Grab More Market Share: How to Wrangle Business Away from Lazy Competitors

That Kindle Thing

By now, you all know about the Kindle e-reader. You may also know that it is estimated that nearly 1,000,000 books are available in an electronic format. Hey, right now you might be reading this book on your personal computer, your smart phone, a Kindle, an iPad, a Nook, an Intel Reader, an Aluratek e-reader, a Sony Daily Edition, or any number of hand-held devices. E-reading has caught on.

There is no question that reading books this way is a permanent shift in cultural behavior. I liken it to when people used to posit that rap music was a fad. Rap didn't go away and neither will the e-reader. What causes a fad to sustain is ongoing demand and rampant profitability. In fact, in July 2010, Amazon reported that for every 100 hardcover books sold, they were selling 180 Kindle editions of the same titles. In the paperback arena, Kindle editions sell 115 copies to every 100 copies of traditional paperback books. What is even more impressive about this shift is that Amazon was able to change the culture in less than four years from its launch of the first Kindle product in November 2007!

So does this mean that our beloved neighborhood bookstores will close down? Are the lazy days of strolling through a bookstore to manhandle a crisply minted new book over? For some, yes.

Borders filed for bankruptcy and is expected to close over 200 of its 674 stores. However, Barnes & Noble continue to survive; largely in part to the development of its own e-reader, the Nook. Hudson's ...