I’m sure you’ve all heard the news by now, Borders has filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, February 15, 2011. If you want to read the announcement, here it is. To most of us, this isn’t a surprise at all, the news of a floundering and financially strapped Borders has been bouncing around for some time now. To tell you the truth, I expected them to file bankruptcy last year.
Borders plans to close 200 of their 600 “superstores”, which will mean thousands of layoffs and many vacant buildings. They owe the top publishers upwards to the tune of 230 million dollars. What are the implications of all of this? It trickles all the way down and not only is it not good, it’s devastating.
- Since Borders hasn’t been paying publishers for their inventory, publishers won’t ship to them so while customers will have many less Borders to go to, they will a vastly reduced selection.
- Print runs will plummet. What does this mean? This means in an economy and time publishing houses and authors are seeing print runs drop due to ebook sales, hundreds of less Borders to ship to means less homes for an author’s books. Less distribution is simply that, less places to sell your wares and therefore less money to be earned. Expect mid-list and new authors to be hit the hardest by this. With bookshelf space at a premium at places like Walmart, Target, the warehouse stores and the like, these stores tend to only stock books of big names authors or authors getting a gigantic push from the publisher. If an author doesn’t fall into either category, they will see a drop in sales and subsequently will probably less in terms of advances.
- Aspiring authors will find a much tighter market to ‘break’ into. Which isn’t to say you ever give up. For most of us, writing is in our blood–we can’t help but write–but I would have your feet solidly on the ground when it comes to expectations. ‘Breaking’ into writing has really never been an easy feat but it’s about to get a bit tougher. My suggestion is to not rule any particular avenue out. There’s more than one way to get your stories out there so I’d urge aspiring authors not to close off their minds or doors to new opportunities.
- More people looking for work affects the entire economy. In some way shape or form, everyone pays, whether it’s in higher priced goods and services. I checked my home insurance premium the other day and boy is it way up. Even for those who have jobs, we’re paying–some of us simply haven’t noticed or quantified it yet.
- Expect to see an increase in the cost of print books. It’s almost inevitable. How are publishers going to make up for lack of print distribution? Isn’t that the reason we have trade books? We pay higher for a product that doesn’t have that ‘mass’ distribution. Have you ever noticed that AA (African American) books are priced higher than their counterparts in mass paperback? They are for precisely that reason.
This is only some of the fallout from a bankrupt Borders but I’m sure it won’t end here. We’ll just have to wait and see how this all pans out.
What are you thoughts on Borders current financial woes. Will you be directly impacted? If you’re a Border’s shopper will you continue to shop there? If the Borders near you is closing where will you go to purchase your books? Where do you think Borders lost its way?
Win Katy Madison’s TAINTED BY TEMPTATION or Nalini Singh’s ARCHANGEL’S CONSORT
I’m not at all surprised this is happening, but I am saddened. As a kid I remember going to the original Borders on State Street in Ann Arbor, MI, and it was always a treat. I think one of the big problems with Borders was their crappy online presence and really coming too late that that party. Currently, I don’t have a Borders close to me so it won’t impact me in terms of where I shop BUT all those other things you listed will impact me and my buying/reading opportunities!
While the Borders by my office is closing, I didn’t use it very often (I’m not much one for lunch & would have to get in the car to go there when I’d want to run over), it was more a place to pick up an order rather than shop. The one by my home is to stay open which is great since I do shop there regularly. I’ve been doing most of my shopping at Borders (in store & online) the past couple years and have always liked it. I can’t say I’ve had a bad experience there, the staff has always been friendly & helpful when needed, it has a nice romance selection, and doesn’t “hide” them. I’ll keep shopping there in order to help them through the bankruptcy. There’s a B&N 5 minutes from the Borders & I’ve never cared for going in there to shop as it just seemed a friendly relaxed shopping experience, and that was before they started pushing the Nook so that all you when enter. Without Borders, I’ll prob end up doing most of my shopping online.
I’m lucky that my Borders is staying open. (WHEW!) I love their new rewards program and have gotten my money back already. It’s sad but with everyone selling and pushing eReaders and buying ebooks you knew this was coming. Even though I have two eReaders, I still buy books by my favorite authors that are keepers. B&N closed two of their stores near my house last year with no fanfare, how long before they start closing more stores?
