Farhad Manjoo infuriated booksellers around the country with a provocative essay at Slate, calling independent bookstores “some of the least efficient, least user-friendly, and most mistakenly mythologized local establishments you can find.”
His article challenged the mounting criticism of Amazon’s price check app promotion, a way to encourage consumers to scan prices at brick and mortar stores but buy at Amazon. Manjoo, the author of True Enough: Learning To Live in a Post-Fact Society, pointed out all the ways Amazon has revolutionized bookselling.
Here’s one passage from the essay: “if you’re a novelist—not to mention a reader, a book publisher, or anyone else who cares about a vibrant book industry—you should thank him for crushing that precious indie on the corner. Compared with online retailers, bookstores present a frustrating consumer experience. A physical store—whether it’s your favorite indie or the humongous Barnes & Noble at the mall—offers a relatively paltry selection, no customer reviews, no reliable way to find what you’re looking for, and a dubious recommendations engine.” (Pictured via)
What do you think? The post has generated nearly 400 comments since it was published last night, as readers debate the future of bookselling.
Another reader added: “Sure, a book is a book is a book, no matter where you buy it. A Serta mattress is also a Serta mattress, whether you buy it at a cheap online discounter, at a Big Lots, or at your locally owned and operated mattress store. But the point about buying local isn’t about getting the best price. The point of buying local is that, as a poster below said, that a large proportion of the money you spend stays in your community. It doesn’t go tax-free to Seattle– it supports local and state governments struggling to fill budget gaps.”