from the current NYT online
Bookstores, both new and secondhand, are faltering as well. Olsson’s, the
leading independent chain in Washington, went bankrupt and shut down in
September. Robin’s, which says it is the oldest bookstore in Philadelphia, will
close next month. The once-mighty Borders chain is on the rocks. Powell’s, the
huge store in Portland, Ore., said sales were so weak it was encouraging its
staff to take unpaid sabbaticals.
Don’t blame this carnage on the recession or any of the usual suspects,
including increased competition for the reader’s time or diminished attention
spans. What’s undermining the book industry is not the absence of casual readers
but the changing habits of devoted readers.
In other words, it’s all the fault of people like myself, who increasingly use
the Internet both to buy books and later, after their value to us is gone, sell
them. This is not about Amazon peddling new books at discounted prices, which
has been a factor in the book business for a decade, but about the rise of a
worldwide network of amateurs who sell books from their homes or, if they’re
lazy like me, in partnership with an Internet dealer who does all the work for a
chunk of the proceeds.
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