/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20088219]

How do we save bookstores? I've always found them so comfy and generally love the environment, but can't financially justify buying from them when Amazon sells the same book for two thirds to half the price

[Anonymous No.20088224]

get an e-reader and get everything for free

[Anonymous No.20088254]

>>20088219
they should sell hot drinks and cakes etc. giftwrapping and whatever else they can think of; if they wanna survive they have to compete on their own terms, not amazon's

[Anonymous No.20088256]

>>20088219
Get a better job. Also, just get rid of amazon completely, you will save money in the long run despite spending more on books.

[Anonymous No.20088267]

I go to used book stores
Owner of one i've been going to for 8 years gave me a discount recently and i'm chuffed

[Anonymous No.20088270]

Fuck independent book stores

[Anonymous No.20088284]

should also sell higher end, tasteful selections of csrds, chocolate etc, i.e 'tasteful gifts' that are hard to find elsewhere. book prices should unironically be increased even more in order to make it seem like a pricey shop, wherein the books are just ornamentation, occasionally bought by rich people. the coffee and cakes should also be as high quality as possible and relatively expensive. obviously many bookshops are too small to allow much of what ive recommended

[Anonymous No.20088312]

>>20088284
Cafèlit

[Anonymous No.20088324]

>>20088219
>How do we save bookstores?
the only book stores i care about are the chains that hold events with local authors and have a ton of employees. there's a bookstore in Edinburgh (Toppings & Co) where if you visit it during the day and sit down to read a lady will come up to you and offer you tea/coffee/biscuits. that's the good shit. spent like 6 hours one day reading The Pale King chugging free coffee at a second floor window table looking out into the wide streets and fenestrated heights of nearby buildings. now that's a fucking book store

[Anonymous No.20088340]

>>20088324
Sounds more like a café than a bookstore lol

[Anonymous No.20088342]

>>20088284
so... this but for the rich end of town ?

[Anonymous No.20088344]

>>20088340
Well I've never gotten free coffee at any of the cafes I've went to. It's filled with books that you buy. It stores books. It's a store for books, which you go there to buy. But it also has tables. They don't care if you read at them because it's a huge quiet place and it's better for business if there's people around, consumers inspire other consumers into the consuming spirit.

[Anonymous No.20088346]

>>20088342
that's the ugliest book store ive ever seen, please tell me that shit went out of business. i would rather there no bookstores in my city than that

[Anonymous No.20088355]

>>20088219
Cater to housewives.
They’re the only ones bored enough to read books

[Anonymous No.20088372]

>>20088219
Bookstores need to be cultural hubs and curators of taste. They should have a guarantee of quality, that picking up something of that store will at least be challenging and interesting. You should be able to go there and find an eclectic mix of unearthed local work and avant-garde texts that all accords to a cultural scene the store is trying to tap into. No 'classics' section, no NYT bestsellers, no genre fiction.

You can buy online for the cheapest price, what you should be paying for is the cratedigging experience. That's the only bookstore I'd shop at, anyway

[Anonymous No.20088374]

>>20088219
It's simple: someone has to write something actually worth reading, instead of the absolute trivial garbage that passes for literature today.
Books, today, have become nothing more than the hobbyist pursuit of a niche of pseudo intellectuals. No one else reads them. I used to think this was because people have become a retarded mess. That does factor in, but the real reason is that nobody has written anything with universal appeal, anything that offers an insight valuable to everyone, in decades.

[Anonymous No.20088381]

>>20088374
>nobody has written anything with universal appeal, anything that offers an insight valuable to everyone, in decades
god this board sucks now

[Anonymous No.20088403]

>>20088374
>nobody has written anything with universal appeal, anything that offers an insight valuable to everyone, in decades.

But if they ever do, Amazon will sell it for cheaper than bookstores.

[Anonymous No.20088413]

>>20088403
>weeee I saved 5 bucks!!!
Whats the problem if you want to support a local store instead of that disgusting company?

[Anonymous No.20088478]

>>20088413
Because I save more like $30 from normal price and I can't buy any book I want from local bookstores lmao

[Anonymous No.20088481]

>BLM poster
good riddance. E-reader till the day they die

[Anonymous No.20088490]

>>20088374
Meh, it goes in both directions. Audiences have failed artists as much as artists have failed audiences.

The situation won't change until artists disregard audiences, and learn to create for God alone.

[Anonymous No.20088499]

>>20088478
I buy everything I can from bookstores and I haven't spent $30 on a single book in years. Not even meme bookstores like The Strand in New York are $30 more expensive than online unless you're buying antiques or some shit.

