THAI BOOKSHOPS ARE MORE LIKE LIBRARIES
With my publishers hat on I get so mad when I see lines of people standing in bookshops, reading magazines avidly and then putting them right back on the shelves.
There was a classic example this afternoon. I watched a Thai gentleman in his late 40s take four magazines and a couple of newspapers from the shelves, sit down, browse all of them during the space of about 15 minutes and then return them to the shelves.
Magazines in Thailand aren't expensive and bookshops are their own worst enemies for allowing this to happen. The Magazine Association of Thailand could be doing more to encourage the shops to crackdown on the casual reading of magazines; it's in all publishers interests to sell more copies and I am sure that will happen in the long term.
10 comments:
Wishful thinking! Just take one look at the massive copyright infringement industry in Thailand to see that the Thais don't like paying for anything.
Even their own music stars can't make money without being tied to one distributor (GMM) and numerous sponsors because Thais won't buy full-priced cd's.
I think there is a small group of people who are happy to pay full-price (+ import tax) for designer clothes, cd's, electronics, magazines and other brand names but they do so because they like to be seen, not because they see any value in doing so.
You've never actually been in a Barnes and Noble, Kinokuniya, or a Borders, have you? They actually have comfortable chairs and coffee shops in the book stores! You'd think they actually want people to visit bookstores rather than getting their news and information from the internet. Imagine all the forgone revenue that the magazine and publishing industries are losing!
Thanks for your comments. I know the browsing issue is not just limited to Thailand, however it seems a lot more rampant here.
The thing I worry about is that if publishers don't sell their magazines then sooner or later there will be fewer and fewer magazines for people to browse.
Yes, I spend far too much time in bookshops everywhere I go, and I even had coffee in Kinokuniya in Bangkok yesterday lunchtime. However there is simply no benefit for the shops to have people in their stories not spending money.
Patiwat: "You've never actually been in a Barnes and Noble, Kinokuniya, or a Borders, have you? They actually have comfortable chairs and coffee shops in the book stores!"
I agree entirely. Unfortunately there are not many examples of these bookshops in Bangkok, let alone Thailand.
My point is that low magazine and book sales are linked to the larger cultural issues of wanting to get something for free, copying and low literacy levels.
Literacy levels in Thailand are amongst the lowest in SE Asia, however the education ministry (you could say "what education ministry") is doing nothing about it. Copyright infringement is massive, on the level of organised crime, and for obvious reasons there are no efforts to stop it.
Widespread copying is not just limited to cd's, clothes, etc but also to examination scripts and essays at schools and Universities, economic policies, the live music scene, journalism, TV shows, etc
Recent trends in the newspaper, magazine and music industry to support declining physical sales and increased internet usage has prompted an increase in online subscription and download models such as iTunes.
So the situation in Thailand will get worse not better.
Mark makes some interesting points that probably deserve a post of their own.
I have experienced the copyright theft issue myself on a number of occasions and have seen many more examples (and often blogged about them too).
Patiwat's comments about getting people into the shops is valid and true, however those people need to be spending in some way and not just browsing, and sadly that happens far too much in my humble opinion.
Do big chains like B&N or Borders in the U.S. have policies about what constitutes acceptable browsing vs. over-the-line mooching?
I'm regularly in the bigger Thai bookshop chains like Dokya and Phrae Phittaya, and young folks regularly plop down in the middle of the narrow aisles, effectively blocking foot traffic, while they read a book. I don't see how this is in the store's interest. Adults tend to be leaners, resting against a shelf, reading standing up for long stretches.
Seems like there has to be some balance... at least some limitations. Like how big American chains very clearly post signs to the effect "YOU TAKE IT INTO THE BATHROOM, YOU BUY IT" (not that there are bathrooms in Thai bookstores, but still). Maybe in Thailand it could be "READ IT FOR MORE THAN 30 MINUTES, YOU BUY IT". :P
Browsing makes sense from a retail perspective and it's something that publishers have to deal with, or preferably embrace. No customer likes a narky shopkeeper, and barring browsing goes against the grain of new-age print retailing (Borders etc.)
I can see both sides of this argument although with my publishers hat on I get no benefit whatsoever unless I get revenue from the copies supplied to shops. And there's the cost too - for printing and production.
I do supply a small number of free copies each month to universities, etc, so I am not saying people should always have to pay. However our free copies are targeted.
The bookstore in Bangkok I visit most often is Chulabooks, and there I recall the staff to tell students to get up who were sitting in the aisles reading. But that bookstore is so full of shelves there's hardly any space to do some decent browsing.
The whole thing might be caused by the Thai attitude towards copyright, not seeing the reason why they should pay for something which they can get for free, even it's not comfortable. Or maybe it's simply the lack of decent libraries as the place to do reading without buying? As a tourist still not able to read Thai I obviously did not visit Thai libraries yet, but I have seen the size of the provincial library in Surat Thani, and that's way smaller than a small town library here in Germany.
I don't think there's really much you can do about people reading in stores except turning the store into some kind of police state which doesn't sound too nice. In other Asian countries like Korea the situation seems the same as Thailand. Sales at SEED branch stores overall must be pretty good or there wouldn't be constant chain expansion.
The reading in the store situation doesn't seem to be that much different than in the US, specifically my home town of Palo Alto California next to Stanford University. I couldn't see someone reading a whole book in a store but skimming around and reading enough to make sure it isn't a waste of money sure is. I do it myself.
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