It’s getting harder and harder for me to walk out of my local bookstores with books. Why? Because half the time the books I went to buy aren’t in the store.
My local Barnes & Noble and Borders are overflowing with romance novels, many of them trades. You’d think that would be a good thing, but it’s not. I was reading one of my professional association newsletters and saw the term “shelf confusion‖too many books, making it difficult for readers to decide what to buy. I call it “frustratingâ€, because I’m not having difficulty choosing books, I’m having difficulty finding them. Is it because there’s not enough room?
One of my greatest joys is touching books in the bookstore, picking them up, thumbing through them, taking them to the register, and then taking them home. It’s as good as chocolate to me, and when I leave the store empty handed, it’s like drooling through the candy shop window. Denied.
The trade section of my BN once held six or seven titles face-out in a very nice display. If you go there now, titles are stacked in front of other titles, so you have to dig through them and hope you find the one you want. More and more often lately, the selection is not complete. (Something readers have been grumbling about on loops and message boards all year long.) I used to be able to find a fairly decent backlist of some author’s books. Now, unless you’re looking for Nora, you’ll be lucky to find the very latest book of the author you want to buy.
Finding newer authors is especially problematic. Several of my newly published friends’ books never made it into either of my local chain stores. Some of the newer erotic imprints have more than one release a month, but you’ll only find one out of the two or three offerings.
I finally signed up for Amazon’s Advantage program after I realized just how many new releases weren’t available in the stores. Getting free shipping with my $25+ orders was nice, but they took too darn long to get to me. The instant gratification of walking into a bookstore was now a week long wait. The two-day waiting with the Advantage program sucks, but it’s better than nothing, which is what I’m finding in my bookstores. The selection of books varies across the country, but the complaints are nationwide.
Borders Group recently posted a huge loss for the last quarter, which led to employee layoffs. Industry professionals are worried about the decline of the mass market format. And I’m sitting here with money in my hands and a desperate desire for books, and I can’t find them.
Are we truly releasing so many books that we’re hurting sales? Has distribution of books become a problem? Why are readers going into bookstores and coming home mad? Whatever it is, I hope there’s a solution.
I have books I want to buy.
No related posts.
I thought I was the only one who had that problem! I’ve walked into Borders or B&N and walked out several times empty-handed. I am lucky enough to have 5 of these stores within about a 7-mile radius, and nothing is as frustrating as walking in and not finding what I went there for. I am also a huge fan of instant gratification, and rarely order from Amazon. But sometimes I’ve had to, especially if I read all about book #2 and haven’t read book #1 yet, but the darn store doesn’t have it.
Another issue is lack of shelf space. Sometimes newer romances – especially the larger sized books – are only to be found at different display tables, so then you really have to hunt through the store to find them. The B&N where I work p/t is not very big on romance – only dedicates 2 1/2 sides of shelves (plus a few end caps for categories).
The consumer is the one that suffers, and remembers that he/she can’t find what they are looking for at at that particular score: what are the chances that they will continue to shop there if they can’t find what they are looking for?
My last trip into a BN was extremely disappointing. The romance section was huge, true, but split into so many subgenres that I too couldn’t find a d*mn thing. And when I started browsing the groupings, looking for any sort of idea of the organization, (because I also couldn’t find an employee to help me) I had to laugh at titles grouped as “Suspense” when I’ve read them and knew that it just wasn’t a suspense.
I’m fortunate to have a good independent nearby. I get as many of my books as I can from her.
I was in Waldenbooks last month returning a book and it took me almost an hour to find a book I wanted. There were plenty of choices, but the books I wanted just weren’t there.
On the other hand, if I’d wanted erotic romance that day, I’d have had no trouble. This store had a ton.
I gave up on brick and mortar book stores years ago for this same reason. I still pop in on my lunch hour to browse, or if I need plane books for a sudden business trip, but if I WANT something, I order it on Amazon. I’d rather wait a few days than deal with the frustration of going to store after store and not finding what I want. All that time. All that gas. And don’t get met started about the way they shelve things . . .
Do you think this is part of the reason that Costco and Sams and Walmart is so successful? Choice is limited. There are only a few dozen titles available and they are easy to find. They are also not categorized so I am guessing that people buy based on covers and author names.
