Re: SPOILERS: "Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Epic" ("The Nation" article)

In article <46bd4c66.387814859@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Derek Lyons <fairwater@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
dbd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (David DeLaney) wrote:

Derek Lyons <fairwater@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The reason for that is that fewer and fewer of their readers read books.

That's the reason often trotted out, it does not however seem to
coincide with available evidence. Barnes & Noble is growing, the
sales numbers for books on the best seller lists aren't shrinking
appreciably, etc... etc...

Yet there are now no B. Daltons, and only one Waldenbooks, remaining in and
around Knoxville/Knox County.

In the case of Waldens - that's because they are owned by Borders and
have been in the process of being phased out in favor of actual
Borders for some years now.

In the case of B. Dalton - the owner and downsizer is Barnes & Noble.

There's a Barnes&Barnes&Noble, and a Borders, but those aren't the same...

Um, yeah they are. They own the other (smaller) chains, and have
controlled their distribution for years. Any difference is a product
of your own imagination.

Despite the rhetoric oft bandied about, the only big chain to actually
go under in recent times is Crown - and that from a combination of a
family feud (among the owners) and massively pigheaded management.

Chapters came pretty close but that too was due to massively
pigheaded management, including IIRC "We're too big to have to pay
what the publishers charge: we will pay 'em what we feel like paying
and they will just have to suck it up." Do this on small Canadian
publishers and get Parliament to hold hearings on your business
practices. Do it to a company like Harper Collins, which doesn't
particularly need the Canadian market, and find yourself cut off.

The best part about the Harper Collins thing was that it
came right after Chapters angrily denied reports that they were
in trouble.

They ended up being bought out by Indigo Books, who
discovered to their horror after the purchase that Chapters
circa 2000 was worth a lot less than it appeared. They appear
to have rebuilt the business since then.


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