>>Hey, Victor. Happy holidays and all that.
>>
>>Generally we agree but not this time. The reason I don't think it's complaining is that Amazon piggybacks on the work of genuine bookstore owners who have heart in the game. Amazon is revealing itself to be soulless about books.
>
>Oh - so Amazon is intelligent enough not to be a 20th century bookstore and be with-the-times, so now their soulless because they made a better mousetrap? Perhaps the brick & mortar bookstores should be asking themselves if they're buggy-whip makers. Sure we need a feeeew buggy whips - but uhh...no one rides a horse anymore. These stores are going to vanish just like your corner record store did. Suuure the guys that worked at the record store loved music - but who cares? I want my 99 cent song, not a $15 CD I have to drive around and find - and then only like one song on. Anyway my point is I don't consider this piggybacking so much as keeping up with changing times and knowing your place in the market.
>
>>Do they sponsor book readings like the one recounted by Richard Russo?
>
>No they don't sponsor such things (that I'm aware of) - but perhaps if you float the idea to them they can start web-casting book readings to finish off the last of the obsolete bookstores.
>
>
>>(Oddly enough, Barbara's Bookstores is an old client of mine, although unfortunately not old enough for me to have attended Russo's reading as an unknown author the time no one showed up and the employees took the 7 chairs. I met Martin Amis and Walter Mosley there on their tours, when Barbara's was busy convincing their customers that Amis and Mosley were writing stuff that was worth checking out. They had pretty good taste, I would say).
>>
>>Amazon is very good at marketing and very good at making money. I am not saying they should be turning their back on the profit motive. It's a business. This just strikes me as continuing to whale on your unconscious opponent.
>
>Then perhaps they should toss in the towel if they can't deal with the fight.
>
>>Add Barbara's: my main contact there was an immensely likeable young lady named Isabella. She was the second in command after Barbara herself, who had more or less retired out west. Isabella was very bright and committed. At the time Amazon was not the wake-up-sweating threat, it was Barnes and Noble. She was genuinely hurt when Walter Mosley's latest book tour, an author Barbara's had promoted tirelessly and helped make a bestseller in Chicago, went to B&N on his latest tour. "I know we can't get him every time but it hurts for him to go to one of the chains," she said. In the box bookstore takeover, which proved to be only a hint of what was to come, she said another time, "I feel like they've got me cornered. There's a B&N practically down the block with prices lower than I can match, and now there's a Borders going up on Lincoln Avenue." Her heart and passion were in what she was doing and she knew the barbarians were at the gate.
>>
>>FWIW Isabella's strategy was to come at the giants from off center. "We can't match them on price and loss leaders," she said. "We'll be killed." She said what they did was jump through hoops with personal customer service and promote a particular category each month. Their price on the latest Grisham would not be competitive but they might be in the mix if they pushed history, home improvement, gay/lesbian, or whatever for that month. And they survived, at least for a while. I could easily look up how they have been doing but to be honest I may not want to know.
>>
>>Call me naive, which is absolutely true in dollar terms. Naive enough to always side with the ones with heart and commitment. What irritates me is Amazon is freeloading in a strikingly soulless way.
>
>While I don't agree, I can see your point. If you think about it, the retailers have brought all this on themselves. All you hear is "best price, sale sale, cheap, buy here". Ok so for 40+ years I been hearing "buy smart buy cheap" and now they wanna bitch cause I find the best price? doh! Far as I'm concerned they shot themselves in the foot long ago.
>
>
>>>I heard about this last week and I've been waiting for the complainers to come out. I assumed all the the physical bookstores (what few that are left) would be jumping up and down about it because ...duhh...someone else has a superior business model and it's just one more nail in the coffin for them. I don't consider this 'rub it in' - just good business sense...I mean if you are in the business of selling things, then I don't think it would be too smart to NOT sell something at a better price than your competitor just because you might piss off your competitor. If these outdated brick & mortar bookstores want to survive then they need to offer something that Amazon can't - like a place to hang out and drink coffee for example....of course the coffee will probably cost more than starbucks to offset the cost of holding inventory of books you can't sell and that will fail as well - but you get the general idea. Anyway I don't think it's unseemly to pile it on - it would be unseemly not too.
>>>
>>>>I stumbled across this at lunch today, listed as the most emailed current article from the NY Times web site.
>>>>
>>>>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/opinion/amazons-jungle-logic.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
>>>>
>>>>The gist of it is that Amazon was offering $5 discounts to those who check prices on items in physical bookstores and transmit them to Amazon. The clear subtext seems to be that you can get a better price from Amazon. Which is surely true, but do they have to rub it in after decimating so much of the independent bookstore business already? Please understand that I was a very early adopter of Amazon and have spent untold thousands of dollars there -- tens of thousands, probably -- over the years. In fact I had ordered a book earlier this morning. This just seems unseemly to pile it on.
>>>>
>>>>The writer of the op-ed piece, BTW, is Richard Russo, one of our best contemporary novelists. He has been right there with my favorites for a long time. Fortunately he doesn't try to crush other novelists a la Amazon.

Yeah, I get your point. In fact I behave much that way myself. As I said, I buy almost all my books, DVDs, and CDs from Amazon because they do indeed have the lowest prices, or certainly a lot lower than those at your friendly little indie store. I still think we're losing something here.

I thought you might at least concede the piggybacking point. Do you doubt that a good number of book buyers go to their local brick and mortar, attend an author event or get a tip on a book recommended with enthusiasm, and then hop on the PC and buy it from Amazon? Maybe you're right -- they are just enabling doofuses and should throw in the towel.

I DON'T LIKE IT, OK? ;-)

BTW, is "20th century" a pejorative now? The current century is going soooo well.....