If we're all being honest Richard,it's us.

I'm just as guilty as the next person. Most of the books I bought have been from Amazon for years. Yes, I tried to support local bookshops in Switzerland and order something but was told it would be here in three weeks and cost three times as much as Amazon. So why would you do it?

Then you have Kindle and other ebooks so why would you wait even five days for them to come in post when you could have it in seconds?

I don't think it's intellectual laziness though. People still read but just in a different format now. Don't get me wrong. I agree with you that it is sad. Kindle, etc are sounding the death knell for hundreds (or thousands) or book sellers throughout Europe.

The one thing I have noticed which is a byproduct of this which is becoming more and more prevelant is the quality of books available. Now as anyone can publish any old crap masquerading as literature on Kindle, it seems you really have to trawl through all the rubbish out there to find anything halfway decent.

The only slightly positive thing is the rise of people who accept that physical bookshops aren't (in the most case) going to be sustainable business models and who continue as booksellers via Amazon or whoever. As for libraries, I guess you should be asking the question is it google or Wikipedia who will remove the need to have them. However, I do agree - it is an unfortuate situation.

I love going to bookshops and bookf fairs, i love the smell of a new book. But this said, for the past years my physical books were all coming from bookdepository or downloaded in epub format. Several reasons for this. When I was in Geneva, besides not being easy to find english books, they were just a rip off. Now in Germany, the problem is only the language.

But i dont think the closing of small bookshops is an isolated case. Any kind of "small" market has been in decline for the past 10-20 years. I was told that some cities, as Munich, fight hard against it, and big magazins cannot put foot there, people wont buy from them. But the big guys, as supermarkts, can get huge deals, and sell chepear, more varied things, and with a high turnover, meaning fresher products.

In any case, not everyone can afford (or want) to pay 10 francs for 100gr of REALLY nice strawberries at the street markt in Geneva :) Or 50 francs for a book that costs 10 pounds in UK...

Richard,  you might be interested in:

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/how-to-buy-books-and-avoid-amazon/

and:

http://alittleteaalittlechat.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/more-on-why-to-avoid-amazon/

These two entries explain quite well how Amazon kills bookshops and robs writers.

There was also a good article in Le monde diplomatique  last week: Amazon, l'envers de l'ecran.

I will not buy books on Amazon. As long as there is another way.

Good for you Evgenia.  Long may you be able to find other ways.

R.

Here we have a thriving International Club where there is a small but effective library of books where everyone is free to take what they like to read, then either bring back the book or replace it with another. So this means that there are in fact very few new books being bought.

Having said that, we have bought ONLY books for our family in the UK, who will hopefully have many hours enjoyment reading them.

I love books but if i'm honest, i've been veering more and more towards using my kindle as everyone has said, its just so much quicker than waiting. Its also considerably lighter to carry as to and from work i already carry a laptop, and when travelling its less to carry. I want to buy books over here, but refrain from doing so until I'm back in the UK as its just so expensive. Most of the books I have tend to be bought from second hand book sales!

Thank you all for your replies.

Personally, I like to consider the price of a book as a salary to the author. If too many books of a given writer are being in circulation without being purchased (either lent or illicitly downloaded), this is not an incentive to a professional writer.

Although you have good amateurs, professional writing is a skill which develops over a long time and I am ready to pay to be either informed or entertained depending on the book's nature.

If the author is dead or is already rich I am no longer reluctant to borrow their book from a library or someone. 

I apply the same principle with CDs which I still buy to support the artists. 

Thanks Evgenia. 

I was a big client of Amazon and am now considering alternatives for books and for music.

Amazon is just an example of 21st century slavery and should be fought but the battle has seemingly already been won by this ruthless giant.

Unfortunately i think you may be right with the introduction of drone delivery, which apparently  become effective within 5 years...

Interesting discussion. Personally, I don't think you can beat the enjoyment of going into a bookstore and actually browsing the shelves, picking things out because the cover is attractive or seeing a new book by an author you like out on display and being able to actually read a couple of pages before you buy. Every time I go in, I come out with a much lighter wallet and a heavy shopping bag. That said, I have also used Amazon and other online bookstores in the past, especially for my nursing text books and other books that I can't find in my local bookshope. Here in Geneva I have discovered Payot at Chantepoulet, which has a great range of english books but still doesn't have everything I want, so I have had to resort to Amazon for a few things.

I am not sure why Amazon is so heavily criticised. The authors still get their "salary" from the sale of the book, whether it is a print copy or an electronic copy. Yes, they have cornered the market but shopping through Amazon or other online stores is no different to shopping around in different department stores or supermarkets for the best priced products. If they are delivering what the customer wants, when they want it, then surely they deserve to have the business?

In Australia the mark-up on novels is massive - I have noticed that latest release books are at least $10 cheaper here in the bookstores, even with the exchange rate and Geneva's higher cost of living. I think the difference is due to our Government taxes on books.

Rich - I was interested to read your comment "Now as anyone can publish any old crap masquerading as literature on Kindle, it seems you really have to trawl through all the rubbish out there to find anything halfway decent" - I bought a great little 13 page novel through Amazon Kindle for less than $2 - and yes, I did have to trawl through some rubbish to find it, but it was well worth the search ;-)

@Juliane: I guess you're referring to the runaway word-of-mouth bestseller Cougar in the Cover. Available on Amazon.com for the bargain price of only US$1.25! 

http://www.amazon.com/Cougar-Cover-Richard-OSullivan-ebook/dp/B00F0RO21G/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1386060175&sr=1-1&keywords=cougar+in+the+cover

One other points to think about from the author's point of is that due to Kindle, they're not beholden to the publishing company to make sure print runs are large enough to cope with seasonal rushes. Something that for CITC would be unimaginable as it would only lead to heartbreak and disappointment (and I don't think I'd be going too far in saying rioting and widespread disturbances) for the millions of fans around the world who would not to be able to get their hands on this work of staggering genius.

To illustrate my point, I had someone from an Australian copywriter e-mail me this morning desperate to know if the sequel would be available for Christmas - which it will be.