# French culture minister: "Amazon is destroyer of bookshops"



## JRHenderson (Dec 4, 2011)

_"The book and reading sector is facing competition from certain sites using every possible means to enter the French and European book market&#8230;it is destroying bookshops," she said._

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/10098626/Amazon-is-destroyer-of-bookshops-says-French-culture-minister.html


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## Quiss (Aug 21, 2012)

> "This is an unprecedented effort in favour of the book and reading because without independent bookshops there will be fewer publishers and authors, less choice for the reader"


um, what?
I can see that independent bookstores are in trouble but none of this impacts the reader. Or authors for that matter.


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## Lynn McNamee (Jan 8, 2009)

If bookstore owners would get with the program and embrace the future instead of insisting on never changing, bookstores wouldn't be in danger.

There are plenty of ways a physical store can compete with an online one. 

Amazon has embraced and welcomed self-published authors and small publishers.

Bookstores still balk at carrying print-on-demand books and any book not with the Big Four-and-a-Half, or whatever it is these days.


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## dalya (Jul 26, 2011)




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## swolf (Jun 21, 2010)

> "Amazon is destroyer of bookshops"


I thought that was Godzilla.


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## Darren Wearmouth (Jan 28, 2013)

Did Monsieur Filippetti cry when record shops started to close?


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Instead of whining, why doesn't the French equivalent of the American Booksellers Association pair up with Kobo? Kobo started a program with independent bookstores in the U.S. in 2012.

Part of Kobo's press release says this: "Booksellers will be able to offer a total experience for their customers including a full line of eReaders, eReading accessories, and ebooks from Kobo's catalog of nearly 3 million titles. ABA members will share in the revenue on every sale. The program includes valuable training, in-store merchandising, marketing, sales, and logistics solutions to help independents be successful. ABA members will also be able to offer ebooks directly to their customers online."

I wasn't even aware of this program (kudos to Kobo!) until Kristine Kathryn Rusch mentioned it in a recent post on her site (the post: http://kriswrites.com/2013/05/08/the-business-rusch-the-year-of-the-bookstore/).

At least someone thought to take action rather than wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth.


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## Michael Murray (Oct 31, 2011)

JRHenderson said:


> _"The book and reading sector is facing competition from certain sites using every possible means to enter the French and European book market&#8230;it is destroying bookshops," she said._
> 
> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/10098626/Amazon-is-destroyer-of-bookshops-says-French-culture-minister.html


It's the river's revenge for all the trees they have pulped .


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Probably similar to what all the scribes said when Gutenberg invented the printing press -- or what the clay tablet engravers said when papyrus was invented.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Nancy Beck said:


> Instead of whining, why doesn't the French equivalent of the American Booksellers Association pair up with Kobo? Kobo started a program with independent bookstores in the U.S. in 2012.
> 
> Part of Kobo's press release says this: "Booksellers will be able to offer a total experience for their customers including a full line of eReaders, eReading accessories, and ebooks from Kobo's catalog of nearly 3 million titles. ABA members will share in the revenue on every sale. The program includes valuable training, in-store merchandising, marketing, sales, and logistics solutions to help independents be successful. ABA members will also be able to offer ebooks directly to their customers online."
> 
> ...


Kobo is apparently partnered with big booksellers in the UK as well, and doing pretty well there.


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## Terrence OBrien (Oct 21, 2010)

Not sure how reading is in trouble. Bookstore troubles stem from the fact that readers are going somewhere else to get their reading material.


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## Jennifer R P (Oct 19, 2012)

Indie bookstores are never going to be able to compete with Amazon and the like on price, variety, or convenience.

So, they need to compete on experience. They need to provide a reason for people to get out of the door. Face to face meetings with authors. Good coffee. Alcohol, even.


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## CoraBuhlert (Aug 7, 2011)

Nancy Beck said:


> Instead of whining, why doesn't the French equivalent of the American Booksellers Association pair up with Kobo? Kobo started a program with independent bookstores in the U.S. in 2012.
> 
> Part of Kobo's press release says this: "Booksellers will be able to offer a total experience for their customers including a full line of eReaders, eReading accessories, and ebooks from Kobo's catalog of nearly 3 million titles. ABA members will share in the revenue on every sale. The program includes valuable training, in-store merchandising, marketing, sales, and logistics solutions to help independents be successful. ABA members will also be able to offer ebooks directly to their customers online."
> 
> ...