It is unfortunate that these stores are closing. I have a Borders in the next town over I go to quite frequently. However, I looked at a list of closing and this one wasn’t on it. Aside from that the unemployment numbers will add to an already grim picture.
My Borders closed by me a few years ago and I never really took notice of it. I was just mad that there was one less place for me to get books. I’ve been a B&N shopper since I started seriously reading but now I’m a big Amazon lover because I have a Kindle. And SInce I have a Kindle so everyone thinks that I’m crazy when I buy print books but sometimes I just need a print book, especially if its a fav author.
I think it sucks that all of the borders around me are closing. Sad times. Though, to be honest I actually don’t buy books from there that often. I was always more of a Waldenbooks girl and when they closed the one near my house I start moved on to the next closest bookstore which happen to be Books a Million. I will say I do like Borders because I can find a better DVD selection there when it comes to buying BBC movies.
It is a shame since one of the stores closing is near me. It makes sense though since there is also a Barnes & Noble nearby so it makes sense to close a store with such competition. I will miss the store since they had a nice selection of romance and would send me coupons that would make the books more affordable than B & N. Our Walmart just doesn’t have a very big choice so I think it will be mostly B & N for me or amazon. It seems that pretty soon an e-reader will be a must have if you want to read stories for a reasonable price.
The only border in my city is being close down so that sucks. I always liked border better than B&N so I really don’t understand how they are having so much financial trouble.
I used to shop at Waldenbooks but they closed it down last year. Borders is a 45 min drive from where I live so I never bother going there since I can just buy online at Amazon.
We have a large Borders about 30 minutes from us and we have loved visiting it. However, I hadn’t thought of all the impacts that the chapter 11 reorganization would have. I tend to visit whatever bookstores are near by when I am out shopping and never was loyal to just one.
I have two Borders in my city and neither is closing. The odd thing is that in the last few months, they’re stocking a lot more romances than previously. You would think the inventory would be decreasing. I’ll still shop there, but I won’t be purchasing any gift cards just in case. I’ll probaby be borrowing books from the library or purchasing books from Target or Wal Mart. They discount, whereas B&N hardly ever offers coupons.
The closest Borders to my home is about 45 minutes away, so I don’t go there often. I usually pick up my books at Walmart, my local independant book store, or order them offline. I buy alot of books over the internet, especially from Amazon.com.
My bookaholic heart grieves at the current state of bookstores. I absolutely love browsing in bookstores.
My concern is the future of paperbacks. I am anti-ereader, so I am worried that books I want to read in the future will only be available as ebooks.
I hate that Borders is having financial problems. There is not one near where I live. I have ordered from them online.
I have a Borders but it was kind of out of the way compared to Books-a-Million and Barnes and Noble. I personally prefer print books over e-books and it is sad that the price will be affected for those who actually enjoy holding a book.
The Borders store downtown has already closed, and while I was saddened to see it go, it will be much easier on my wallet as it will no longer be convenient to go in and get a Green Tea Latte. Before I got my Kindle I shopped at Borders all the time and spent a ton of money there. Luckily there are still 2 stores in my area that are open to shop at, and one of them hosts my romance bookgroup.
I think Borders should have jumped on the ereader wagon much sooner than it did. I had heard that B&N was starting to have financial problems as well, although not as bad as Borders, and the release of their nook significantly helped them out of their slump. Yes, Borders sells ereaders from other manufacturers, but they don’t have their own dedicated reader like B&N and Amazon that loyal Borders customers could jump on the bandwagon with. If Borders had their own dedicated reader and ebookstore, I would have bought that instead of my Kindle.
It saddens me greatly. I am one of those stubborn people who haven’t switched over to ebooks. I love my print books and love to be surrounded by them. I have to think the impact of ebooks is less print books are wanted. I think too eventually (and hopefully not for a long while) that technology is going to win. How many people know young people that still go to libraries (it’s going to hurt them too). Ebooks do make sense – less paper (which will get more scarce and expensive) and they don’t take up any room and they are more convenient to take with you everywhere and less expensive than most books. Although I know all this, I have loved my books too long to give them up but I know the time is coming. My borders is one that is being closed but part of the reason is that our Barnes & Noble has a better location so it still thriving for now.