Had this problem just the other day looking for Barbara Freethy’s latest, Taken. Now, she’s an author who has a print run in the 6 figures, so you would think it would be at my local borders, when I really should have just gone to safeway. But this store is notoriously romance snobby – I was panting at the door when Allison Brennan’s The Kill came out, couldn’t find it, looked on the store search terminal to see that yes, it was indeed in stock. I finally went to ask for it, and the info desk guy sheepishly told me they hadn’t been unpacked yet, and that they weren’t really good about putting romances out as soon as they came in.
A couple of months ago, I was extremely surprised to find out that the bulk of the bookbuying public still went to bricks-and-mortar stores to buy books and that Amazon and other online bookstores only accounted for single-digit percentage of overall book sales. I was like, huh? Don’t people get frustrated when the book they’re looking for isn’t on the shelves?
Big bookstores (and the Targets/Walmart) carry huge quantities of books but not very much inventory on individual books. It’s understandable because of space limitations. So when I browse, I go to the stores. But when I’m loooking for a specific book, I Amazon it. Makes more sense. It saves me time and the frustration of not finding the book I want on the shelves.
That being said, I still love it when I walk into a bookstore and find my book in the stacks.
I’m having the opposite problem. The last time I was in Borders I wandered around aimlessly not because I couldn’t find the book I wanted but because there wasn’t anything I felt was worth buying. How sad is that? I even put the new Emma Holly back on the shelf!!!!! Seriously, I think I’m sick!
I’m blaming this ailment on a very rocky reading year. I’ve had a lot of review books assigned to me that were outright duds. Not “it’s just not my thing” – but just plain bad. And surprise, surprise – most of these “bad” books were in my favorite sub genre – historicals.
In the meantime, I’m thinking now is a good time to read through some of my TBR.
I rarely by from B&Ms anymore – part of it is I just don’t have the time to sift through so many titles, and there’s just no enjoying a good long bask in a book store if you have to take the kids along. I find out about books I’d like to read online, talking to other writers and readers and I usually order them from Amazon. Now with my own book on the shelves at Borders [Immortal Lovers] I should be singing the praises the B&Ms.
I have the same problem. Every now and then I go to BAM to browse, but I rarely find what I’m looking for anymore. I end up ordering on Amazon more often than not.
Since a few of the commenters here have said shelving is a large enough issue to prevent purchases, it would seem “shelf confusion” has some merit. I think though, that Wal*Mart does so well more because of the pricing being so reasonable. Books are far too expensive these days.
Kind of ironic when you consider that books are priced higher to include the bookseller’s large profit margin, and then the booksellers aren’t selling the books.
A NY Times bestselling author recently said 50% of her sales came from Wal*Mart. The bookselling success of Costco and Wal*Mart has been attributed to being a major reason for the shaky state of the mass market format. They’re only shelving titles from a few select authors, leaving a huge number of books with limited distribution.
I had this problem back in February. My publisher paid for prime placement of my book, but readers from all over the country emailed that they couldn’t find it. My local Borders had none of the February Bravas out. When I asked for them, they turned out to still be in the box in the back.
It’s a miracle the book made BookScan’s Top 100 Romances Bestseller list with the trouble people had finding it.
In the end, my publisher reupped the prime placement in May, three months after its release, with wonderful results. Very sad to me though, that the publisher has to pay to make sure the book gets out of the box.
I’m hearing this a lot. A recent discussion tossed out two reasons:
I’m not sure how true these are, but the problem of “nothing out there worth buying” is one I’ve heard quite a bit.
“A NY Times bestselling author recently said 50% of her sales came from Wal*Mart. The bookselling success of Costco and Wal*Mart has been attributed to being a major reason for the shaky state of the mass market format. They’re only shelving titles from a few select authors, leaving a huge number of books with limited distribution.”
Scary, that. Especially becuase Walmart doesn’t stock anything with a questionable cover. So that leaves how many authors out of the loop? And then there’s the fact that authors have no say on the cover.
I don’t shop brick and mortar anymore. I Amazon everything. I love browsing, but really only buy recommended reads that aren’t stocked there so it makes no sense for me.
Great Article.
At my local Hastings the biggest problem I have is that they are slow to get new releases out. Usually Tuesday is a release day for many books and I have found there is no sense in going over there until Friday. Also, what used to be a shelf full of brand new never before printed paperbacks is 3/4 old stuff going at a discount. The last 3 trips I made I came out emptyhanded.
