Toops Scoops: Borders: Lessons Learned

Bookselling juggernaut Borders is no more. Are you surprised? Does the decline of the megabookstore mean anything to the emerging market of readers, many of whom have defected from the printed page to downloading content to their Kindles or otherwise reading online? And what does this have to do with the independent agency system?

Plenty.

First, full disclosure: Bookstores are a big deal to me. I've written and published four books in my career, all with small presses. My first novel was published “electronically” back in 2000, when e-publishing was so nascent as to be invisible. Because publishing a book on paper was (and is) cost prohibitive, the teeny-tiny publisher's strategy was to make its titles available exclusively via CD-ROMs and downloads to a primitive e-reader device that cost around $300 (I still have mine stashed in a drawer somewhere).

It was an idea ahead of its time. Back then, nobody understood the concept of electronic publishing–how can you read a book with no pages?–and few were willing to pony up for a gadget with limited use. And why should they, when they could simply go into Borders and buy a paperback for under ten bucks? The little publisher valiantly kept preaching the e-publishing gospel, but very few were listening.

Then came the personal technology boom, and suddenly the publishing paradigm was turned upside-down.

Like insurance, publishing success hinges on good distribution and better marketing. For publishers, the first step meant getting their product into the megabookstores and on Amazon through distributors/wholesalers like Ingram and Baker & Taylor.

With the advent of the cheap Kindle, distribution became a lot simpler. Publishers specializing in e-books no longer had to worry about bricks-and-mortar sales, a title's bookstore shelf life, or the shipping costs and humiliation involved with bookstore returns.

Just as Netflix and Hulu spelled the end for Blockbuster, emerging technology turned the megabookstores into collateral damage.

But don't think for a minute that the trends that brought down Borders spell the end for all bookstores. While the Borders stores liquidate their stock, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, a little independent bookstore in suburban Chicago, is doing just fine. 

C&S is as far from a juggernaut as you can get. Specializing in historical fact and fiction and crime/mystery novels, much of it with a regional slant, the bookstore's single storefront location has the ambiance of Sherlock Holmes's parlor. Owner Augie Aleksy is passionate about books, knows his customers by name, and regularly host book signings and other interesting events.

A quirky business model? Maybe. But C&S has weathered downturns, recessions, e-publishing and competition from the megastores, celebrating its 20th anniversary just last year. 

Independent agents can learn a lot from both Borders and C&S:

• Size isn't everything. A single storefront or a store on every corner? Starbucks' original oversaturation strategy ended up backfiring, too.
• Know your customers. This should be the mantra of every successful business, whether it's a bookstore or an insurance agency.
• Know your product. C&S works closely with publishers of all sizes, their authors and marketing reps. When a customer comes in looking for the latest Jack the Ripper book (and there are always more!), Augie knows what's out there — and can expound on all the theories, too.
• Specialize! One-stop shopping has its place, but even Walmart is beginning to experiment with smaller formats. Successful agencies can cater to all their customers' needs, but most find true leverage in honing an edge in some specialty business.
• Follow your bliss. C&S has stayed in business for more than 20 years because its owners love history, Chicago and books. Many agency principals have built successful specialties around a specific interest. Seems like a fun way to succeed to me!