I rarely shopped online or in person in Borders. or B & N. Their prices, selection, or shipping policies do not beat Amazon, etc. IMO. I hope B & N and BAM take heed of this and get rid of their discount cards that you pay for. In B&N case they should have free shipping if you redeem a gc online.
I’ve pretty much converted to reading 95% ebooks and if I do read a print book it’s one I’ve swapped for so Borders’ woes don’t affect me directly, however, I am worried about the effect on the publishers of this. Much as I hate the “Agency 5” publishers for their nonsensical ebook pricing policies, I don’t want them to go bankrupt also, I just want them to see the light and change their business model.
As for why this happened, it’s the same old story. Just like everyone else, they thought Amazon was crazy to try to create an ebook market and they were too set in their ways to envision a new business model. It happened in music, it’s happened with movies, and it’s happened with magazines and newspapers. I really don’t know why everyone is so surprised that it is now happening in books.
I also think it’s because of so many ebooks coming out. Personally, I don’t care much for ebooks, but times are a changin whether we like it or not. Luckily, our 2 Borders are not closing, so I can still shop there. I also buy a lot of books from eHarlequin, Amazon, and WalMart, depending on what the book is. I don’t care much for Barnes & Noble.
I’m also one of the few who’ve not converted to ebooks, so the current state of brick-and-mortar bookstores pains me. The Borders by my workplace is closing, which means I lose a place to browse and read after I get off of work; the next nearest one is not too far, but situated in a busy mall so it’s not the best environment to drive into/hang around in. I’ll either have to hit up that one, or start buying books online… I’d love to support the independent bookstores around here, but sometimes I just can’t afford to. I’m hoping the restructuring goes well; in the meantime, I’m visiting my favorite Borders as much as possible before it closes.
Borders is like everyone else it is hard to make it in todays time. We have had so many jobs close in my area. There is not many places to work around here anymore. As far as books stores go we have one very small one and you just about have to order what you want. So I can buy a few at Walmart or Kroger and that is about it. Or i have to order form Amazon
We haven’t lived near a Borders in a very long time. I have heard of book stores closing in many larger cities, while our relatively small city still has a Barnes & Nobles and a Books-A-Million plus one indi store. All seem to be doing well. Since I haven’t been to a Borders in years, I have no idea what their problem is. Did the over expand, over stock, or not stock enough? Who were their buyers and did they do a good job of selecting for the local markets? Lots of questions and few answers, I’m sure.
It is really a shame that authors are having a harder and harder time getting into and staying in the market. E-publishing is a good option, but not all of us have e-readers yet.
I’m glad that the four Borders I frequent (okay, one A LOT and the others not as much) are still going to be open. I do have a few indie bookstores that I like but none are as convenient and with a good cafe setup as the Borders I go to the most. The local Barnes & Noble isn’t set up as well (cafe-wise) and since they are going to concentrate on selling Nooks and toys instead of books, I don’t like going there (the last item I bought at B&N was a bag of coffee beans).
Too bad Borders didn’t get on the ebook bandwagon sooner.
ebooks are all fine and well but I want to browse real books, not ebooks. I want to hold a book in my hand, look at the spine and the back cover, and maybe even sneak a peek at the last page (of course, given romances, they are all HEAs). I want my keepers to be paper books although I’m fine with other books in my TBR pile to be ebooks (I do have a TBR ebook list, too).
Though I tend to do more online book shopping, Borders, B & N, Amazon, etc., I still like to visit a bookstore and browse its items. Unfortunately, the Borders Express near me closed in January 2010. I was sad that was closing but I purchased over 100 books for very little money.
I’m also sad for the workers who are losing their jobs and whoever this impacts with the trickle down effect.
I live near two Borders and both of them are closing, so I’m going there this weekend for the sale. And even though I usually buy most of my books online, it’s still sad seeing the stores close.
I live in the sticks, with no Borders near by, so in that aspect the closings don’t affect me. In all honesty, since I’ve gotten my nook I shop mostly at online at B&N…and there’s a B&N store closer to me that I usually visit. I’m leery about how this will impact the rest of the publishing world though.
