Today’s litany of print book unsurprise:
H.B. Fenn initiates bankruptcy proceedings
U-District bookshop relinquishes corner to Chase, moves online
Final chapter for much-loved Dublin bookstore
And the usual turtleness:
Four Reasons Why the Sales Growth of e-Books Will Be Slower Than Industry Executives Think
He argues eBook sales will be 25% by 2014, not 50% as Forrester (which doesn’t have the greatest predictive record anyway) says.
What they are all missing:
1) As local stores disappear, people will order even more from Amazon
2) As they order from Amazon, they will continue to be hit with the Kindle sales pitch
3) At some point they will realize they can pay less for an eBook than for print and they don’t have to wait for delivery
4) They will invest in a Kindle or use Kindle software and switch to eBooks
What part of this is difficult to understand? Hyatt argues about digital downloads vs. physical CD sales, but music is a different case. Just ask anyone who has lost their iTunes-purchased library about the ease with which they can get it restored by Apple. Bad experiences like that have spread across the Net, making people cautious towards digital music. For the most part, eBooks are now stored online and can be re-downloaded at will. Everything is on the side of eBook adoption accelerating.
This same kind of turtle speed gave Blockbuster a false sense of security.
And did the same for Borders.
Move faster. Everyone else is.
