| Abstrakt: |
Discusses some of the events and trends of 1998 in the book publishing industry. Among other noteworthy events, mentions the consolidation of Bertelsmann, Barnes&Noble.com, and Ingram into a single multi-faceted entity, the continued growth of Amazon.com, Random House's reduction of all of modern literature to a pop culture Top 100 list, and the market debut of the first commercially viable, hand-held electronic books. 1998 also was the year that the Web matured into a true merchandising channel for reaching the consumer market. Among the trends that have most dramatically affected the library bookseller's business in 1998, identifies several as being the most worth watching in the new year: (1) the trend toward consolidation in publisher and book distribution is stronger than ever; (2) online bookstores have inflated expectations for speed of delivery and discount pricing; and (3) the effect on book vendors of the growing consortia movement is still unknown; (4) publishers are selling directly to libraries; (5) outsourcing has matured; and (6) increased competition for collection development dollars with electronic information continues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
