By Greg Guma
When I left Vermont's book scene in 1991, after six years as owner of a small "progressive" store in Burlington, there were only a handful of independents left. A locally owned store, Chassman & Bem, did dominate the main drag, offering what then seemed like a state-of-the-art combination of intelligent service and comfortable surroundings. But it was only a matter of time until the "superstores" hit town.
Even after Barnes & Noble came to the suburbs of Burlington in 1992, a few small businesses, mainly specializing in used books, opened for business. Peaceful coexistence between chain and independent book-selling still seemed possible. But that commercial detente ended with the arrival of Borders in 1998. Labor problems aside, it was a major commercial addition to Church Street — a browser's delight combining one-stop shopping for books, CDs and videos with a café atmosphere and programs built around author visits. Yet its department store approach and discount prices made life tougher for the few remaining independents. The closing of Chassman & Bem just before Borders opened was an obvious sign of things to come.
As the '90s began, independent bookstores still made up the largest slice of the retail market nationwide — more than 32 percent — while large chains accounted for 22 percent, according to the Book Industry Study Group. At century's end, the four largest chains had 51 percent of the U.S. market, and more books were being sold by discount price clubs, food and drug stores than independent bookstores.
Across the U.S., independents are being squeezed by a combination of chain penetration and online convenience. The two leading online booksellers, Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com, have at least 10 million customers nationwide. Meanwhile, in cities like Seattle, once home to more than a half dozen independents, only one shop hangs on. Several factors have contributed: lower prices, better parking access, the tendency of chains to mimic the community spirit of the independents and the impact of online alternatives.
Barnes & Noble has more than 500 superstores, designed to look like upscale university outlets or plush libraries. Borders stores have an open, "alternative" feel, befitting a chain that began as an independent store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. But K-Mart bought the business for $190 million in 1992, building it into a nationwide chain before selling it off in 1995. Squeezed by these superstores, department store chains and price clubs, at least 2,000 independents have gone under in the past 10 years — down from 5,132 in 1991 to about 3,000 today.
The trend isn't lost on publishers, who increasingly ask Barnes & Noble and Borders for guidance about everything from book jacket design to what has the best chance of success. Short-term customer demand, as defined by the largest wholesale buyers, can determine a manuscript's destiny. As author Gerard Colby, president of the Vermont local of the National Writers Union, explained recently at the group's annual meeting, even when a book makes it into print, "the chains are under pressure to get as many sales as possible, so they may pull the book off the shelves within weeks. They go back in large cartons with other titles, and the publishers don't even open the boxes. It isn't worth their time. Then, some titles are sold to remainder houses, and end up in discount sections of the same stores."
In 1998, 26 independent booksellers joined the American Booksellers Association (ABA) in an antitrust lawsuit against the big two, alleging they use their clout with publishers to secure cheaper prices and preferential treatment. The case is slated for court in May, but some plaintiffs have already lost. In Pittsburgh, the Squirrel Hill Bookstore folded last year; in Salt Lake City, an outlet of Sam Weller's Zion bookstore, is gone. Both blame chain competition.
Specifically, the ABA accuses the chains of soliciting special discounts on both large and small orders, and threatening large returns if they don't get the best deal. "We're struggling for the existence of independent booksellers," explains Avin Mark Domnitz, ABA's executive director. "The dominance of the national chains is not in the best interest of the American culture."
The reasoning is that independents are the main force that spurs publishers to take risks with less commercial authors and topics. It's a question of diversity, especially given the ongoing conglomerate takeover of publishing. According to Andre Schiffrin, director of the New Press, U.S. publishing has moved markedly to the right, abandoning critical commentary and New Deal liberalism. He and others left Pantheon, a prestigious progressive house, after being pressured to abandon their politics. "Now, of course, the larger houses will say these decisions are market-driven," he noted. "But it is hard to argue that there are no readers open to alternative views."
In a previous lawsuit, independents and the ABA charged that large publishers favor chains through unfair practices like paying large sums for "co-op" advertising to maximize their exposure. Since small publishers normally don't have this option, the chances are much slimmer that their titles will be prominently displayed — or ordered at all. In short, despite the appearance of diversity in superstores, you're unlikely to find many books from independent publishers that don't fly off the shelves.
In almost any other industry, having limited choices might not be too dangerous. But when it comes to books, a one-style-fits-all approach undermines our very ability to discuss what a culture should be. As Michele Chihara noted in a Boston Phoenix feature on the challenges confronting independents, bookstores "traffic not just in paper and cardboard, but in content. In the book market, a diversity of retailers translates very directly into a diversity of ideas." New England Booksellers Association president Rusty Drughan agreed, adding that the two primary reasons to protect independent stores are freedom of expression and "the flourishing of ideas — with the very possibility of social change."
One hopeful sign is the success of some independent publishers, unfamiliar to most readers but passionately committed to serious books that defy market predictions. Last year, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) pitched in with "Book Sense," a project that includes national marketing and a Web site designed to save the independent way of life. Still, without serious anti-trust action to limit corporate acquisitions, this could be a losing battle. Over 2,500 U.S. companies still publish books, but half the revenues go to only six, all but one of them multimedia conglomerates who use their TV stations, newspapers or magazines to push "product." A few retail chains, working with mega-corps like Paramount, Harcourt Brace, Time Warner, Reader's Digest and Newhouse, are positioned to help shape most production and packaging in the literary marketplace, much like Wal-Mart does with its toothpaste and pretzel suppliers.
