MADRID IN SEPTEMBER - BEAUTIFUL AND GREEN WITH GREAT CAFES, BARS AND RESTAURANTS
Recently, I was having a chat with Rod Younger of Books4Spain about the sales of books and the revolution in the way that books are sold. This, of course, is of some importance to me as the author of five books with my new book, The Laptop Entrepreneur, out this week. The question, of course, is how to buy books now and the importance of niche on-line book shops – with Rod Younger offering a specific on-line service to anyone interested in books about Spain.
There is much debate on both sides of the ‘pond’ about how to compete with Amazon. Barnes & Noble are doing an admirable job in the US while Waterstones are trying to re-invent themselves as a ‘local bookshop.
Nevertheless, it is an irrefutable fact that increasing numbers of consumers are buying books online. As far as traditional brick & mortar bookshops are concerned, a good bricks & mortar bookshop should continue to attract customers, provided they meet the following 3 key success factors:
- Location, location and location;
- Quality of products, i.e. book selection; and
- Knowledge and experience of staff.
It is clear that chains such as Barnes & Noble or Waterstones do, or should be able to, possess or create these factors. What is less clear is whether many traditional independent bricks & mortar bookshops can do the same – they need all three factors above to at least have a chance of surviving the double whammy of internet retailers and the attempted revival by the leading chains (and not forgetting deep discounting of best sellers by supermarkets).
The Internet enables an independent bookshop to address the three key success factors, and more, with much lower overheads than operating one or more physical stores. Nevertheless, few independent bookshops appear to be seriously developing their internet presence with innovative websites, value added content etc. which are designed to attract and engage customers. It seems that it is more of the fact that “the Internet is there so we had better have a presence – but let’s not undermine our physical store”
There is one exception that I am aware of relevant to Spain and books about Spain and it is Books4Spain (www.books4spain.com), an online bookshop specialising in English language books and ebooks set in, or about Spain.
Rod Younger, recently interviewed on Mijas TV (http://bit.ly/vJF4c1) established Books4Spain not only in response to the explosive growth in online mass market ‘soulless’ book retailers, such as Amazon (and Waterstones for that matter) but also to the continuing decline of the traditional independent bookshop with knowledgeable staff and an interesting collection of books. It meets a number of key criteria which, I believe, are vital for success in competing against Amazon:
- A user friendly site which has been designed to re-create the experience, attractions and benefits of a traditional bricks & mortar independent bookshop;
- Specialisation – in this case “local” = Spain;
- Books which have been classified and categorised correctly (or is the word “curated”!) to enable customers to find relevant books easily and quickly whilst also drawing them into a browsing experience;
- An interesting selection of books, e.g. modern best-selling Spanish writers in translation; and
- Added value information such as Book Reviews by people knowledgeable in the subject area, e.g. Wine, Flamenco, Food etc.
Books4Spain has all of the above, with the added convenience afforded by the Internet. Books4Spain is getting very good feedback from users, publishers and authors (see below) and is offering Culture Spain readers a 10% discount on purchases (with the exception of certain eBooks and Special Offers – of which there are a number) until 16 December on entering the promo code CULTURESPAIN on checkout. They are also running several competitions with easy to answer questions to win a number of books, including Finest Wines of Rioja & North Western Spain, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – a Season in El Bulli; The Goldsmith’s Secret, Encarnita’s Journey and Elizabeth and the Prince of Spain, amongst others (see https://books4spain.com/blog/?cat=44 for more details).
Incidentally, Books4Spain currently stock two of my books (with the others due to come on-line soon). For a short period Rod at Books4Spain is offering these two books about Spain of mine – at a 10% discount! May be worth a look…
Finally, if you want to order a book on-line that will reach you before Christmas then you really ought to do so this weekend!
Nick Snelling – Culture Spain
RELEVANT INFORMATION ABOUT BOOKS FOR SPAIN
Books4Spain – a wonderful new resource