In Singapore, where I currently live, three bookshops (including a certain Computer Book Store and a geomacy-themed book shop) will close this weekend, due to a combination of weakening demand and higher rents. In Britain, over this month, Harbour Bookshop and 2000 other book shops closed down as well. And, of course, there is Borders. No one will cheer for its closure, for it had forced several independent book stores to close in its history, too. But without Borders, there are fewer physical bookshops.
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There is all the talk on ebooks, the Internet, whatsoever. I currently read materials from my mobile phone and the computer. I don't have any real books.
Books are of a different sort of goods from other goods, like clothes or politics. They follow the long tail distribution of things. A larger proportion of the books have to be catered to people with different reading habits (if they do read). You can probably have a whole town wearing the same white T-shirt, blue jeans/Dickies and Nike Air Force 1s/Air Max 90/Jordan 3's. Your country can probably go ga-ga over a certain President, whose social and economic views do not stray far from the center. But books are a different story. They are unique. Different writers bring different perspectives to things. So books have to cater to different perspectives and tastes. Hence, it accounts for the differentiated numbers of books in the market.
View attachment 1678
With more writers getting inspiration from books, and hence write books on their own, books increase in an exponential amount. Anyone can be a writer. Being a writer is looked down upon in uber-practical Singapore, where it is quite hard to raise a family. If there were popular books anyway, (which includes e-books), they are beginning to be just mere marketing exercises and not something intrinsic for us to 'dig' in.
Once upon a time, there were indeed signs of a budding book scene in Singapore. Borders Singapore was the top-selling book store globally. Page One, the new upmarket book division of the largest book chain in Singapore, opened in Singapore and expanded to the Greater China region. And it looks that libraries in Singapore are getting bigger and bigger, to feed the demand of Singaporean book lovers.
Alas...
The libraries still have people thronging in, but now, they are for arts-related activities not related to books. It's just more of a civic center with a few books.
Page One is threatening to close its Singapore flagship stores, while already shrinking its non-educational sections (oh, those parts on standardized tests).
More significantly, Borders Singapore closed down, due to failures in cost cutting and the fa
ilure to even retain customers, as they are lured to Kinokuniya (which had been shrinking in size too) and the Web's book stores.
View attachment 1679
I just can't help but to wonder, are the days of the book gone? Will writers write e-books instead of books? And what do we have to deal with our large book collection?
View attachment 1677
There is all the talk on ebooks, the Internet, whatsoever. I currently read materials from my mobile phone and the computer. I don't have any real books.
Books are of a different sort of goods from other goods, like clothes or politics. They follow the long tail distribution of things. A larger proportion of the books have to be catered to people with different reading habits (if they do read). You can probably have a whole town wearing the same white T-shirt, blue jeans/Dickies and Nike Air Force 1s/Air Max 90/Jordan 3's. Your country can probably go ga-ga over a certain President, whose social and economic views do not stray far from the center. But books are a different story. They are unique. Different writers bring different perspectives to things. So books have to cater to different perspectives and tastes. Hence, it accounts for the differentiated numbers of books in the market.
View attachment 1678
With more writers getting inspiration from books, and hence write books on their own, books increase in an exponential amount. Anyone can be a writer. Being a writer is looked down upon in uber-practical Singapore, where it is quite hard to raise a family. If there were popular books anyway, (which includes e-books), they are beginning to be just mere marketing exercises and not something intrinsic for us to 'dig' in.
Once upon a time, there were indeed signs of a budding book scene in Singapore. Borders Singapore was the top-selling book store globally. Page One, the new upmarket book division of the largest book chain in Singapore, opened in Singapore and expanded to the Greater China region. And it looks that libraries in Singapore are getting bigger and bigger, to feed the demand of Singaporean book lovers.
Alas...
The libraries still have people thronging in, but now, they are for arts-related activities not related to books. It's just more of a civic center with a few books.
Page One is threatening to close its Singapore flagship stores, while already shrinking its non-educational sections (oh, those parts on standardized tests).
More significantly, Borders Singapore closed down, due to failures in cost cutting and the fa
ilure to even retain customers, as they are lured to Kinokuniya (which had been shrinking in size too) and the Web's book stores.
View attachment 1679
I just can't help but to wonder, are the days of the book gone? Will writers write e-books instead of books? And what do we have to deal with our large book collection?