The Depressing Future Of Books And Book Stores

As the owner of Christianbooksbibles.com, an online Christian book store, I am continually looking out for my competition. 2011 was a year full of intense change for the publishing industry. With tablets being released left and right, there are major changes taking place for small businesses like mine. With iPads and e-readers like the Amazon Kindle, the book market is being increasingly divided. A totally new medium was introduced, and the ripples are being seen around the globe.

As someone that makes their living from selling books, Sunday school curriculum, small group Bible studies, Bibles, etc, you may anticipate me being fairly negative on the current book trends. However, as much as I want to think that tablets and e-readers are a brief trend, I do not. Unfortunately for me and millions of other book store owners, this technology is going to radically change the way people search for, buy, and consume content that was, till just recently, restricted to print media. Why do I suspect this? Below are 5 reasons:

1. Convenience – “I admit, I purchased a Kindle touch this month, and already adore it. Within 5 minutes, I am able to check out thousands of books, read reviews from folks like me, purchase, and start to read. Even better, with countless numbers myriad of applications, I’m able to make one purchase, and read on my phone, computer, tablet, or e-reader. Compared against traditional strategies, this is a huge time-saver. While I’m not used to the e-ink, I don’t think that this will be much of an argument once I spend a touch more time with it.

2. Effective/Efficient – “Being the husband of an interior designer, I have come to dislike messes. As I write this, the left field of my vision contains 2 overstuffed shelves, full of books, binders, and educational resources. Nonetheless imagine all of those books, digitised on the cloud, accessible at any time (and anywhere). Goodbye clutter. In addition, if you are a common traveler, you know the strain that media takes on your luggage weight. With digital versions, this isn't an issue.

3. Environmentally Conscious – “I’ll admit, when I was a teenager, I could not care less about the environment. I did not see real effects with waste, carbon emissions, and logging. Nevertheless in my adult life, I have taken a different stance. Our planet is a precious place, and we are decades, maybe centuries away from finding and setting up another civilization on the moon, Mars, and beyond (though I think it’s coming some day) Obviously, we’ve evolved on this planet, and are thus suited surprisingly well to it. I think everyone will agree that we should do everything in our power to make it last. Cutting paper waste, fuel, and a plethora of other bi-products of the normal book industry, is certainly a great thing

4. More Cost-effective “with the physical product and distribution simplified, digital versions of most things cost a lot less than their physical opposite number. As a consumer, I am always looking to save money

5. Accessible – In an environment in which a majority of folk are illiterate and uneducated, I suspect this new technology will do miraculous things for worldwide education. Yes, these replacements for traditiona books are expensive now, but history has shown that as time moves on, the cost of components will go down tremendously.

There are severe downsides to this technology. To start, the small businesses are the ones that are hurt the most. Amazon and Apple (and similar companies) hold more power than ever. As more folks start to acclimatize to these new technologies, it’ll become more of an issue. Additionally, I think that this is an illustration of technology that will eventually make the wealthy richer, and the poor poorer. There are probably millions of jobs out there that will become less required. Therefore , I suspect there must be legislation that may expect these changes, and protect the masses.

Electronic books aren’t going anywhere. My Christian book store has to find a way to adapt to this new and thrilling technology. While I believe some are far more insulated than others (i.e. It'll take people more time to start reading their Bibles on an ereader), entrepreneurs, especially those in the bookstore medium, must forecast into. The future so as to survive this new frontier.

Justin Lugbill is the owner of Christianbooksbibles.com, a retailer of Christian books and Church Bible Studies and more. Additionally, he is the founder of Redline Digital, an intenet marketing and development company. He resides in Chicago with Erica, who owns Chicago interior design firm, Lugbill Designs