I really enjoyed), but they definitely put more weight on my decision than looking at covers or spine of books.
_carl_jung 7y ago
For me, no formal metric can capture what I get out of buying books at an independent book shop. I feel like I'm trading with an old currency, only the books I own and buy are a reflection of my own character, or even soul. When I lend or trade a book with a friend, it's a transaction using those same fragments of our souls and we grow slightly closer. We now have a shared experience in those books and each understand each other's view of the world a little better. Reading might be a largely solitary experience, but the passing of a book from one pair of hands to another achieves a communication far beyond reading a review or even a personal recommendation. Somehow the mass of the book itself carries with it a greater weight to the recommendation.

sithlord 7y ago

Maybe, Amazon is better at it than you may think, and you are in fact, judging books by their cover.

frosted-flakes 7y ago
I hate that phrase because it's completely wrong. The cover (including the title) is absolutely a decent tell of the subject and quality of a book. It's not perfect, but it's the only thing to go by. Along the same lines, app icons are a fantastic way of judging whether an app is worth downloading from the the play store. Crappy icons pretty much always indicate a crappy app, in my experience, and can immediately be rejected. A polished icon doesn't necessarily mean the app is good though, just that it's worth taking a closer look at.

ellius 7y ago

There is only one physical bookstore I go to anymore, and it's for exactly the same reason. The walls are positively stuffed with books. Nothing can beat Amazon for speedy search. If I know exactly what I want, that's where I'm going. But that feeling of browsing around and coming home with a bag full of books you'd never have thought of, or of hanging out in a community of readers, is not replicable online. I think both curation/browsing and creating hangouts (really good coffee or whatever) are ways physical stores can still compete.

mrweasel 7y ago

I believe that selection is the reason why Danish book stores struggle. They try to present the same best sellers as the super markets, I assume because it's a safe bet. At the same time I'm pretty much forced to buy from Amazon and buy books in English, because only the most popular books are translated, and primarily fiction. I don't get the impression that the bookstore really care to sell a larger selection of books, just more copies for the same 20 best sellers.

toyg 7y ago
Not just as “safe bet” - margins are higher on new hardbacks.
- mackatsol 7y ago
  I wish we were more like the UK.. there the hardcover, trade and paperback editions all ship at the same time unlike here where you might have to wait a year for the paperback.
  - sherr 7y ago
    I'm in the UK and I don't think that's generally true. You usually have to wait quite a while for the paperback to be released after the hardback is out. Sometimes a year. A pain sometimes but usually something I don't mind living with, as I am never short of things to read. And if the book is good, I might buy the hardback.
    - TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
      I've never known it to be true. The industry staggers the editions - i.e. makes readers wait - precisely because there are much bigger margins on hardbacks and trade paperbacks, so they sell first to the enthusiasts and fans who must have the latest X now, and/or want a collectable.
  - davidro 7y ago
    should have checked my facts. :-)

mumblemumble 7y ago

I imagine Barnes & Noble could become a much more interesting place just by letting any staff member who wants to have free reign over their own end cap. The least common denominator, barely-more-interesting-than-what-Amazon's-adventures-with-linear-algebra-can-manage spreads that they place on their end caps right now aren't doing it for anyone.

snarf21 7y ago

This is true for you and other discerning readers. A lot of people just want the new Jack Reacher. I doubt there is enough volume or profitability here but who knows. Interestingly, the only department to actually make money in B&N in the last few years, is the board game section. I think this is how they win. Being more of a general edutainment destination and focusing on kids stuff. 6 page kids picture books cost $7. Parents and grandparents will drop lots on "smart" toys and gifts for kids. I'd be all in on this, expanding with more play area and story times making it a fun place to visit. They already smartly dropped CDs as they have to ability to compete there except maybe to have new releases at the register as an impulse purchases but streaming mostly killed that.

dhimes 7y ago
Interesting. I bought two games there this past Christmas. They had them- Scrabble, which I went there to get, and some board game based on the movie Jaws that I had never heard of. So I impulse-bought a board game there, and I'm not a board-game guy.
mattferderer 7y ago
Our local B&N does book readings for kids a couple times a week. I imagine most do. This drives a lot of kids & parents in. The kids play with a train & do arts & crafts afterwards. Everyone gets a coupon for Starbucks & they typically either have a treat or buy a book before they leave. In a lot of ways B&N is like an additional public library where you can buy the books & games or just browse. I think that's what makes it different than Amazon. I also think that's their closer competition.
specialist 7y ago
Very interesting point about board games. Thanks. I worked at Starbucks in Store Planning while they were trying to figure out how to makes their stores be a "third place" (early 1990s). Small stages for unplugged sets. Fire places. Big tables for study groups. I'm just a computer guy, but I always felt Starbuck's merchandising strategy sabotaged those efforts. WotC had great success for a short while as board gaming host, destination. Mox, the largest I know of today, seems to be successful. https://www.moxboardinghouse.com https://www.moxboardinghouse.com I would love to see Barnes & Noble pivoting to become a third place. Especially something kid friendly. (My kid was super into Pokemon.) Basically a public library vibe with a cafe, that also sells some stuff, located in a mall.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Spooks 7y ago

One main perk of amazon or online is the reviews. Now I don't just go by review alone (I have read some 3/5 books that I really enjoyed), but they definitely put more weight on my decision than looking at covers or spine of books.

_carl_jung 7y ago

For me, no formal metric can capture what I get out of buying books at an independent book shop. I feel like I'm trading with an old currency, only the books I own and buy are a reflection of my own character, or even soul. When I lend or trade a book with a friend, it's a transaction using those same fragments of our souls and we grow slightly closer. We now have a shared experience in those books and each understand each other's view of the world a little better. Reading might be a largely solitary experience, but the passing of a book from one pair of hands to another achieves a communication far beyond reading a review or even a personal recommendation. Somehow the mass of the book itself carries with it a greater weight to the recommendation.