The Little Independent Bookshop

There are few truly magical things in life; Jolen mustache dye for women, a full fat moon, clotted cream, 'My Baby All Gone', Gandalf, and perhaps the most magical of all, the little independent bookshop.

Sleeping between chain after chain of mundane shops, sparkling in secret, enchanting those who pass through its doors. Higgledy-piggledy, cosy and warm; its books sit proud on their shelves, feeling special; knowing they are loved by their owner, who sits happily behind the till sipping a cup of tea and nibbling a jammy dodger.

And indeed, love the books the owner must, for it is the only reason anyone in their right mind would ever want to enter into the book industry. As Jamie Raab, VP/Publisher of Warner Books says, 'It's a pretty lousy business model.'

As magical as the beloved bookshop is, the past decade has been a dark one, their resplendence tarnished by digital book sales and monster tyrannosaurus rex bookstores, with their shiny 2for1 deals, dodgy carpets and Duffy lamenting in the background while you browse and sip your frappa-mappa-mocha-chino.

It all began some 20 years ago with the creation of the bargain book and the bargain bookstores in which they lived. Publishing companies, getting a whiff of the possibility for unrivalled profit, sold their souls to the super bookstores, resulting in changes that would cripple the independent book selling industry for years to come.

The jumbo bookstore models resulted in the mass over-production of books, to ensure their miles and miles of book shelves were constantly filled. This lead to copious amounts of extra books and unsold returns which consequently lowered the inherent value of printed books.

All resulting in the birth of the bargain book; 2 for 1 deals, lower prices, discounts on out of print remainders as well as deals on originals and new books.

All the while the little book shop was still charging the cover price, and rapidly losing all its charm.

Once treasured, now no longer needed by the publishers and deemed old-fashioned and over-priced by the public. Independent bookshops were in trouble.

Between 1993 and 2003, the number of independent book retailers decreased by more than half.

All the while the digital revolution was gathering speed and online book sales began to rocket. With the likes of Amazon slowly hammering in the last nails on the little bookshops coffin, as people were captivated by the convenience and speed of the online purchase. Jo Adams, who owns the independent Stoke Newington Bookshop in north London said “It is very hard to compete with the likes of Amazon. We can't sell books at the prices they do - if we did we would go bankrupt."

So it has been an on going struggle and a rather gloomy time for independent bookshops, to say the least. But now it seems the winds are changing. Once deemed the enemy; the digital revolution has given birth to an unlikely saviour; the ebook. Seen by many as the end of the world, the devil, the epitome of evil, when it comes to books. However it has turned the tables on the superstore and closures are now imminent at the hands of their once upon a time ally. Unable to compete with ebook sales and the rapid rise and popularity of new ebook reading technologies and devices, bargain bookstores are closing all over. Barnes and Noble, America's biggest selling bookstore chain, has closed down its four-story shop on 66th Street and Broadway in Manhattan and put itself up for sale. Just one of its 700+ stores across America's 50 states, but is it an ominous sign of things to come? Here in the UK, Borders has met the same fate, closing the doors on all 45 of its stores across the country, unable to adjust itself to grow with the online book selling revolution.

It is estimated that one in five books is now sold online. In July 2010, Amazon reported sales of ebooks for its e-reader, Kindle outnumbered sales of hardbacks for the first time ever in 2010, saying it sold 140 e-books for every 100 hardcover books. So how has the Independent bookshop come back to life in this most formidable of book climates. Well for one, with the dwindling of the big bookstores, the little bookshops have got their sparkle back, there importance and notoriety have been restored. They are once again needed, cherished and enjoyed. But just like the big bookshops, they cannot compete with the ebook. And so its back to that old saying; 'if you can't beat them, join them'. Independent book shops are planning to team up with Google Editions, Googles new ebook selling campaign. Google are on the verge of completing a deal with the American Booksellers Association (ABA) which will make Google the primary source of e-books on the Web sites of hundreds of independent booksellers, according to representatives of Google and the association. This will connect them inextricably to the ebook market, giving them a life line to stay alive. So hopefully the bookshop will live on forever, in this era defined by fast technology and online everything, bookshops stand for something slower, and in a lot of ways, richer.

LONG LIVE THE INDEPENDENT BOOKSHOP.