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## Teutonic0 (May 27, 2013)

Change is change. Some industry is always in decline. That's the way of things, the way of the Force.

I disagree though about it impacting readers & authors though. It _does_, but it's a matter of whether it's ultimately a good sort of overall change. Which it does seem to be.


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## MineBook (May 31, 2013)

Paper books are destroyer of trees and forests.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

MineBook said:


> Paper books are destroyer of trees and forests.


Not really. Paper used for books, etc. is generally from trees that are managed/farmed for the purpose. Same as growing soy or wheat, just used for paper rather than food.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Not really. Paper used for books, etc. is generally from trees that are managed/farmed for the purpose. Same as growing soy or wheat, just used for paper rather than food.


And for quality paper, they like to start with a good batch of used paper, so arguably paper books are cannibals!


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## DarkScribe (Aug 30, 2012)

Many responses in this thread do not look realistically at the "current" situation. It genuinely is impacting readers, just not those who have adapted to eBook reading devices. Although those in this forum all have eReaders, they are a minority, a very small part of the reading public. Mr & Mrs Average still read dead trees. They have far less choice when selecting new reading material than they had a few years back. Most of my older relatives and their friends do not have, nor are inclined to adapt to eReaders. Many have been gifted an eReader that now sits in a drawer gathering dust. They do know nor are ever likely to know how to use a computer to sideload books, and are confused about purchasing from a single eBook re-seller using the inbuilt app in the device. Many old age pensioners do not have credit cards and cannot open eReader accounts - but they love reading. 

It helps to put on some other shoes, particularly those of the older generations.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

DarkScribe said:


> Many responses in this thread do not look realistically at the "current" situation. It genuinely is impacting readers, just not those who have adapted to eBook reading devices. Although those in this forum all have eReaders, they are a minority, a very small part of the reading public. Mr & Mrs Average still read dead trees. They have far less choice when selecting new reading material than they had a few years back. Most of my older relatives and their friends do not have, nor are inclined to adapt to eReaders. Many have been gifted an eReader that now sits in a drawer gathering dust. They do know nor are ever likely to know how to use a computer to sideload books, and are confused about purchasing from a single eBook re-seller using the inbuilt app in the device. Many old age pensioners do not have credit cards and cannot open eReader accounts - but they love reading.
> 
> It helps to put on some other shoes, particularly those of the older generations.


I am the key technical advisor to my 79 year old stepfather, who to his credit does use a computer, and to my 78 year old mother, who I have introduced to Kindle, so i know from whence you speak! But....People in the above group often primarily read best sellers or a specific genre like romances, mysteries, or westerns (my mother almost exclusively reads spy novels!). And many of those books are readily available at places like Walmart and Target. I agree that it is a limitation for the non techies, but not a fatal one, IMO.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

The Hooded Claw said:


> I am the key technical advisor to my 79 year old stepfather, who to his credit does use a computer, and to my 78 year old mother, who I have introduced to Kindle, so i know from whence you speak! But....People in the above group often primarily read best sellers or a specific genre like romances, mysteries, or westerns (my mother almost exclusively reads spy novels!). And many of those books are readily available at places like Walmart and Target. I agree that it is a limitation for the non techies, but not a fatal one, IMO.


Plus, there's always the library, and many older folks love the library.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Terrence OBrien said:


> Not sure how reading is in trouble. Bookstore troubles stem from the fact that readers are going somewhere else to get there reading material.


My thoughts exactly.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

DarkScribe said:


> Many responses in this thread do not look realistically at the "current" situation. It genuinely is impacting readers, just not those who have adapted to eBook reading devices. Although those in this forum all have eReaders, they are a minority, a very small part of the reading public. Mr & Mrs Average still read dead trees. They have far less choice when selecting new reading material than they had a few years back. Most of my older relatives and their friends do not have, nor are inclined to adapt to eReaders. Many have been gifted an eReader that now sits in a drawer gathering dust. They do know nor are ever likely to know how to use a computer to sideload books, and are confused about purchasing from a single eBook re-seller using the inbuilt app in the device. Many old age pensioners do not have credit cards and cannot open eReader accounts - but they love reading.
> 
> It helps to put on some other shoes, particularly those of the older generations.


