Twenty-five
years ago the book market looked a lot different than it does today – or even
five years ago. Not counting the independent bookstores or big box places that
may carry books like Target or Costco’s, there were 3,293 chain bookstore
outlets in 1991. There are less than
half of that today.
The
big difference then and now is Amazon. Another big difference is the advent of
e-books. The Great Recession also
greatly altered the book retail landscape.
In
1991, Barnes & Noble had 1,343 stores.
They now have around 640 stores.
Back then, Waldenbooks had 1,268 stores.
None exist today.
Where
will the book market be in 2041 – 25 years from now?
Will
we be more of a book mobile pushcart society or will we go back to the big mall
bookstore environment? Perhaps we will
just be a print-on-demand world.
The
future of the book marketplace will depend on technology, convenience, cost,
competition and the preferences of the masses.
Who knows how much people will pay for content or how much time they’ll
have available to read books in a society that’s constantly distracted by many
competing mediums.
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Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016
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