Borders tries again

In Ann Arbor, where the national headquarters for Borders is, they're trying something new. According to USA Today:

"Borders, the nation's second-largest bookstore chain, hopes to reverse years of sluggish sales by reinventing itself as a hub for knowledge, entertainment and digital downloading. Exhibit A is the new store that will open to the public here Thursday — the first of 14 that Borders plans to unveil this year. Borders' plans underscore the anxiety in the bookstore industry, which has been hurt by the growing footprint of online-only sellers.

Can it work? CEO George Jones thinks so. 'We had to build something that would cause the consumer to drive five or 10 minutes past the competitor's store to come here,' says Jones, who joined the company 1½ years ago from Saks."

Faithful readers will remember that I scoffed eighteen months ago when the struggling book behemoth hired a CEO from the fashion world. Maybe I'll have to suck that back--ooh, nasty taste, retracted words--but I don't think so.

AOL quoted this article extensively, with the headline "No One Reads Anymore." And on NPR this morning I heard a study that estimates a growing percentage of the public who never--and they mean NEVER--reads a book, fiction or nonfiction. As I recall, the number has grown substantially in the past forty years, and was over twenty per cent in a study completed in 2002. If that's true, does selling people digital downloads make any difference?

I have said before, and I must say it again, I don't think Borders needs gimmicks. They need BOOKSELLERS. Barnes & Noble, big box behemoth that they are, too, has booksellers. And they have Community Relations Managers who actually talk to the community. Borders has clerks--and stationery, and candy, and a sort of lame coffee shop--but it can be damned hard to find a particular book at Borders.

Yes, there are exceptions. As my dad (a physician) used to say, everybody hates doctors except their own. And there's a really cool woman at my local Borders who cares about our genre, actually reads it, and is willing to stick her neck out to keep my books in stock. Bless her. But ol' George Jones should go out and hire more like her.

Pimping books

Okay, I'm not at all sure I'm using the verb "to pimp" correctly. David Shuster and I are a little confused on that point. But it's true that HarperCollins is offering free--as in absolutely, without reservation, free--books on its website, beginning Monday. They'll start with this Coelho book, and offer another one every month for the rest of the year.

The idea, evidently, is to entice readers by giving them a sample. “'It’s like taking the shrink wrap off a book,' said Jane Friedman, chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide. 'The best way to sell books is to have the consumer be able to read some of that content.'”

Well, yes. But my goodness, the whole book? I wonder how that will work out? And will the author get bupkus for downloaded copies?

In connection with this article, AOL did one of their unofficial surveys about reading habits, and of those responding, 95% said they still prefer to read paper books, page by page. So . . . maybe HarperCollins is right. If readers try Coelho's work and love it, maybe they'll hie themselves out and buy an actual copy. It will be interesting to watch.

The passing of Margaret Truman

Margaret Truman, the mystery writer, died recently at the age of 83. I wonder how many people recognize her name? She was born in 1924, long before the women's movement, and she said this: "I've had three or four different careers," she told an interviewer in 1989. "I consider being a wife and mother a career. I have great respect for women — both those who go out and do their thing and those who stay at home. I think those who stay at home have a lot more courage than those who go out and get a job."

Miss Truman has always interested me because so far as I know, she was the only working classical singer to transform into a fulltime novelist--and a genre novelist, at that!

I wasn't born when she was singing, and arguably my own musical career was more successful than hers, although less notorious (I'm not, for example, the daughter of a president). But I've always known about her. I can't remember why. And then she went on to write a number of reasonably successful mysteries. The last one, MURDER ON K STREET, was only published last year. Let's be fair and admit that she probably sold lots more copies of her books than I have yet. But I'm still working.

And wouldn't that be nice, to be working right till the end? Rest in peace, Margaret. And congratulations.