Are the majority of older readers the customer base for independent bookstores or would many of them tend to buy their books at B&N or Half-Price Books - or even Target for that matter ... Given that best selling books are being sold in more places - that may be cutting in on businesses like B&N but not necessarily the indie book stores or that sort of foot traffic.

I think the indies are actually hurt disproportionately more from the ereading audience as that encompasses a fairly good percentage of high volume readers and/or those of us who want to find some of the less mainstream, niche books or older, out of print books. Since so much is available on Amazon and other online sellers, we're not going out to the physical stores as much.

On the other hand, as I convert my paper library to higher quality copies of my favorite books and series, I've been purchasing from quite a few indie booksellers - but most of that shopping is also online, so those who are embracing ecommerce as well as traditional brick and mortar are reaching a larger audience. I've bought copies of books from all over North America as well as the UK as part of my upgrade project.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It probably is worth noting that the article linked in the OP is in a UK publication and discussing French issues.  Probably things are a bit different to the US. 

My opinion: Bookshops won't go away altogether for a very long time.  But they may have to change to stay in business. Or find a way to embrace the ecommerce.  Example:  I think a shop that had the ability to purchase ebooks as well as paper books could do very well.  I, for instance, mostly buy books from Amazon but, say I was browsing a shop because even though I read on kindle I still like to do that.  Say I find a book that looks good.  But I don't want to buy it in paper. 

What if I could buy it from Amazon via the bookshop -- giving the shop the affiliate payment? Or "buy" it by buying a gift card specific to that book, again with the bookshop getting some sort of commission. If I could do that standing right there, I might very well do so.  Without that option, I'd almost certainly NOT buy the paper book, and may not even buy the ebook -- that would depend on me making note of the title and remembering to do so next time I'm on Amazon, or on my Kindle in range of a WiFi network.  AND still being in a buying mood at that time.


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## Nancy Beck (Jul 1, 2011)

Meemo said:


> Plus, there's always the library, and many older folks love the library.


My mother's not at all tech savvy (she has a cell phone, which is as tech as she gets), but this is exactly what she and those in her book club do.


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## meh (Apr 18, 2013)

I guess the French culture minister hasn't actually done any research. In the U.S. since Amazon has become so popular and the whole self-published author thing has taken off, the number of independent bookstores has actually _increased._

Perhaps they are more lamenting the death of some of the superstores like Borders?


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## Zackery Arbela (Jan 31, 2011)

change is scary...


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## Michael Murray (Oct 31, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Not really. Paper used for books, etc. is generally from trees that are managed/farmed for the purpose. Same as growing soy or wheat, just used for paper rather than food.


Sometimes the pulp farms have been carved out of the rainforest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aracruz_Celulose for example.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Sorry folks - but I don't think you can generalize anything about the "older" generation - either about their tastes in books,  love of the library,  or aversion to E-readers.   I'm in my mid 60's and  the youngest of 4 daughters.   All of them (oldest age is 76) have Kindles now.   And I know - if my Mom was still alive - she would use one too.    And - they don't only read best sellers..  People are not that predictable!

74 year old sister just sent me an email - she's reading Complete Sherlock Holmes,  a book about WWI, and a book about Jesus...all on her Kindle..


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

My mother is in her mid-60's and my stepdad is 70 or so.  Both have e-readers and computers.  For hardback books they go to half price books usually.  Mom rarely reads best sellers.  She is into mostly non-fiction.  My stepdad is into Dean Koontz, Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy.  Both of them read John Grisham.  
My 80+ year old aunt has a computer, a kindle and texts more than talks on her cell phone.
So you can never tell what the older generation is gonna do.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

Have readers been impacted? 

I have. I have far easier and more ready access to books. I read more. I can easily see reviews to help me pick the right book. I'm not limited to the books the bookstore decides to stock...

For the reader I have not seen a downside, unless you don't like using the internet. And those people should not expect the world to stop for them


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

bordercollielady said:


> Sorry folks - but I don't think you can generalize anything about the "older" generation - either about their tastes in books, love of the library, or aversion to E-readers. I'm in my mid 60's and the youngest of 4 daughters. All of them (oldest age is 76) have Kindles now. And I know - if my Mom was still alive - she would use one too. And - they don't only read best sellers.. People are not that predictable!
> 
> 74 year old sister just sent me an email - she's reading Complete Sherlock Holmes, a book about WWI, and a book about Jesus...all on her Kindle..


