“The death of books has been greatly exaggerated,” says novelist Lloyd Shepherd in the Guardian. He has written a detailed statistical analysis of the long-term trends in the trade and presents a positive outlook, perhaps too positive.
His case hinges on two standout facts. Book sales in the UK have increased by 42 per cent over the last ten years and UK publishing sales have increased by 36 per cent during the same period. The industry yielded £1.7 billion last year.
“Why the gloom?” Shepherd asks. The answer, it seems, is simple. As this blog illustrated here and here, retailers haven’t been able to compete with Amazon on either price or overheads. Amazon’s success has come at the expense of mainstays of the High Street – Borders and Woolworths – and countless independent bookstores. Publishers are also facing what Faber and Faber’s Stephen Page has described
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