The book changes – and the booksellers are worried. What role will the latter play in the new digital environment ? A report established for the union of the French bookstore is trying to measure the impact of digital technology on the book trade and advocates tightened cooperation between traditional players in the book chain to best negotiate the technological turn.
The youngest of the digital readers who arrives these days in France is signed Sony. Barely larger than a pocket book, the device may contain around 160 books, has a headphone jack to listen to audio books, has three text display sizes and “ Remember the place where you stopped reading ». With the Readerthe electronics giant shakes up the traditional book trade by surrounding himself, for the launch of his aircraft on the French market, of two exclusive partners: a single publisher, Hachette, and a bookseller, the Fnac (this exclusivity being limited to six months).
This kind of initiative worries booksellers. A written report for the union of the French bookstore (Slf) and the association of computerized bookstores and users of electronic networks (Alire), published last June, is trying to measure the impact of digital on the book trade and offers solutions to deal with the new deal. The authors warn: “ It is necessary today-and not tomorrow or the day after tomorrow-welcome digital and prepare the book trade for direct sales of digital content. Otherwise, others will do it, without the same ethics as that which the profession claims. »Faced with pure players (Companies exclusively on the Internet, such as Google or Amazon), telecom operators or access providers, the economic battle may indeed be very uneven and difficult for the traditional bookstore which has few means to invest.
From the book printed to the digital book
The authors of the report draw up a list of proposals to structure the marketing of the digital offer and strengthen the book trade. They underline the need for a legal definition of the digital book. The challenge is to define what type of digital content will be able to benefit from the legislation of the single book and the book price VAT reduced to 5.5 %.
The booksellers also recommend the definition of technical and commercial standards common to the various players in the book chain. Technically, they defend the interoperability and safety of formats, so that the files sold are readable “ on any machine ». The tools for reading digital texts are indeed numerous (readers, computers, game consoles, iPods, personal assistants, mobile phones, etc.) and their various uses. In the commercial field, the authors insist on the need for an interprofessional agreement (between publishers, authors, broadcasters, etc.) and on the rules for communication and transaction of digital media. And they set a “ major objective “:” Fight free. The challenge is indeed to protect the works without limiting the nomadic use of readers.
What prospects open to booksellers in this context: will they sell the devices and content ? Can we already (can we already ?) Buy or download a novel from a bookseller on a key USB ? Can we already (can we already ?) Rent a digital book for a few days ?
The strategy “ click and mortar »»
The report underlines the necessary evolution of the trade in the book towards a strategy “ Click and Mortar », That is to say combining a physical store-made of mortar (mortar) – and an online store – on which buyers click (click).
The booksellers are an essential link in the book chain. In direct contact with the customer, they have a strong prescription power. By fully using digital potential (indexing and referencing of content, online puff pastry, newsletterevent agenda, reader forums, social networks, books of books, geolocation, project order, etc.), booksellers will strengthen their role as mediators between the editorial offer and customer needs. The authors of the report therefore invite booksellers to sell books in all their forms (paper, digital, audio), online and in their store, and to experiment with new services, such as printing on demand (print we ask Or Pod) which allows “ Provide the unit or in very small quantities of documents which have become unavailable (works exhausted in particular) and opens up real prospects for the book market ». They finally evoke the role that booksellers can play in promoting and selling very specialized works (or little publicized), which may interest a large audience over time and worldwide (flow of a long -term work in small quantities). “” The future of cultural markets lies in millions of niche markets hidden at the bottom of the digital flow “Wrote Chris Anderson in 2004. The booksellers could not stoker all the books in their shop ; They will soon be able to sell them, in digital form.