Think I was the first to mention older folks & the library & heck, I'm only a couple of years from my mid-60's - I apply for SS in a couple of months.  I did say "many older folks" - like my folks and my in-laws, neither of whom ever had a computer (except an ancient hand-me-down laptop my FIL used for playing solitaire). I tried to get my MIL, who was an avid reader, interested in the Kindle but she just didn't get it - sadly it came a bit too late for her to really get any good use from one, she was showing the early signs of dementia. She loved the library, though. My folks both passed away pre-Kindle, and I'm not sure what they'd have made of eReaders. They did love reading though, and loved the library.

We've done a good bit of volunteering at our library, taking our readers and tablets for people to get hands-on with them and see what they thought. Lots of them were older folks, and many brought their own new readers to get "How-do-I?" help with them. DH just went to his first Mac-users group meeting this week, said the majority of the folks there were older than us. So I'm the last one who'd generalize about older folks and technology.  I know "older" folks on both sides of the technology fence.


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## bordercollielady (Nov 21, 2008)

Meemo said:


> My folks both passed away pre-Kindle, and I'm not sure what they'd have made of eReaders. They did love reading though, and loved the library.


My Mom passed about 4 yrs ago at 93.. she lived a good long life. But she had macular degeneration and could only read big print books. The libraries had such a limited number of them. I so wish she could have had her book choices opened back up again with a Kindle. I know she would have used one.


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

bordercollielady said:


> My Mom passed about 4 yrs ago at 93.. she lived a good long life. But she had macular degeneration and could only read big print books. The libraries had such a limited number of them. I so wish she could have had her book choices opened back up again with a Kindle. I know she would have used one.


My mom had macular degeneration as well, plus Parkinson's. Between the two there wasn't much hope for her for reading the last few years of her life (she lived to 83).


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> What if I could buy it from Amazon via the bookshop -- giving the shop the affiliate payment?


I was in a bookstore that had that offer...I didn't use it, I bought a paper book, but there was a sign at the cash register about it.

Betsy


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## Harry Dewulf (Oct 4, 2010)

I sometimes find myself accusing people of being print-and-paper fetishists... there is a part of the French intellectual establishment that takes this to unbelievable extremes. And when combined with the French fetishism for small shops, it's easy to see why certain politicians go off at the deep end on this topic.

If you try to have a conversation about epub here, about 50% of those involved will give you a sort of indulgent smile, before explaining the importance of the sensory experience not only of reading but of _buying_ a book. I now find those people a little embarrassing, and I either change the subject or find someone else to talk to.


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## anguabell (Jan 9, 2011)

Ms Filippetti is too young to be so negative about changes brought by technology. For many older readers e-books have meant a chance to read again despite failing eyesight, and it makes me a bit angry to have ebooks or ereaders presented as something for selected few elitists. This is an absurd point of view. Of course, the situation is a bit different in other countries, outside of the U.S. but it is changing fast. Yes, the computers replaced typewriters - and lousy spellchecking programs replaced careful human editing, but such is life and it is disturbing to see the person in this position to display a lack of ability to embrace the inevitable changes and help turning them into a positive development. The bookshops need to adapt and change, or die - just like any other thing on this planet


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## lmroth12 (Nov 15, 2012)

I can see where Amazon has become a threat to some of the larger bookstores but not necessarily the independent sellers who are more innovative and open to change. The articles that I have read about Barnes & Noble's possibly imminent demise state quite clearly that B&N has suffered major losses on their Nook device and not necessarily on their physical books. They spent a lot of money developing the Nook but many people have complained about its inferiority to the Kindle, and so it is on the ebook side where they have suffered losses. As for their physical bookstores, they have had to close some of those to absorb the losses hit on the electronic side. As for Borders, they were slow to get on board the whole ebook train and didn't update their line and paid for it.

Now, about those bookstores that seem to feel they must offer coffee and cookies to lure readers into their stores...well, I imagine they pay extra money to buy the coffee and treats and pay extra employees to offer them so naturally this takes a cut into their profits. And I ask you: how many avid readers do you see having to be lured into their local library by the aroma of cappucino, lattes, and biscotti? Well, none actually.

Now if a bookstore would host weekly events with authors or do poetry or book readings like some used to and offer the coffee and treats, now _that_ would be a way to lure new people to their stores and would eventually reap them a profit with new customers.


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