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In the 80′s, when I was little, I devoured the Choose Your Own Adventure books - “If you decide to approach the manor, turn to page 3. If you decide to go back, turn to page 2″…
I would have been delighted to know that by the time I had my own child, almost everything would be interactive and instant (not to mention we’d finally have functional video phones: FaceTime. Skype, iChat…). One needn’t wonder why our kids are drawn to objects like the iPhone and the iPad – these are lighted windows into an infinite world of quick loading manipulatable magic. It’s C.Y.O.A. on mega-steroids.
Of course you remember those days as a youngster huddling around D&D notebooks with dogeared pages, but kids these days, they have W.O.W. and Netflix streaming. Instant high octane entertainment at your fingertips (no need to rewind those tapes first!). As awesome as they were at the time, can you imagine going from our high-tech wonderworld of infinite information and choices, back to the world of the cozy, all too slim old C.Y.O.A. novels? Or, for that matter, going back in time from our day of infinite iPad books downloaded in your den while you make your morning coffee, to creating leaflets on a letterpress (sayonara Twitter?) or hitching up a horse to get to the library down yonder in the neighboring township (while you’re there trade some sugar for some milk at the dairy)?
With inventions like the ebook becoming old hat already, as well as the development of items on the horizon such as the 3D printer, will our children’s children assume that all objects should be acquired instantly?
(Read an amazing short story from The New Yorker called The Dungeon Master, here.)
Now, here is a piece from the Booktrix blog on how Amazon’s instant gratification factor has made it the biggest enemy of the independent bookstore…
Booksellers and Co-opetition
Co-opetition: Cooperative competition. Practice where competitors work with each other on project-to-project, joint venture, or co-marketing basis.
Historically, most independent bookstores have viewed Amazon and Barnes & Noble not only as direct competitors, but as enemies. Which is certainly understandable.
Barnes & Noble has long been a dominant force in retail bookselling. B & N gets better business terms than small stores, is able to publish its own books, and now, of course, like Amazon, has major advantages over independent stores in selling ebooks and print books online.
And for so many bookstores, Amazon appears to be its most dangerous and predatory competitor -
Click here for the rest.
