Industry is very short sighted. They want instant results. I buy books from Half Price Books which USED to be a used bookstore chain but now consists mostly of remaindered books that have come out within the last 9 months. How do so many books (unscuffed) get DUMPED on the market?
Why would I pay $75 for a book that I'll find for $24.99 NEW within a year?
Why pay $24.95 for a book that will be $9.98 within a year? $12.48 within the first month if someone turns in a used copy (or publisher review copy)?
Borders/Barnes&Noble/Bookstop/et al all stock the same books. Bookstop was a great bookstore chain 20 years ago.
I have to go to independent bookstores these days to find much of anything. I can find something in the big stores but what I'd rather have isn't shelved.
Amazon and the other dot coms just do what ANY big box can do, order a book from the books in print list. Amazon doesn't stock every book they list. They can GET it but they don't have them.
I prefer to thumb through it before I buy too.
But back to the industry. Book sales are down. So are newspaper circulation figures. So are charting music album sales. So are ticket sales for big Hollywood films. So are ratings for the nightly news.
The industries got old. People are still here. We are diversified from the mainstream.
That is an excellent point. My local used bookstore has a pretty nice little website. Not only can I walk there in 10 minutes but I can check their stock in about 10 seconds. Their competition about three blocks away has added a Guiness tap. Life is good. ;-)