Will the bad news for book shops and book lovers never end? Today we hear tell that UK Border’s bookshops are teetering over the precipice of administration and that the company has been struggling to even raise enough cash to keep itself open long enough to cover the crucial Christmas period.
It’s difficult times for everyone at the moment I suppose, book sellers certainly aren’t alone in their financial woes, but it does feel like every time I cast my eye over the headlines or have a look at a few publishing blogs I find more disasters have befallen the industry.
Is it really a sector that’s been hit harder than others, or is it just the one I pay more attention to? I don’t really know and to be honest I’m too depressed by it all to delve deeper and try to find out.
Today’s task: to spend at least half an hour being grateful for my copywriting job! It may not offer much in the way of artistic satisfaction but at least it’s keeping me going comfortably.
Weekend task: at least one new short and edits to another.
Year’s task: make it to Christmas with a smile.
Lynsey May 
That’s bizarre – I thought the Glasgow Borders was doing great! My pal who worked there said it was the UK’s most popular bookshop.
The industry needs sorted out, though. Books aren’t even blighted by the same piracy woes as other media like music and movies – or, at least, not to the same extent. People just aren’t buying them because they’re too expensive. And they are. And as needful as it is to have a set price to cover various costs and expenses, your average person is going to find £7-12 for a novel just way too steep. It’s a shame that books have become so devalued compared with films but the industry needs to do something to reflect the changing times and deal with them rather than just continuing the same way and hoping for the best. It’s not working.
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yah, have you been in the Edinburgh one though? All it needs is some origami tumbleweed… Maybe it was a little spin to keep the employees motivated? or maybe popular doesn’t mean profitable 😉
I know what you mean about the price, but honestly, the margins are already so thin I don’t know how they’d drop them. And books might not yet be blighted by piracy woes but I get the feeling they might be soon.
Although, you cannae beat the smell of a fresh book I reckon, maybe if they added a scratch and sniff panel to e-book readers…
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I’ve not been to the Edinburgh one and with good reason – it’s in the middle of bloody nowhere. Borders had plenty of cash when they came here and it surely wouldn’t have been so tough to get a centrally-located shop. People don’t go to Fort bloody Kinnaird like they do Princes St and surroundings. And people don’t make 40 minute (with luck) bus trips to go to a book shop. That was a poor choice to open there. Glasgow’s is in an excellent location and being constantly packed is a clear reflection on that.
Borders may have still been doing okay. I get the impression that it is seen as being cooler than Waterstones so even if the big W is going down the pan on Princes St Borders may not have. Even neds go in and hang out about there in the Weege. Not that that’s a good thing…
Lynsey, let’s save the book industry. You start coming up with ideas and I’ll go get some doughnuts.
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It is in a damn stupid place through here it’s true, and I liked it ’cause it tended to sell some more unusual comics and stuff. I also remember being quite impressed by number of comfy seats it had way back when.
maybe it’ll get itself sorted, hope so. Check out the beeb about it.
lets do it! I don’t like doughnuts much though, carrot cake and coffee? And maybe a cape?
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“Today’s task: to spend at least half an hour being grateful for my copywriting job!”
How did that go?
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I think I managed it, and then I got sick as a punishment
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