[Anonymous No.20088505]

>>20088490
That I actually very much agree with, where we may differ is on what creating for God alone, means. But then again, perhaps not.

[Anonymous No.20088515]

>>20088505
I don't know what God means, either. We probably have more or less the same idea.

[Anonymous No.20088517]

>>20088499
It's cause I buy Academic shit. I got this for $20 which was cool.

[Anonymous No.20088526]

>>20088490
How have audiences failed? Recognition doesn't impact the work.

[Anonymous No.20088531]

>>20088515
People must create only for their intention alone. Art is always about intention, whether conscious or unconscious. the goal is to reach audiences in a way that gets the intention realized, by spreading it. Typically this is best achieved when art taps into the unconscious. The trouble for the artist, is that the best way to manifest this, is by consciously tapping into their own unconscious, a paradox.
Creating for God alone, should mean creating for everyone at once, a paradox. God, the religious and spiritual symbols, are the best symbols because they defy cultural particulars and tap into a universality in terms of psychological association and spiritual sentiment.

Bearing that all in mind, creating for God doesn't necessarily need to use God to be powerful and reach far, messages can be impactful in other ways. But to contain an element of universal truth, they may.

[Anonymous No.20088532]

>>20088256
What does that even mean?

[Anonymous No.20088542]

>>20088219
reject the bookstore, embrace the library

[Anonymous No.20088615]

>>20088526
The worldview of modern western society is based on technicism and is anti-artistic. People don't read to be challenged, but to have their worldview--which extends from the needs of the technical system--buttressed. A work is judged not by the truth it reveals, but by the breadth of its propaganda.

The purpose of art is insight. The artist takes the unseen and makes it obvious. In Clownworld the obvious is unspeakable. Creative minds turn to more technical pursuits. A man who in the past may have participated in literary culture now works as a software engineer or a scientist. The technical world absorbs his creative energy, rather than letting it contribute to the collective pool of creativity that in the past supported and inspired younger artists.

>>20088531
This is what I had in mind as well.

[Anonymous No.20088621]

Full antique route - expensive, rare, collector's editions, etc. supplemented by relatively cheap normal used books. This tends to work well in large cities and with niche interests.
Cafe - shop offers drinks and relaxation. Can combine with poetry nights, live music, author appearances and other community oriented things. Probably sell NYT, self-help, pop, YA fiction etc. Books are expensive but almost a side note.
Dirt cheap used - buy in bulk, sell for virtually nothing. My medium-sized hometown does this and it works enough to have survived the chains.
Niche - cater exclusively to those interested in a certain genre and carry everything related to it. High risk but once established will have a die-hard customer base that will support it forever. The problem is finding and balancing the niche.
Hobbyist - half nerd books, half nerd shit. TTRPG, board games, card games, dice and accessories. Tables for playing. High risk of turning into a stinky dork hive.
Most of the above offer more than just books. That is the model for the future. People don't read as much anymore and that isn't going to change, in fact less will read in the future.
A bookstore has to offer things that Amazon can't. Make the higher price of the books worthwhile. Used/New together can do this as well, giving customers options to select from.

[Anonymous No.20088636]

>>20088372
>Bookstores need to be cultural hubs and curators of taste
Rare & specialized book lending

[Anonymous No.20088641]

>>20088344
No no, I believe you

[Anonymous No.20088673]

>tfw local bookstores cheaper than Amazon
>Faster too
>no taxes on printed materials
Stop living in a place where Amazon has a competitive edge and your life will be a thousand times better. Amazon isn't even that cheap.

[Anonymous No.20088783]

>>20088673
this. all my local stores just sell for the price that's on the back. Not extreme at all and realistically you only save on amazon if you have prime, which is expensive and cringe

[Anonymous No.20088873]

>>20088219
The challenge for bookstores (especially small, independent, second-hand types) is that they are small businesses fighting for a slice of a market that is dominated by big players who have much better operational efficiency, variety and scale than a small bookstore... The market is also fragmenting into different modes of book consumption (e-books, physical books, audiobooks) and generally competing with online publications for readers. A small bookstore only dealing in physical books is limited in what it can do to follow these trends - even traditional publishers struggle to keep up with it. Then there is the simple fact that most young people today are drawn to rich, visual, interactive media... so bookstores need to understand and appeal to the demographics that actually buy or read books, accepting that reading is not what it was, and tomorrow might be even worse. To survive, bookstores need to carve out a niche or diversify so that they can maintain a viable business. That means things like this anon >>20088621 described. Here are a few additional thoughts I would add:

Artisan - A bookstore could also branch out and become a bindery manufacturing and publishing their own artisan books (probably only for public domain texts), and offering book repair, special commissions, self-publishing services, limited runs, arts and crafts classes, and such things.