I don’t have a borders within 100 miles, so it isn’t going to impact me.
I buy most of my books at Amazon or WalMart. If the price of print books goes up, I will have to buy ebooks.
I am one of those Luddites who has not gone eBook yet. I just love the feel and heft of a real book in my hand. My home is wall to wall bookshelves and I hate the idea that in ten years or so my house may be a museum because print books are no more and went down to the cheers of the techno-mongers. It is strange to me that we can come up with all of this technology for convenience and can’t synthesize a paper that is cost efficient and doesn’t harm trees. We would rather spend our energy coming up with better, more efficient ways to kill each other and creating beer with fewer calories.
Most of all I hate to think of the really gifted writers whose stories will go untold because they got into the writing game at a time when the publishers are forced to put all of their efforts into money-making juggernaut authors.
I’ll keep writing because it is what I was born to do, but I fear my dream of seeing my name on the cover of a real book in a real bookstore and in the hands of readers just got sacrificed on the altar of greed in the church of lets make everything technologically perfect because we can.
Crawling under my book shelf lined rock again. LOL
There is a Borders near where I live. I don’t know if it’s closing down or not yet. I hope it doesn’t. I’ve always loved shopping at Borders.
Thanks for another giveaway!
To be honest, I mostly shop online at Amazon.com or BN.com, even though I have a Borders just down the street. It’s just more convenient for me to shop online, I know the book is in stock and I can keep track of what I have and don’t have. So Borders closing some stores won’t directly impact me, but it is bad for the economy and publishing in general, that’s for sure.
Greed? I don’t think so, unless you mean Borders’ greed. Not paying publishers for their products over a 6-month period smacks of greed.
I got a color Nook for Christmas and I really like it a lot. Yes, it’s heavier than a paperback, but the same as a small hardcover. I have been storing my paperbacks in boxes in an outdoor shed, since our home here has very little internal closet/storage space. No basement or attic. I have bookshelves everywhere I can reasonably place them, but they are still sparse because the typical Arizona floor plan is “open”, with few walls. My e-reader will hold between 2000 and 4000 books (depending on file size), and I can add a memory chip that will hold 16,000 more. The Nook files are small.
I have found that I don’t miss the page-turning, since the Nook has a swipe to go to the next page. Every Friday, B&N announces new free e-books available for a limited time. The same e-books are also free at Amazon. By being conservative with my purchases, I can equal the Walmart discounts over a month-worth of books. Avon/Harper Collins does not discount the e-books, but Harlequin/HQN/Mira gives a deep discount for the e-book format. Because of the free e-books, I’ve ventured outside my comfort zone and found some real treasures.
Bookstores? We have one, a local Arizona chain. The nearest Borders and B&N are both 75 miles away. No sweat; I go there once a year and don’t miss them between visits. Online shopping is more my thing.
The nearest Border’s to me closed a couple of year ago. It was one those super stores. I shop at Barnes and Noble at our Mall.
I usually do all my book buying at Amazon.com. When the Borders closed here there was a lot of anger because someone went to the dumpster in the rear to toss something and it turned out both dumpsters were filled to the top with their merchandise , brand new books. The paper showed pictures and everyone wanted to know why they didn’t just donate the books and Borders said “it would be too expensive”to do so. Go figure.
Carol L
Lucky4750@aol.com
The Borders I susally shop at is not closing. It was always busy. I do have a gift card to them and also a member ship. I amthinking ti will nto affect me too much. May daughter is an assistant manage at a BArnes and Noble and the B&N is much closer to my house.
The closest bookstore to me is a Borders. I’ll have to check and see if their closing. If Borders wants to have any chance at all they have to find something that B&N and Amazon don’t have. They have to find the edge. Right now they can’t compete with the ebook rave that Amazon and B&N has going.
Borders may have filed Chapter 11 it doesn’t mean the company is going anywhere. They’re just restructuring and closing down unprofitable stores. Even if they do shut down all the B&M the online store will still be there and hopefully they will offer better discounts to compete with Amazon since there won’t be any overhead. Kind of like what Circuit City and Linen N Things have done. The only thing I will miss is being able to go in and pick up the book, read the back flap, the little intro at the beginning and the first few pages to see if a new author piques my interest.
