Elaborations on a Town Hall Agenda Item
Over the past several years booksellers have noticed and appreciated the heightened concern shown by customers about the harmful effects of Amazon on small, independent retail. While this concern has obviously not dented Amazon’s sales or its hastening growth, prior to COVID closures many bookstores began to see a more entrenched commitment from their base customers. The fact that this commitment came largely from a shrinking base was not lost on us. As in so much of contemporary life, we have to weigh daily the sustainability of the sources of our income alongside the efficiency of our expenses.
Understandably, to an extent, the public-relations marketing about the health and well-being of bookstores has primarily focused on customers and sales. It is arguably the most obvious part of the equation to measure, whichever side of the register we are. Whereas the question of expenses seems a little mundane and easier to fix. It is with this perceived ease, perhaps, that the simplicity of our narrative has failed us.
Where I think we’re lacking is the volume and clarity of of our messaging about the the cratering sustainability of our largest operating expense: the financial and existential terms of our relationship with our own major suppliers. To focus solely on winning customers back from Amazon is to pretend this vital relationship is a healthy one.
The consolidation of distribution/wholesale chains and available lines of credit from suppliers both raise and increase the number of hurdles to net-income levels that have a direct impact on meeting the justifiable demands for equitable and living wages on a broad industry scale. Where this challenge is reasonably pursued, there is then also the attendant constraining of adventurous taste and curiosity that create a vibrant bookstore and greater bookselling community. To my eyes, this occurs by way of a heavy-handed appeal, deep-pocketed incentivizing of commercial interest — which is to say, the same old books displayed nearly everywhere.
The means and spirit of independence, thus, are further drained from the booksellers and bookstores are meant (or at least said) to celebrate. This is not to say that many (or even most) bookstores would, in the absence of the challenges, not tend toward featuring very similar books anyway. My point is that the mythical “invisible hand” that was said to guide the market, sometimes with a cudgel’s nudge, is now not so invisible.
What can be done, if anything? On the one hand, the brazenness of this visibility breeds a sort of cynical resignation, which we sublimate via social access to brands and brand names. That can get you by for a bit, I suppose. On the other hand, at least for one like me, at least in fits and starts, there is the sickness (maybe that’s what it is, ultimately) to try avoid the effects you see happening.
While there are a good many things an individual store can do, and possibly can thrive while doing so, this does not meet the systemic challenges (assuming that is actually possible!). It seems to me that this is only conceivable at all via collective action(s).
Some of these may include:
** Public relations campaigns / op-eds not simply directed at Amazon, but at those who set and maintain the terms of selling our present inventories. (Mild and mostly inoffensive to all involved. But the most invested of our customers may find it interesting enough to help us think outside the box in terms of responding.)
** Resources and advocacy for sustainable direct-fulfillment from publishers that are distributed clients of larger networks (whose terms are often as onerous on them as they are us!). (Problems of scale, not to mention hidden and obvious costs; possibly “only” symbolic . . . but so is our drumbeating of “independence.”)
** A broader discussion about wholesale -- because the present situation with Ingram is toxic to our industry. (a) The possibility of large bookstores (or even Barnes & Noble!!) serving as local hub wholesalers; (b) educational tools about starting smaller, curated wholesale hubs. (Seemingly impossible to do anything but imagine. But, maybe just seemingly.)
Thanks for indulging me with your time if you’ve made it this far.