From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 17:27:52 -0500 The authors I listed are all robustly protected by copyright. jo'd On Sunday, November 30, 2014, LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > From: Sandy Thatcher <[log in to unmask]> > Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 10:54:46 -0600 > > So many of the "classics" these days (in the public domain) are > available through Project Gutenberg and other free sources. My first > download to my iPad several years ago was War and Peace. I wonder how > much a difference the availability of these free editions has made to > the stocking of retail stores like B&N? > > Sandy Thatcher > > > > From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]> > > Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 15:32:44 -0500 > > > > Liblicense readers know my amateur counting habits. Today a report > > from two recent visits to Barnes and Noble -- one store in Clarendon > > VA (a DC suburb in a mall-let shared with an Apple Store, Chicos, > > Container Store, etc.), and one in Milford CT (in a strip mall with > > Walmart, a block from a larger but not high end indoor mall). > > > > I wandered both stores trying to estimate floor space and came up with > > the same count in both places: 40% of these B&N stores' floor space > > is devoted to what I would call books -- things in hard or soft covers > > with words in them, for people to read. The children's section of > > both stores has grown remarkably, as also the toys and games sections, > > while magazines, Nooks, DVDs, gifts, and the coffee bar fill out the > > space. I do count as books things like self-help and remaindered gift > > books and B&N imprints of various kinds. Once upon a time a bookstore > > "superstore" (B&N or Borders) boasted of carrying 150,000 volumes. > > That number is way, way smaller now, and I wonder how far they are > > from carrying a line roughly equal to that of an old Waldenbooks or B. > > Dalton. > > > > One way in which the slimming down of stock happens is by thinning > > out the supply of older and classic authors. In fiction and > > literature today in CT, there was one volume of Waugh, two Updike > > novels and two volumes of short stories, four Nabokov novels and the > > volume of his short stories, no Proust, a respectable collection of > > Hemingway, and four novels of Faulkner. In the glory days of the > > bookstore superstores, I liked to say that I was confident I could > > always pick up a copy of the next "classic" (broadly defined) title I > > wanted to read. Now, I have to transfer that confidence to Amazon > > or other web-based sellers. > > > > Jim O'Donnell