The Border’s that I like to shop at has been put on the chopping block. I’ll be really sad to see it go. I prefer Border’s to B&N because they always had a better Romance section and a more extensive back list of books than B&N. Now the closest Border’s to me is in NYC. So instead of a 15 minute drive, I have to spend an hour, on a bus and train, to get to the closest one. With the cost of a metro card going up practically every year, it’s not worth all that travel. I would order online, but I hate to pay for shipping on something that has a physical location. Does that make sense? Besides, I want to be able to go to the bookstore, get what I want and leave.
Plus I prefer the Border’s rewards program to the B&N membership. I think that B&N should have a free membership in addition to it’s membership. I’d prefer to get 25%-40% off coupon every Tuesday, than the everyday 10%. I don’t shop enough for the $25 membership fee to be worth it. Maybe Border’s lost money that way, but I shopped more with a coupon.
Personally, I’m not into e-readers. As many others have said, I like to hold an actual book in my hand. I mean technology is great and all, but electronics can break, screens can crack, batteries can die, you can even forget to charge it and then where would you be? Possibly having nothing to read until all those problems are solved. Whereas having paper bound books means you can pick it up no matter what. If I ever got an e-reader, like a Nook color, and thats a big IF, it would be for magazines and to have my favorite books all in the same place. I like having book shelves and collecting books. Plus most e-books are just as expensive as bound books. I thought the reason we payed so much for a bound book was the fact that it uses paper and it needs to be printed, etc. An e-book has none of that, so IMHO, they should be much cheaper.
Maybe Border’s did go wrong by not having their own e-reader, I don’t know. Whatever the reason, it hurt them and now it’s going to hurt the consumers.
Borders in my town not closing yet. I did like shopping there better than the local BN. But I have shopped for books mainly online for years and BN site was always much better. I agree they didn’t get into the online shopping and then ebook market soon enough and that their so-so website impacted their problems. They had financial woes some time back so I’m not surprised at the bankruptcy as they have struggled for years.
Not entering contest, have both books.
I think one of the ways Borders went wrong was that they didn’t try and break into the ebook market as quickly as B&N did. Ebook sales have risen exponentially, and the loyal Borders customers who had ereaders were forced to do their shopping elsewhere, taking all that potential business elsewhere. For a long time Borders has sold Sony eReaders in their store, but never ebooks…
I personally have a nook and prefer B&N stores to Borders anyway, but it always saddens me to see a bookstore close.
Sad to hear that. I’m not directly affected since I never use book shops and get all my books online from Amazon. I’m from Germany and our stores here just don’t sell all that many English books. That’s why I’ve been ordering my books via the Internet for about 10 years. Also, being now in possession of a Kindle, Amazon stays my source #1 for books even though they should consider their prices…
The Borders closest to my home is closing. I was pretty surprised by that because the store always seems busy when I shop there. I really feel for the employees who will soon be out of work.
I am so sad that Borders has had to file for bankrupsy! I am not sure if the Borders close to my home is closing or not. A few years ago they built a new Barnes and Noble closer to my home and I have been doing most of my shopping there. I have shopped at Borders on line and it wasn’t a good experience for me. They didn’t have the books that I wanted in stock so they had to order them and it took about three weeks before I received them. I have never had to wait so long for a book order to arrive! I also think that by not coming up with their own e-reader was a bad business decision and has probably adversly affected them. I can only hope that new writers are able to make it in these hard economic times!
I’m not surprised but I’m sad. Borders has long been my preferred bricks and mortar bookstore. They have dedicated romance and YA experts who love the genre. They get it.
Fortunately my local one is staying open, but who knows how long it will be around. I’m sure that I’ll be buying more online from now on, which makes me sad. Although I love the greater selection that online booksellers like Amazon offer us, nothing can replace the experience of spending hours on end browsing a bookstore. Keywords and “people who bought this also bought” just can’t replace it.
Seeing as Borders Australia has also gone into voluntary administration this affects me both as a staff member and a consumer, the whole situation here is uncertain and I’m fearful we’ll follow in the vein of Borders US which is very very sad news.
