Bookseller price wars could cost authors & readers

Independent bookstores are finding it hard to compete with low book prices offered at supermarkets, chain stores and Amazon - all of whom, according to the indies, are offered huge discounts by publishers because they buy in bulk.

While the savings look good for the consumer, the benefits of these price wars may be short-term at best, according to Jonathan Spencer-Payne, who runs the Peak Bookshop. Independents carry a much greater range of titles, he says, so a greater diversity of authors and books are represented, including traditionally hard-to-shift first novels. “We support publishers with other titles, with the backlist,” he says. “The feeling in the independent sector is that publishers aren’t thinking about tomorrow. If independent bookshops disappeared, where would they sell the full range of their books? It would be a terrible indictment on society if one or two sellers sold a limited range of books and they basically picked and chose what people read.”

Some efforts are being made to level the playing field. Earlier this year an alliance was set up by a group of independent publishers, including Faber & Faber, to try to support independent bookshops. According to Will Atkinson, Faber’s sales director: “Publishers have a duty to do what we can, but we can’t change the way capitalism works.

Link to the Guardian article