What'd we do?

Once again, the comments on Tilting at Windmills make my blood run cold.

Feel the love from the digital fans! (Excuse me while I slip quietly under the ice.)

I think retailers and digital proponents are talking past each other.

Pretty much the same with bookstores. I thought at one time that people maybe liked bookstore a bit more, but the recent column in Slate disabused me of that notion.

I think, somewhere at people's core, they really don't like retail of any kind. And if they have to do retail, they'd rather do it with some huge, faceless corporation.

Anyway, I've come up with some bullet points (for both comic shops and bookstores) that I think are true -- but like I said, I doubt the digital folks will agree:


*The market is small and not very strong. It won't take much to collapse it completely.

*The biggest casualties will be the very types of books the digital people say they want; small press, independents.

*Digital cannot totally replace physical. There isn't enough money in it.

*People won't start reading comics just because they have access to comics online. They have to want to read comics first.

*A lower price won't convert more people into readers, or cause current readers to buy enough more to replace lost revenue.

*Without a physical presence of hobby shops, the hobby will dwindle.

*There will be a blizzard of product with unconnected results. No one will know how anything is selling, or what has caught the attention of the general public, except the biggest, most common denominator books.

*There is sizable minority that can't afford to go digital.

*There is a sizable percentage who will always prefer physical books.

*Books and digital will probably co-exist for the foreseeable future.

*Revenues will fall for the publishers, who will eventually be mostly replaced by do-it-yourself.

*Small bookstores (comic-stores) can adjust better than large chains.

*Everyone will have to sell something else. Hybrid stores will be the rule.

*People like to shop. They won't quit shopping.

*There is room at the top, for the best. I don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other prey.

*The market will evolve. Radio survived, albeit in a completely different format. T.V. is evolving toward cable quality shows.