Ideas@TheCentre
The pages of creative destruction
Australian readers have for the most part been poorly served by their booksellers, publishers and governments. The problems of a small market and the tyranny of distance were compounded by parallel import restrictions that allowed multinational publishers and cultural protectionists to exploit consumers. Books were expensive and choice limited. Yet technology has increasingly allowed Australian consumers to overcome these barriers. The recent demise of a major book retailer and many smaller bookstores is symptomatic of the changed relationship between book consumers and producers.
Before the commercialisation of the internet, I relied on the US-based Laissez-Faire Books to supply me with many of the books I wanted. It had found a niche buying books in bulk from academic and other publishers and supplying them by mail-order at low prices. For a while, it sought to compete with Amazon on price, but seeing the writing on the wall, it closed in 2007. In an email to customers, it noted that ‘the market has spoken.’
For a while, the big US chains provided Australian readers with some relief, offering more competition and expanding the range available to in-store customers. But this business model has also succumbed to the advance of technology. This week, futures market iPredict launched contracts on when individual Borders stores in New Zealand will close their doors. For Australian and New Zealand customers, ebooks and free shipping by online retailers have ended the tyranny of distance. Technology has also undermined the territorial distribution of copyright and the price discrimination strategies of publishers to the benefit of consumers.
There is little reason to lament the demise of the local bookstore. Some say they like to browse, yet virtual bookshelves and filters allow consumers to browse like never before. Others say they like the smell of bookstores, but if you really enjoy smelling books more than reading them, you should probably see someone.
Lower prices and easier access mean Australian consumers will enjoy more and better books. While some local and international book sellers will go out of business, it is likely that the more innovative booksellers and publishers will grow on the back of increased sales. So while you enjoy sucking the world’s great books out of the 3G ether for a song, spare an idle thought for those in the book industry who exploited us for so long. It will cost you nothing.
Dr Stephen Kirchner is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies and a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Technology Sydney Business School.