I would also add comics, manga, and graphic novels under "Hobbyist" because of the popularity.

And for "Niche" I would say that it's not just genre but also quite common to brand a bookstore using a population group like LGBT, or Asian. Alternatively catering to a group (like university students, school children, homeschool families, certain professions) who frequently buy books can be very lucrative.

[Anonymous No.20088877]

>>20088219

>how do we save a failed business model because its something i like

are you Paris Hilton

[Anonymous No.20088897]

>>20088219
There's a new bookstore in my area, well seemingly new, and it's not bad. All the prices, even for the more rare books are as listed -- and if used half price. Found the first 7 Drizzt books for less than $20.
I really hope this one's sticks around. There aren't many mom and pop bookstores in my area anymore at all.

[Anonymous No.20088917]

There's only one solution. All physical bookstores must also start collecting and selling second-hand books. Otherwise it's simply not possible for them to compete with online sellers' prices in the long run.

[Anonymous No.20088929]

>>20088372
why do you write like Bateman

[Anonymous No.20088986]

>>20088615
>The worldview of modern western society is based on technicism and is anti-artistic. People don't read to be challenged, but to have their worldview--which extends from the needs of the technical system--buttressed.

A cynical person could say that this has always been the case (propaganda is nothing new and unsurprisingly most people throughout history with a particular view have read works that confirmed their ideology rather than ever reading to be challenged.) An even more cynical person could say that the notion of "reading to be challenged" is just an empty phrase people say when they think people aren't reading the books that they (the complainers) think people should be reading, and aren't dismissing the works they think people should dismiss outright as the work of the devil/reactionaries/the far right. Experience seems to confirm this, since most people who use such bellicose rhetoric rarely, if ever venture outside their own personal bubble, which they believe to be different than other ideological bubbles through various twists and turns of their mind, something that they apparently detest in people whose very similar mental constructs buttress a different ideological bubble.

[Anonymous No.20089011]

>>20088615
>>20088986
>The worldview of modern western society is based on technicism and is anti-artistic.
So it's all autism?

[Anonymous No.20089043]

>>20088219
You have to appeal to the current market: instagram influencers. The place has to vibe, and everything about it has to make people feel smart for being there, then you sell them something. Frankly I don't think cool bookstores can exist without being very niche, or by combining with a cafe

[Anonymous No.20089071]

>>20088219
>How do we save bookstores?
We can't. Welcome to Weimar World.

[Anonymous No.20089114]

>amazon-tier discount
>to purchase you need a $5/month, 6 month subscription
>also you get some perks that are cheap to make but make you feel special or something

[Anonymous No.20089138]

There isn't even Amazon in my country but bookstores are still dying as other forms of entertainment are replacing reading. Audiobooks are especially to blame no book store can compete for a service that gives you unlimited amounts of "books" for 10 eur per month. I personally buy my books from second hand bookstores as most bookstores are focused on new titles as opposed to 20 and 19th century books.

[Anonymous No.20089171]

>>20088219
Used book stores are good. You can get books for pennies on the dollar. If there's a specific book that I want I'll usually check my local book stores but if they don't have it I just go to Amazon.

[Anonymous No.20089489]

>>20088254
Ya

[Anonymous No.20089602]

>>20088381
Not that anon but nobody has written a decent book since the signing of the treaty of Versailles

[Anonymous No.20089605]

>>20088256
>get a better job
anon.
>save money in the long run
>despite spending more on books
anon....

[Anonymous No.20089616]

>>20088478
Not even this, I buy books at thrift stores for a dollar a piece that would normally cost $20 to $40 at B&N

[Anonymous No.20089624]

A complementary, under the table, hand job every time you buy 20 books

[Anonymous No.20089729]

>>20088372
The one independent bookstore left in my city is a tiny one room bookstore that's pretty much what you've described here. It's really the best kind of bookstore, although I wish it was a little bigger to provide a wider selection of books.

[Anonymous No.20089999]

As long as it has soul it will survive. There's a strong reaction against commoditization and many seek genuine quality unique experiences in a world of mass consoomerism. It would be nice to run a small bookstore with rare/banned books. Make it a gathering spot of sorts.