"Although some reports from the consumer press may have overstated the health of the independent book business—the AP’s Hillel Italie used the term 'growth industry'—booksellers at this year’s BookExpo America do seem in better spirits. And with good reason: for starters, the numbers are there. The ABA [American Booksellers Association] reported an uptick in membership for the fourth straight year, and ABA CEO Oren Teicher said that the independent channel saw a gain of 8% from the previous year.
Beyond those gains, though, the cheerier mood seems, as many industry members told PW from the show floor, due in large part to a sense that the digital business has leveled off. After years of concern—at times panic—that e-books would replace print books and, in turn, wipe out bricks-and-mortar bookstores altogether, there is a sense that print and digital can, and will, coexist. Or as Perseus Books Group’s CEO David Steinberger put it, for the first time in a few years 'the future doesn’t feel like it’s changing that rapidly.'”
— Rachel Deahl,
Publishers Weekly
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