Eeek. That’s kind of scary. And another reason I’m in no hurry to get into print.
But I never buy in bookstores unless it’s unplanned and just happens. I’m a total online buyer. But then I do that with all my shopping. LOVE ONLINE SHOPPING!
This makes me want to cry.
I’ve gone into my local bookstores and come out without buying anything too.
What causes me to leave empty handed:
1. I Really don’t like those giant trade paperbacks, I want small sized paperbacks.
2. The shelf space is taken up by big names (two shelves worth for one author) and I may not read that author.
3. I’m not seeing much that’s new out on the shelves. Same titles or same old trend.
4. There have been a lot of horrible duds out for the last couple of years.
5. I can’t find all the books in a series. I wont buy book 3 without books 1 and 2.
Personally, I feel that there aren’t enough books out. I want a larger choice and a better variety.
I bought seven books today all at Walmart. I was looking for a specific book that I couldn’t find a one of the major chain stores. I’ll probably go back to the major chain and special order the book. Mainly because I Want to show the store that there is a demand for the author.
Although I do online shop it’s not my favorite. I’m one of those weird readers wholooks at all the copies of a book and chooses the cleanest copy, no creases or bends. My last online order they put too many books in a too small box and three of the books had corner bends. Not enough to complain but had I been browsing in a B&M I wouldn’t have bought them.
Wow, a column from my own heart! The last few times I’ve gone to the bookstore have been *extremely* frustrating for just the same reason. I’ll have a nice list in hand, culled from all the recent releases to the ones that I *have* to have — and I can’t find them. I’ll even ask, and be told that they can “be ordered”. *sigh* I can order books, too, but when I drive the 30 minute drive to a bookstore, or talk my hubby into letting me “run in”, I want my books THEN. It’s even worse, though, to be looking for a specific book that I *really* want. It seems that I *have* to order all the books I really want! Backlist books? Order online, or check the library!
Where do I end up purchasing most of my books? My local grocery store, believe it or not! And yes, most, if not all, of my “spontaneous” or “unexpected” book purchasing happens as I browse at the grocery store.
Do I think we’re overpublishing ourselves? I hesitate to say yes to this. There are TONS of authors I buy. I have a towering (leaning) TBR pile(s)… Romance is 50% of the market, so the stats go, but a bookstore isn’t half romance, so some things doesn’t make the shelves.
I think underbuying (not getting enough copies of books that are “sleepers”), trade paperbacks (which do take more room!), and uneducated bookstore staff/management (who nix romance buying, buy all of one genre or “proven” authors that are still popular, but aren’t the titles readers are going ga-ga over, and shelvers/ management who shelve books incorrectlly, say in SciFi or Childrens!) go a long way to making these frustrating adventures. I’ve also had more then one run-in with the “oh, they’re in the backroom, buried. Come back later or we’ll set one aside for you and give you a call” on a street date when I’ve made a special trip to find a book.
If anything is killing the sales, though, it’s the increase in trade paperback publication, and the overall lack of “free/entertainment” funds in most families today. If you can’t afford a book, you can’t afford it. (Though if I have an author I *love* I’ll buy the book one way or another, at some point or another. But a ‘maybe I’ll like it…’? Not when the money’s tight!)
However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the titles that I’ve seen sold in eformat lately. Simon & Schuster have ebook sales through their website, and I was ecstatic to find Naomi Noviks’ books available online. Unfortunately, you sometimes have to shop around for the format you like…
And, I second the “long wait” with online ordering. Free shipping is great, but $25 is already a hike sometimes! To add “wait a week” to that, and hope that the books arrive safely, in decent condition? Amazon packs horribly tightly, and the last time I ordered from BN I had to wait almost two weeks to receive my books!
Anyway, my book-buying has become extremely convoluted. I ask relatives to keep an eye out at their local stores. I make calls before taking drives. I check online prices, and look for ebook versions of books I really want.
Oh, and I agree with Tiana’s comments about series, too. If I see a new book I want to try and find out it’s book five, I’ll try to find one and start there… This, I guess, runs into the backlist issues. I don’t know when the last time was I saw a romance novel in a bookstore over a month after it’s street date. Single title romances (except for trade paperbacks or Nora Roberts/Danielle Steele) seem to have almost the same shelf-life as category romances, anymore!
