St. Charles, Illinois
David Hunt, owner*
Link to January 14 Daily Herald article, "Local booksellers not all ready to yield to e-books".
Excerpt: According to Amazon.com, electronic versions of its 10 best-selling books for its Kindle e-reader were outselling hardcover and paperback books by more than 2 to 1. Moreover, Kindle books were more popular than printed versions for the top 25, 100 and 1,000 best sellers.
It’s not just Amazon’s Kindle that is changing things. Barnes and Noble has the Nook, Sony has the Reader and there are many more. And there are downloads and apps for laptops, smartphones and tablets.
Independent booksellers in the suburbs are dealing with the sea change in the publishing industry in different ways.
One Elgin bookstore owner says the e-reading revolution, coupled with the economic downturn, will likely force her out of business before long.
Meanwhile, a St. Charles bookseller says business continues to hum along, and a longtime Naperville bookshop owner says her place is competing with the “big guys” by selling e-books through its website, thanks to a partnership with Google.
*He [David Hunt] recognizes e-readers are a reality, but hopes they can coexist with and supplement bound books, much like audio books have done.
“It’s proven there is room for both. I’m hoping there’s room for both,” said Hunt, who prefers turning pages. “I hope the old-fashioned book stays in existence for a while, anyway.”
“I don’t know how to compete with it, frankly,”
says the owner of Books at Sunset.
says the owner of Books at Sunset.
Well....for starters....it's not March 2010.
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