Hollowing out the middle class one book at a time…

From: etsy

"Publishers Weekly, the publishing industry trade magazine, quotes [U.S. President Barack] Obama deputy press secretary Amy Brundage on the appearance [at the Amazon warehouse]: 'The Amazon facility in Chattanooga is a perfect example of the company that is investing in American workers and creating good, high-wage jobs,' she said Friday. 'What the president wants to do is to highlight Amazon and the Chattanooga facility as an example of a company that is spurring job growth and keeping our country competitive.'

     American Booksellers Association's [Chief Executive Oren] Teicher protests that, writing, 'At a time when Main Street retailers, including indie bookstores, show promise of recovering from the recession, we are disheartened to see Amazon touted as a "jobs creator" and its warehouse facility used as a backdrop for an important jobs speech, when, frankly, the exact opposite is true.'
     Citing the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Teicher writes, 'Every $10 million in spending that shifts from Main Street retailers to Amazon results in a net loss of 33 retail jobs. That would mean for 2012 alone — using Amazon’s own numbers about its increase in sales — Amazon cost the U.S. economy more than 42,000 jobs just last year!'"
— Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times
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not dead yet

From: Breathing Books

"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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