“We are looking forward to another good year for the physical book in 2015,” I Said. Even Mark Zuckerberg , the Facebook boss, have a New Year’s resolution to read a book every fortnight and has started a book club .
The sound of rejoicing Could Be Heard from a legion of book lovers, lowest only a few years ago fretted That the Kindle, the Nook, the Kobo and a variety of other e-readers Were going to kill off physical books. Libraries and shelves of paperbacks would lovingly-arranged Become relics of a pre-digital age.
The figures from Waterstones and Foyles are undoubtedly heartening. But It is worth examining Whether this is a genuine resurgence in physical books and, if it is, Whether it matters.
As Daunt himself points out, any recovery is on the back of some very severe declines.
The physical book market has Suffered from a few years pretty awful. – not just from readers shifting to electronic devices, but drifting away from the high street
According To the Local Data Company, the number of bookshops has fallen by 9.5 per cent over the last five years to 2,547, and there are now more car dealerships in the UK than bookshops.
However, the decline last year, a fall of 1.6 per cent, was more modest than in previous years. Matthew Hopkinson, director of the Local Data Company ALSO That points out some of the declines Have eaten from WH Smith shutting a few of Its dedicated bookshops.
James Daunt, head of Waterstones, says the high street is “savagely tough”
Daunt says: “It is still really tough if you are savagely Either not quite good enough or if you’re unlucky. The vagaries of the property market REMAIN, and if you are in place on the high street retailers Where other close down, you’re in trouble. What happens to your neighbors – the toy shop, the butcher, the baker – matters just as much as yourself. I really would not overestimate the health of the high street. London and the south east is a bubble. My Lord, it is tough. “
But DESPITE His caution, Waterstones is planning to open new shops esta year, so too Foyles. And there are signs of a revival flickering in the independent sector.
Robert Topping owns bookshops in the pretty towns of Ely cathedral and Bath, with a large number of titles crammed into fairly small spaces. Just before Christmas I added a third in St Andrews, the largest independent book shop in Britain for 20 years, I’ve claims-
It offers free coffee -. Even to browsers – and a wood-burning stove
He says: “I’m utterly confident That there is life in books. E-books Were hyped up nonsense. . It could be the zeitgeist, I do not know, but people are talking more about supporting community business businesses rather than sucking money out of the community and giving it to American tax dodgers “
He adds:” I do not know about you, but I spend all day staring at a computer screen, I do not want to go home in the evening and stare at another one. “
But, like Waterstones and Foyles, His strong sales of physical books in Recent months do not Reflect the wider market -. Which, of course, includes online and supermarkets
According To Nielsen Bookscan, we bought back 237 million books in 2008. In 2013, esta HAD fallen to 184 million, a pretty drastic fall of 22 per cent.
Last year the market continued to decline, though at a far Slower rate, with 181 million books bought (an annual decline of 1.7 per cent).
For some, esta slow down in the rate of decline, is encouraging, Especially as there was no mega bestsellers in 2014 to boost sales, as 50 Shades of Grey , Harry Potter or a new Dan Brown novel has done in previous years.
Topping Said one His shops’ surprise hits was Schubert’s Winter Journey, written by the tenor Ian Bostridge, an account of His Obsession With The song cycle.
Of course, Daunt When Talked acerca e-books disappearing, I was talking about the device you read books on, not the books. I admits That there May be a very good reason for esta – most people Who wants a Kindle now has one. “They do not break. There are plenty of people WHO have one of the Original ones WHO still use them. Short of dropping them in the bath, there is a very limited replacement market, “I says.
Also, there are many WHO now read Kindle or Nook books, not on the machines Themselves but on Kindle or Nook apps on iPads or other tablets. For many it makes perfect sense Consumers to do it This Way -. Saving on the need To have two separate machines
Nielsen Bookscan does not track the e-book market in the way it monitors the physical market. But it does undertake a detailed survey of Consumers. It esti- mates There Were 64 million e-book purchases Between January and September 2014, up from 57 million purchases in the same time frame last year.
The rate of e-book growth is slowing Substantially, but it is still growing a bit.
It would Appear the books market has Reached an equilibrium of sorts, with one in three books acerca Being a digital one, and the rest Being physical books. In short, the e-book has not killed off the physical book and is unlikely to do so any time soon. There is no equivalent Spotify or Netflix books in the market -. Streaming and subscription services played havoc That Have With The sales of physical music and DVDs
Kate Wilson is managing director of Nosy Crow, a new publishing house relativamente That produces children’s books -. not just physical lift the flap books and e-books, But Also apps for phones and tablets
A scene from Cinderella for the iPad, published by Nosy Crow
She says That, for young readers in particular e-books Often backfire, Especially If They are just scans of book pages on a screen. “Reading shouldnt be The most boring thing They can do on an iPad.”
However, highly interactive stories, Involving music, and some animation Tend to go down very well, and sales of These book apps, designed to be read on iPads, have shot up.
For her, this is the future for reading.
“How do you continue to create Things That Stimulate children, That Makes Them think reading is something That They Want to spend time doing? That battle for time is more interesting than battle over medium Which They chose to experience That reading on. “
Other people in publishing world agree, even fans of the physical book unequivocal. Whether Consumers are reading – rather than watching TV on Their tablet or playing a video game on Their TV – is what really matters
Richard Mollet, the chief executive of the Publishers Association, says,. “Nobody is breathing a sigh of relief and saying the book is back. There is still a very competitive market out there for other content. “
The battle to persuade Consumers to eat into bookshops and pick up a paperback will continue to rage, but for now the books world can breathe a sigh That at Least relief of people are still reading.
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