Wow, this is like a widow to a whole nother world. I’ve never been in a Wal-Mart. I’ve never bought a book in a grocery store. Where I live they only seem to stock best sellers. I looked the other day on purpose and they had two by Nora Roberts, one by Fern Michaels, one by Stephen King, one by James Patterson, and TONS of copies of THE DIVINCI CODE. That was it. Nothing new or exciting (to me).
I wondered what was wrong with me. I can’t remember the last time I went into a bookstore and came out excited.
“Borders Group recently posted a huge loss for the last quarter, which led to employee layoffs. Industry professionals are worried about the decline of the mass market format. And I’m sitting here with money in my hands and a desperate desire for books, and I can’t find them.”
This is a typical systems-thinking breakdown. Peter Senge in his book THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE, speaks to this very issue. Businesses see a decline in sales, so they cut staff and/or services. But this is exactly what they SHOULDN’T do! Often the decline is temporary…and if it isn’t, it can be attributed to the fact that they’re not providing ENOUGH product/services.
So what Borders should do, rather than CUT, is ADD…and I’ll bet dollars to donuts their sales would rise accordingly, because readers could find the books when they’re in the mood to buy them.
Which brings me to another point…without the books in the stores where readers can put their hands on them, the impulse buy is gone. And we’ve all done it…picked up a book either because the cover catches our eye or we like other works by that author…and bought it on a whim. If the book ain’t on the shelf, there ain’t no whim to have…and no sale!
Okay…off to read the comments now. Sorry, Sylvia…got on my high horse after reading your post and just had to add in my two cents. (grin)
Diana
Well, as a reader of romance (primarily historicals) I often don’t buy anything in the bookstore (or purchase something from a different genre than romance) simply because I am tired of the lack of variety in historical settings. I don’t like all the Regencies and Victorian settings out there, I’m just tired of them, I think they are overused. I will purchase online or special order if a book I want is in print but not in stock, I don’t mind at all, as long as I get the book eventually. But more often than not it’s simply that the books I want aren’t being published these days.
(I actually like trade sizes, as I find they are more durable, and I am very very picky about the condition I keep my books in. I won’t bend spines, which makes reading mass market books take far longer than they should for me)
Wow! You ladies much be better at sticking to a shopping list than I am! (Are you good in the grocery store too?) The only reason I’ve ever left a bookstore empty-handed is lack of funds, which, as a full-time writer, is often a problem.
I may not find the book I thought I went in looking for, but I’m bound to find an old favorite that’s gone missing, an intriguing new friend or two, a cookbook that’s on the sale rack, a newer release by a favorite author that I missed on an earlier run. Face it, I’m a book slut.
I also shop Amazon, because if I’m reading, say, this blog, and see an intriguing book at 7 AM or 11 PM when I’m sitting at the computer in my skivvies, the book will be mine instantly, even if it’s not in-hand right away.
And it’s funny. I know they sell books in the big chains, often cheaper than at bookstores, but I never think to look that. If I’m at BJs or Costco, I’m looking for groceries. If I’m at WalMart, which I rarely am, I’m looking for some inexpensive bit of houseware or camping equipment. Books are not on my mind. I like the overkill of a good–or even a mediocre–bookstore.
I love bookstores, because it’s a chance to see books I DON’T already know about. If I’m sure I want something, I order it on Amazon. But the pleasure of finding new unexpected titles keeps me going to bookstores on a weekly basis.
This is a habit I developed when I lived near several excellent indies. They never seemed to have a title I was looking for, but they had other suggestions — usually good ones. Since the advent of the superstores, I’ve started going there too. I’m addicted to coffee table home decor books and can always find a stack of books I want. And I seldom leave without at least a few magazines.
Serendipity is half the fun.
I’m British. Having spent the last couple of years hanging out on blogs like this, I’m used to buying most American authors, whom I discover via the web, on Amazon or not at all. Fair enough: you’d kind of hope that only the biggest sellers would cross the Atlantic, and that each country would have its own midlist. But last summer we went to the US and spent three weeks touring the South. I thought it would be a wonderful chance to browse bookshops for the authors whose blogs I’d found, and see whether I liked their books too. The coffee in the bookshops was a nice surprise: the books, mostly, weren’t. I could find very few of the authors I’ve encountered via the web, and, as somebody else said, in many cases the first or second book of multi-book serieses were missing, reducing the choice still further. I think I spent about $60 on books in total, and I’d been expecting to invest about twice that. It was disappointing.