Competition for book sales intensified this holiday season as the e-reader emerged as one of the hottest gadgets, and three of the country’s largest retailers engaged in a price war that knocked the price of select bestsellers, normally $20 to $30, to $9 each.
Locally owned bookstores and the American Booksellers Association, the national trade association for independent booksellers, said it’s too early to gauge the effect of this season’s price wars and wider distribution of electronic readers.
Beth Black, owner of the Bookworm at 8702 Pacific St., said sales this year so far have been flat compared to last year. But in this economy she is happy to be flat.
“Kind of like ‘flat’ is the new ‘good,’” Black said.
It’s hard to tell whether price wars by Walmart, Target and Amazon.com will affect the Bookworm, she said. Bestsellers aren’t the Bookworm’s bread and butter anyway, she said. It specializes in “back list,” or older books, and doesn’t try to compete on bestsellers.
Black said the store has had the same number of shoppers or slightly more this Christmas, but they are spending a bit less.
“Not a whole lot less, but $5 or $10 — enough that you see it. Or instead of buying a hardcover, they’d rather that you come up with two paperbacks.”
She’s less concerned with competitors’ price wars and more with the growing popularity of e-books, which she said have cut into profits.
Some companies have developed their own e-book readers. For example, Amazon has the Kindle, and Barnes & Noble has the Nook. Other companies, including independent booksellers as a group, don’t have their own proprietary e-reader, although Dan Cullen of the American Booksellers Association said the trade group is working on one.
E-readers topped many retailers’ and retail analysts’ lists of hot gifts in an otherwise lackluster season, although it remains to be seen how they will perform.
E-readers are portable, paperless electronic devices that let readers buy and store multiple books digitally and then read book pages on screens ranging from about six to 10 inches. While some upload books wirelessly, others require consumers to install software on their personal computers and connect the device to the computer to upload content. Some versions also read books aloud.
A Borders spokeswoman declined to comment on sales of the devices but said they are popular gift items.
Barnes & Noble told the Wall Street Journal this month that demand for its $259 Nook, which is essentially sold out for the holidays, has been so strong that the retailer had to increase the device’s production schedule.
Jack Lewis, an Omaha physician, received a Kindle e-reader from his son as a gift and now plans to return the favor by getting his son one for Christmas.
Lewis, who reads about three books a week, travels a lot, so he likes that he can wirelessly download enough books for extended trips and avoid carrying around multiple books.
While his wife still buys hardbacks, Lewis said he hasn’t bought one since getting his Kindle about four months ago.
“No reason to,” he said, “because I can just type in the author, type in the book and bang! I’ve got the book.”
He said he pays $14 to $16 per e-book, versus $28 or $29 for the paper versions.
Lewis said he probably never would have bought an e-reader for himself and is surprised by his avid use of it.
“I’m 75 years old, and I’m not computer wise at all. I don’t do gadgets,” he said. “But I love it now. I have no problem running it.”
Contact the writer:
444-1183, christine.laue@owh.com
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
