Teaching Booksellers to Sell Digital Content

Posted on March 19, 2007

The Washington Post reports on one independent bookseller's efforts to make sure the store stays relevant in the digital age of books. A nonprofit organization, Caravan Project, is helping booksellers learn how to provide digital content to the consumer. As more and more books are published in traditional and in ebook formats, booksellers are in danger of becoming extinct if they don't learn how to provide digital content to consumers. Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C., is test-driving Cravan.

To start the experiment, Osnos recruited seven nonprofit publishers, among them academic presses such as Yale and the University of California and independents such as the Washington-based Island Press. Each was to designate titles on its spring 2007 list that would be published in a number of formats simultaneously:
Regular print editions (either paperback or hardcover, depending on publisher preference).
Digital books, in several formats.
Audio books as either physical CDs or in digital form.
Large-print paperbacks that would be printed on demand.
Print editions would be shipped to bookstores as usual. The other formats would be available for purchase through a small selection of bookstores nationwide -- eight independents plus a number of Borders outlets, including stores in Rockville and downtown Washington -- that had volunteered to be part of the Caravan experiment. Ingram signed on to fulfill these orders.

The assumption here is that consumers want to buy a hard copy of a book, and also have other versions available, whether its an ebook or an audiobook. And we're not so sure about that. We think that people will either remain either book readers or ebook readers and there won't be much crossover. That means, the ebook-only buyers will either browse the books and mortars bookstore to see what's new and have a cappucino, or just order what they want on Amazon.com. Either way, we don't think bricks and mortar bookstores are going away.