Indie Book Club discussion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/98efe91c-76...

Discussion on Mythic scribes regarding this. I checked google and found these articles. Thought I would share.

A friend once described Barnes and Noble to me as a storm-battered ship, punctured, beaten, and adrift, with a few good rolls of duct tape holding it afloat. I think it's an apt description.

Barnes and Noble has been in trouble for some time now. Years, in point of fact. It's an extension of the greater problem faced by most book-related companies out there these days, of course, but as they're the biggest, they've simply been able to keep afloat longer. Nook was the gamble they took to try and change that, and to keep up competition with Amazon. Thus far, it really hasn't been enough.

Why, just earlier in the month they were talking about the fact that they're looking to close about 20 stores a year...for the next 10 years: http://www.ibtimes.com/barnes-noble-c...

I may have never been the biggest B&N fan, but book stores in general are in dire straits, and it's a depressing thing to see, especially as those numbers roll in daily.

The nook is a great device, so it pains me that B&N is in trouble. The next step they really have to take is modernizing their website.

A Barnes and Noble in Irving, Texas, closed on New Year's Eve. I used to pass it all the time on my way to work and planned to visit it, but now it's gone.

:( Sad day when a book shop dies.

B&N basically needed to hit a home run with the Nook and ended up with only a double. The problem is that I think they've let their brick & mortar stores suffer for how hard they pushed the Nook. Surprisingly, their brick & mortar stores are profitable just not profitable enough for a high profile company that's publicly traded. Thus they're losing on both fronts. It would have been interesting if they had put the revenue they placed in the Nook in adapting their brick & mortar stores with POD technology and other innovations like some smaller bookstores have done.

Still hopefully they'll find some middle ground and stay in business unlike so many other book sellers over the years. :(

I heard they are going to be moving to a more Amazon like business structure, mostly online, but still have a few bookstores open in major towns. Honestly, as sad as it might be for nostalgia, book stores are going the way of vinyl, and I'm honestly okay with it. As much as I loved going into a bookstore and physically perusing a new selection (one of the fondest memories of childhood) I can get the same experience at a library, and the drain on resources of producing, shipping, and storing that many physical books just to have people scan in and download a cheaper digital copy is too much.

As a low vision person, Nook is the ONLY accessible device for me. I am still waiting to be able to afford one. I personally cannot see black and white; the sephia that GoodReads uses is nearly invisble to me. Which is why I make a lot more typos here than elsewhere; the site over rides my windows accessibility settings.

I would be interested in Kindle if they would just let you choose your own text and background colors for books. That would do a lot of help for people who have retinitis pigmentosa or traumatic brain injuries like mine affecting vision where we are essentially left with just color vision.

I need Nook as a device!

I am not sure about the Kindle Fires and such like - they are more like a tablet. That said they are pretty expensive.

I did notice that on Smashwords as a feature, which is great.

As rough as it is to say this, especially as I grew up in the physical bookstore browse and discover generation, it's probably not a bad thing if bookstores fall to the wayside. to be honest digital bookstores with unlimited digital bookshelf space levels the playing just a bit more for independent and self publishers.

i still think the industry could use way more innovation to keep up with times, and the browse and discover experience is something that i find quite fun and interesting in a place like Goodreads, where it's possible to accidently bump into new books, and it's as if there are thousands of other shoppers in the bookstore at the same time i am.

Kindle Fire might try to act like a tablet, but every one I've ever messed with was slow and sluggish, like an overloaded pc.

I know they're more expensive, but nothing beats an iPad. Just my own opinion. :)

J.

I just saw an interview about B&N yesterday and its Nook woes. Basically, one of the Wall Street types was saying that their brick-and-mortar stores are still profitable and will survive, but he doesn't think the Nook business can be saved. I guess that means indie authors might be looking at losing B&N as a publishing platform, although not necessarily.

I love B&N and I love my Nook. I have re-purchased the majority of my printed books just to have a copy on my Nook. Before I had one of those, I used a large tablet with a screen very similar to a kindle. The glare was terrible (migraine-inducing), and I had to spend a lot of time playing with options to background color etc. to get a book where I could read it. If B&N is in trouble, I hope someone else will step in to save it. I know Microsoft is supposed to take over for the Nook, so hopefully it will still have support for many years to come. The Nook device is the best of the ereaders, in my opinion. If I had to replace it, there are currently no other devices I would consider owning. I would have to settle for reading on my lenovo twist (laptop that converts to tablet) and using Adobe Digital Editions.

In my area, there are currently no other large bookstores. We have two or three indie bookshops, but they offer a limited variety of books. For people in my area who still prefer a physical bookstore, the loss of B&N would be painful. I'm guessing most of them would have to turn to online retailers such as amazon if B&N were to fail.

As a UK reader/author my experience of Barnes and Noble is limited but it is always a shame when a book shop is in trouble. Variety is good. Personally I tend to buy from Amazon but that is my own choice as it is the easiest option for me. I do like to look around a real bookshop though:)

Steve wrote: "The nook is a great device, so it pains me that B&N is in trouble. The next step they really have to take is modernizing their website."

It's amazing really. Such a large company, and yet everything about their website screams shoddy.

Jeffrey wrote: "Kindle Fire might try to act like a tablet, but every one I've ever messed with was slow and sluggish, like an overloaded pc.

I know they're more expensive, but nothing beats an iPad. Just my o..."

Just bought a Kindle Fire to replace my Nook and thankfully haven't found it slow at all. Moves at the same pace as my wife's iPad, in fact.

For whatever reason, I was always underwhelmed by B & N. Not to mention disappointed by their prices and selection of ebooks. Which brings me to why I got the KF...

I do enjoy wandering through an actual book store with a cup of coffee, and I think it'd be a shame if they shut down, but B&N simply can't match Amazon's variety and discounts.

Not surevB&N is in trouble only due to the Nook. They have tried to be all things to all people. Soon in addition to books music toys cards food you will get to buy groceries! Just kidding about the groceries I hope but you get my point. Many book lovers like me avoid B&N in favor of small independent bookstores that only sell books

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