Bad time for books, good time for bargain hunters

December 29, 10:39 AMSeattle Books ExaminerDanielle Dreger-Babbitt

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We've been hearing for months now about how much the economy sucks and how business across the board are suffering.  This holiday shopping season was one of the worst in several decades.  Bookstores are hurting just as bad as other retailers.  Many consumers, like myself, have turned to buying books online rather than in the store (though I will argue that half of my book and non book gifts purchased were done so in person at my neighborhood bookstores).  

The only retailer not currently suffering is Amazon.  The online retailer had their "best ever" holiday sales in 2008.   Over 6.3 million items were purchased this month and 5.6 million items were shipped on December 15th, making that Amazon's busiest shipping day all year. 

Publishers are feeling the heat as well.  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt won't be acquiring any new manuscripts anytime soon and other publishers have had massive layoffs.  Random House has cut their five divisions down to three.

It's understandable that consumers are out to find the best deal possible even if it's at the expenseof the publisher or author who don't receive any royalties if a book is purchased secondhand.  After all the recession is affecting readers just as much as non readers.  With all of this economic uncertainty consumers are smart to shop around, even if it means buying a book for a penny (plus shipping and handling) secondhand on Amazon or for seventy-five cents on Half.com.  I am a fan of these sites.  Often times if I cannot find a particular book at my local bookstore, I turn to these bargain sites.  Many independent bookstores, like the Strand and Powells for instance, have online stores on Amazon and Half.com to push their merchandise in a second medium. 

So perhaps the bookstores that will truly suffer will be the big box giants like Borders and Barnes and Noble.  The Mom and Pop used bookstores can continue to sell their discounted books to savings savvy consumers both online and in person  and not face the same financial crisis as their larger competitors.  The truth is, if a big box bookstore went out of business I might not shed a tear, but if my local favorite Horizon Books closed it's doors my heart might break.

It might be difficult but authors and publishers and booksellers need to be patient.  Eventually the economy will turn around and consumers might just be so happy that they will be willing to buy books at full price.  In the meantime we should all continue to support booksellers and buy books as much as we can.  There's no shame in shopping the bargain bin or buying a title secondhand.