Literature Waterstones (UK) bizarre deal with Amazon

[Muggle]

Waterstones and Amazon's Kindle turn a new chapter.

It was the twist no-one saw coming.

After previously describing Amazon as "a ruthless, money-making devil", Waterstones's managing director, James Daunt, announced in May that he was teaming up with the US internet store and would sell and promote its Kindle tablets and e-readers in the UK's premier book chain.

Few predicted a happy ending: "A deal for destruction", "Strange bedfellows", and "Waterstones let the fox into the chicken run" exclaimed some of the resulting headlines.

"If they choose to read digitally I have to become involved in that game," he explains, adding that it would be beyond the firm's resources to develop its own family of tablets and e-readers.

Instead he plans to offer add-on services - allowing visitors the chance to use Kindles to browse Waterstones's own recommendations and then read them for free while in-store.

"The principle is simple," he says.

"You are in a bookshop, you can pick up any of these books - you haven't bought them yet - you can browse them. Until you leave the shop you don't have to pay for them, and that same principle should apply to a physical device as well as a digital e-book."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20046568

I can't quite get my head around this. Who on earth carries their kindle with them when they go shopping? And why would you bother to go all way to a Waterstone's store when you can browse the amazon kindle store from the comfort of your own sofa and already download samples of the books? The samples tend to be quite long as well, longer than I think most people read when browsing in a shop.

I went into my local Waterstone's today. Well over a third of the ground floor is taken up all the non-book things they sell and the kindle display they've installed is massive. A lot bigger than the old sony e-reader one. It's quite sad really.

I thought this would be interesting to share. I keep feeling like I should hate amazon because they've forced most independent bookshops out of business and they're going to be the end of Waterstone's as well but I can't hate them. I have stopped buying second-hand books from them though, I try to get those from the second-hand bookshops or charity shops in town.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

I'm not sure who would browse things on their eReader while in a bookshop. That seems silly to me!

However, my handbag is large enough for me to fit my iPad in, and I do sometimes have it with me when I'm out shopping. I leave it at home if I'm going out just to shop, because its freaking heavy, but I often take it with me to work, so it's in my bag if I go shopping or anywhere else after work.
If I had a Kindle or Nook, I would probably leave it in my bag all the time, since they're so small and light.

 

[Lord Snot]

I really can't see this working. There are coffee shops and restaurants and a million places with wifi where you'd go to chill and browse the web, no? Why would you sit in a bookshop when you aren't interested in paper books...

 

[Muggle]

I really can't see this working. There are coffee shops and restaurants and a million places with wifi where you'd go to chill and browse the web, no? Why would you sit in a bookshop when you aren't interested in paper books...

Exactly. Just thinking about my local Waterstone's, there is nowhere for you to sit and read because it's not a library, it's a bookshop! And if I ever got the urge by something from the kindle store when I'm in the middle of town I can cross over the road to Starbucks for the wi-fi or go to the library, use their wi-fi to download it and then sit and read it there!

Oh hang on a minute... Costa is right next door to Waterstone's in town. I wonder if the wi-fi could be picked up in there so I could sit in there with one of their non-coffee drinks (their coffee is disgusting) and read books for free....

 

[Dedalus]

I have a Kindle Fire - and I love that I can get so many of the classics for free. That being said - I love the smell of old books - and the weight of them in my hands. They don't break if you drop them either. So the jury is still out on the whole digital book thing for me. Almost always, if I had the choice - it'd be a regular book - bought in a regular old book store. But I'm not opposed to change.

 

[AeryFairy]

Oh hang on a minute... Costa is right next door to Waterstone's in town. I wonder if the wi-fi could be picked up in there so I could sit in there with one of their non-coffee drinks (their coffee is disgusting) and read books for free....

There's a Costa *in* my local Waterstone's. This could be quite good for me...

But in general, it's a horrible idea. They don't need to do this to save their business, they need to do better deals and promotions on their actual books. They got rid of the 3 for 2 offer, and I haven't bought anything in there since... they were supposed to be replacing it with a price system where all the books that were previously 3 for 2 would be either £3, £5 or £7. That would have been good, I's buy a lot of £3 books, but there's been no sign of it.

 

[Pirate]

This is soooo bizarre. I love real books, I love going into book shops. I find it hard buy books in bookshops due to them not having the choice I want, but do always look first before buying on Amazon. Support businesses and all that. If most of the shop is taken up by a bloody Kindle display, I'll not even try to look any more and go straight to Amazon.

I feel sorry for the staff. they must all feel like their days are numbered!