In my mind it's an open question whether a stand-alone bricks-and-mortar business is viable. A lot depends on your niche—and whether you control the real estate,” says Chris Morrow, who officially took over the day-to-day operations of 33-year-old Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., three years ago. His parents, who founded the store in 1976, continue to play an active role: Barbara Morrow is involved in store events and works on the sales floor; Ed Morrow reviews the numbers.
But even with a successful transition plus the addition of unusual high-margin sidelines—for example, the seating areas (chairs, tables and lamps) throughout the store are for sale—as well as a vibrant statewide local first organization, which he heads, Morrow says, “The struggle to remain viable is accelerating.” After a “terrible” 2008, with the average customer purchase way down and the store's music business decimated, he's looking toward print-on-demand as the niche that could raise Northshire's sales.
Early last January, Northshire took the plunge and became the first independent bookstore in the country to install an Espresso Book Machine, billed by its creators as “an ATM for books.” Although it's not quite that popular yet, what led Morrow to install a beta machine, he says, is the potential to expand the store's book offerings to better compete in the marketplace. “I wanted to learn the business first-hand to see if it can help us survive,” he notes, adding that he's planning to install the smaller, zippier Espresso 2.0 later this year.
Although it's still too early to tell whether the Espresso or other POD offerings, including the ABA's POD program introduced last summer, will catch on, Northshire has garnered a lot of free publicity simply by adding the machine. For customers who may have missed articles in the New York Times and other national and local media, it's hard to ignore the machine's sheer physical presence; it sits in the very front of the store, on the sales floor. At the very least, the machine sends a message that printing books is as integral a part of Northshire's business as selling the more traditional preprinted kind from publishers.
Although the Espresso accounts for less than 1% of Northshire's overall sales, Morrow is optimistic. “We're still at the beginning,” he points out. “There remains a lot to happen for publishers to make copyrighted information available and to get public domain books.” He looks forward to the day when e-files of all the books in print will be available to booksellers, so that if a book is out of stock at the store, he can print it on the spot for a waiting customer. “It wouldn't be economical on a huge scale,” Morrow concedes, “but if it's a matter of losing a customer or making a sale, I'd rather make the sale.”
At present Northshire is concentrating on self-publishing under its Shires Press imprint. The books are shelved in the appropriate categories throughout the store and displayed in an area devoted to POD titles. To date, Shires Press' bestselling book is Michael M. Cohen's novella about a young man's search for meaning, Einstein's Rabbi: A Tale of Science and the Soul; it has sold 269 copies through the store and many more directly to the author.
Initially Morrow had planned on printing Northshire editions of the classics and of local-interest titles. “Local histories have potential,” he says, “but we've been busy printing many copies of books from authors around the world. We would like to branch out to get more institutional business, especially colleges.” Morrow doesn't see a conflict with other area publishers. In fact, the store prints ARCs for a local press. To reach out to aspiring Vermont writers, the store is considering starting a writing contest for book-length work. The winning submission would then be printed by Shires Press.
Morrow's diversification efforts aren't stopping at publishing. He is looking to piggyback on the local theme by offering Vermont-made products in the coming year. Also in the planning stages is another publishing venture—an environmental magazine.
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