We had a nice small Waldenbooks that they closed in January. The booksellers were wonderful, they would have your favorite authors books waiting for you at the counter because they knew you would be stopping by after work to pick them up. We started to notice a change as soon as Borders bought them out but they did their best to still give their customers great service.
Borders only have three stores left open in the state and unfortunately they and the one Barnes and Noble are all too far to drive to if your working. An independent bookstore has just opened at the old Waldenbooks location but as of yet they haven’t received their first shipment of “new books” and of course there are no discounts which lowers the numbe of books that I can purchase. Hopefully the economy will improve and I’ll finally get I’ll get a raise or my hours back to what they used to be or they will come up with some sort of “frequent buyer” program so I can continue to purchase the books I want.
I got a Kindle for Christmas but I really prefer to read a “real” book and beable to go back over my favorite scene. There also something more intimate about turning the pages and re-reading your favorite passages that I just know feel reading an ebook.
I feel sorry for all the wonderful booksellers that worked for Borders and hope them the best especially in this economy. I think more stores and corporations have to start realizing that one size and business model does not fit all cities and towns and they have to learn what are the most important things to their local customer base to remain competive in today’s marketplace.
I’m sad to see bookstores closing. I enjoy actually going into the store and browsing, reading the blurbs on the back and seeing the covers. I also like have choices of stores to go to. Our Border’s is one of the stores that is closing. This will leave us with a few Barnes and Noble stores, i do like, them, but I do like choices!
It’s very sad to hear about a bookstore in distress. Cutting down so many stores is awful! All those families without work, I pray they will find a way to cope/survive.
I’m not a fan of e-books and love the real deal so… If prices go up because of it I’m going to have to make do with the books available in the library. Rather then buying whatever I like. Being able to read less or books that don’t interest me as much is not a thing I’ll look forward to.
I think Jeanne has a really good point. For bookstores to survive they need to be smaller and they need to really understand the demographics of the community in which they open. If they discover most of their buyers buy romance then they need to really stay on top of romance. If it is westerns or mysteries or whatever with a smaller facility, lower inventory and more specialized stock they might be able to make a go of it.
We had a wonderful little indy bookstore in our town. The owner was amazing at keeping track of what customers read and she made an effort to pick things out that might appeal to them. The store became a victim of the economy and I truly feel our community is lessened by its closing.
I feel for those workers who are going to lose their jobs. A closing like this has a ripple effect and often the only people who aren’t hurt by this sort of thing are the people at the top.
What I truly despise are all of the banks, brokers and mortgage companies that tanked our economy with no thought to tomorrow or no thought to the rest of us once they got their money socked away. If you are smart enough to make money in this nefarious way, you are smart enough to know what the results will be. No matter what the law says, THAT is criminal.
The only plus in it all is that in hard times people NEED romance. They need to read, to escape and to know that happily ever after is possible in their reading, until it becomes possible in their reality.
The BORDERS store closest to me is closing. I live in Puerto Rico and they are only going to leave open the Hato Rey store, which is like 2hours from where I live. The Mayaguez store was so close to me and I used to go to relax, buy books, magazines and spend some time with my boyfriend looking through the books. I am really devastated, now I have nowhere to go to relax and read.
I must say…last week was hell for me last week. I work for Borders and it felt like we were losing a limb, it was agonizing. It is truly a sad demise, yet I thought I could move on until I came on to this site for some relaxing romance news and my heart took a downward spiral. On one side it IS good that we all talk about this, because in the past week I’m finding out that so many of our customers love the brick and mortar type of stores, whether it is an independent, or big chain. This really made so many of us feel good and we were surrounded by love from so many people….on the other side, I would have liked to start out my work week just discussing a good romance book. LOL! I thought about leaving and not posting, but it’s important that a voice from someone who still works for Borders and will believes in the company should post her comments. At least I still have my sense of humor.
Also….I am blessed that our store is NOT closing and my romance section rocks!! We are doing fabulous.
Thanks Bev!
Was saddened to hear some stores were closing and more people losing jobs. I don’t get to Border’s very often as it is not close so it won’t change my book shopping. I do a lot of mine online.