Just read in the SMH this moorning that Angus & Robertson are sacking employees and closing more stores. Business is bad now that people like me are buying on line. They can't compete with the large organisations of book warehouses and distrubutors flooding the ether. They must not have been able to see the future.
I'd already given up going to bookstores that have turned into book depositories, (I'm thinking of Dymocks in the Broadway shopping centre) very unattractive, making it hard to find books and having to ask the staff to find them for you. That bookstore used to be Collins, complete with sofas on which to sit and browse and a cafe.
Apparently some people are using bookstores to jot down details or even to photograph bookjackets and blurbs to later order them on line. I haven't gone that far but can understand those who do. I find myself getting impatient browsing shelves when I know I can achieve the same results sitting in my comfy dressing gown at home, tapping a few keys to find what I want.
What this says for authors and wannabees like me I don't know. Probably we'll ALL have to become E-authors in order for people to read our books.
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