Meanwhile, reflecting economic globalization, foreign houses are beginning to dominate the U.S. publishing scene. In particular, Bertelsmann of Germany, the largest publisher in the world, has been on a takeover binge. Already the owner of Bantam Doubleday Dell, it acquired Random House in 1998, then bought half of barnesandnoble.com. That gives Bertelsmann control of more than a fifth of the market, along with considerable influence on book selling.
Not to be left behind, Barnes & Noble made a play to buy Ingram, the largest book distributor in the U.S. This would give it access to information about many of its independent competitors, plus the power to grab sales of best sellers. A nationwide protest of this purchase produced thousands of letters and calls to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Responding to public and FTC pressure, the chain withdrew its offer — a small victory for the little guys.
But let's not forget the big picture. Today, nine corporate giants — General Electric, Sony, AT&T/Liberty Media, Disney, Time Warner, News Corporation, Viacom, Seagram and Bertelsmann — own most of the world's global broadcast stations, along with most major newspapers, magazines, recording and film companies, and major publishing houses. Though broadcast and cable channels continue to multiply and bookstore racks are filled, the surface diversity masks increasingly centralized ownership of most output.
In less than 30 years the media environment of the United States and, following its example, much of the world, has been transformed. And as the AOL-Time Warner merger suggests, even the prospect of a participatory renaissance ushered in by the Internet may be somewhat overrated. According to media historian Robert McChesney, the major beneficiaries of the so-called Internet Age will be the investors, advertisers and a handful of media, computer and telecommunications corporations. AOL is already the largest Internet service provider in the United States, and owns Netscape, the most widely used browser among "netizens" worldwide. Time Warner's extensive fiber-optic networks should give AOL a significant advantage: the ability to offer service 100 times faster than traditional phone lines.
The Next Frontiers
The prospects aren't entirely bleak for independents. According to Laura Moriarty, assistant director of Small Press Distributor (SPD), the leading wholesaler of independent books, E-commerce and Internet search capabilities make back-list buying easier and more common. "The Internet is another way to locate the communities who are both producing and consuming the small press books," she explains. "It's just that it happens online instead of in a store." Unfortunately, of the 120 million Internet users worldwide, most are male, middle class and fluent in English. Thus far, the "information age" is generally shaping up like a new era of information imperialism.
For SPD, the Internet's impact has been positive so far. Sales, as well as visits to its Web site, have increased 25 percent since last year. "The Internet allows people to know about books they want — whether they buy from us or Barnes & Noble," Moriarty says. "Readers can also do general searches and find independent publisher sites." Two SPD projects — Get Lit and Underground California (the latter with a California Arts Commission grant) — are specifically designed to assist independent stores. They offer special discounts, free advertising and signage to stimulate orders and display of independent-press books. About 100 stores are expected to participate this year. To aid independent publishers, MediaChannel affiliate SPD has also launched its own online bookstore, offering 8,500 titles with an emphasis on works by writers of color, gay and lesbian writers and others whose work doesn't make it to mainstream, online bookstores.
Independent stores know they need an online presence to stay competitive. Two of the options are Book Sense and SeekBooks. The former, a distributor linking about 100 outlets, issues best-seller lists based on independent store sales, and is about to launch an online ordering service for its members. At SeekBooks, a "You & Me" program offers small booksellers an online annex with more than 500,000 titles and its own "hot list." Since last November, they say more than 70 bookstores have joined this online network.
A political constituency for the preservation of independents is also developing, with redevelopment money and various preservation actions directed toward them.
Yet such efforts to revitalize and preserve independent book selling are proceeding simultaneously with a technological transformation that may soon alter the way millions of people obtain and read books. Thousands of titles are already published and sold in "paperless," digital form — on disks and CD-ROMs, via Web sites and e-mail. Barnes & Noble currently offers more than 2,000 e-books. Others can be purchased in electronic form directly from publishers. Within a few years, back-list titles will be available from larger houses.
In the new world of e-books, there are no printing, shipping or warehousing costs. Books can be directly downloaded into a computer or a light, portable reader. The Rocket e-Book is one of a half-dozen prototypes currently being developed and marketed. Once the price drops from the current $500 and up, consumers are expected to become hooked, drawn by the lure that they'd need only one "book" for most of their reading.
Theoretically, e-books mean that more authors can be published, reader access will expand, and sales of independently published works could increase. But the good news for publishers and authors comes with a price: independent stores face a new and almost irresistible form of competition. In the not-too-distant future, bookstores may become cultural "destinations" as much as suppliers. And what they'll supply is information, electronic reading devices and a comfortable atmosphere. Imagine a cross between Borders and Radio Shack.
This may work to the advantage of some independent stores. If the inventory is largely "virtual," expertise and local savvy can again become a competitive advantage. "Independent bookstores are well suited to being the successful bricks-and-mortar seller in that environment because it becomes about the experience, not the commodity," argues Len Vlahas of the ABA. "We'll be the winner, because of that human connection."
Maybe. But only if independents keep pace with the rapidly evolving technology and are willing and able to invest in hardware as well as print. More likely, we're heading for a two-tiered system: state-of-the-art multimedia stores, mostly chain-owned, and traditional bookshops, mostly independent, that feature older and out-of-print books with a limited number of new releases. For "traditionalists" and bibliophiles, independent bookstores will hopefully survive and even thrive as havens in a high-tech world. Borders may have the discounts, the mass-market blockbusters and the technology edge. But independents have some things the chains don't —uniqueness, community roots, openness to fresh voices and a love of books that goes beyond the bottom line.
- Greg Guma is the editor of Toward Freedom, a progressive world-affairs magazine, author of "The People's Republic: Vermont and the Sanders Revolution," and a member of the National Writers Union.
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