Back in the 1980s, when I was writing horror novels–and finally getting them published–Patty and I loved to visit bookstores and see my books on the shelves. Waldenbooks, Borders, little independent stores… We’re both avid readers, and kept stocking up on paperbacks for the weekend. Books with the theme of “small town terrorized” were always high on her list. And I was thrilled when Aunt Gertie went on a bus trip to Niagara Falls and found my books in some of the gift shops.
We had two stores right here, downtown. There were bookstores everywhere. But now there’s only one, selling used paperbacks only. Where did the rest of them go? You can imagine how a writer must have felt about disappearing bookstores.
It looks to me like most books, the most by far, can only be bought online. I’m glad we can do that, but I have to say my sales were much better in the bookstores. Writing is the only job I do really well–and a writer has got to have readers.
There’s still a Barnes & Noble in our Menlo Park Mall–the only place I know where you can still buy new books. But as a writer, I’d be sunk without Amazon.com.
You can’t find my books in the stores anymore, you can only buy them online. Heck, you can hardly find the stores. I miss browsing in the bookstores. And I wonder if they’ll ever come back.
My first published book. Corny? I guess so. But my own.
I really miss book stores.
We had hours of pleasure in them.
Book stores were places I loved to visit. There are still some Barnes and Nobles in Tucson, but most bookstores are long gone. I truly miss them.
Throughout the Philippines, there are few bookstores. There is one national chain, but that one, which used to be filled with new books, can now hardly be called a bookstore, for now there are few books.
There used to be a used bookstore in one mall. I loved going there, where I would always come home with three or four “new” books to read. Many were new, and came from bookstores in the US, their unsold stock. Six months ago, hoping to buy a few books from that store, I found its no longer there, how sad.
The things we are losing seem better than the things we are gaining.
Sad, but true.
Yes, it is a shame about the loss of bookstores, and libraries don’t offer much any more. I’m glad for amazon books, especially since I’m not well enough to leave the house anyway. When I was young, I kept the local library very busy. I was so familiar there that the librarian would send me on trips to the grocery store for her (like one of the family).
A lot of good old stuff is gone from libraries, and has not been replaced.