Should bookstores charge for events?

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Should bookstores charge for events?

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1_Zoe_
jun 22, 2011, 5:22 pm

NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/22/business/media/22events.html?_r=1

Charging for events seems like a really obvious thing to me. I'm not sure where people get the idea that bookstores should provide a free service. They need to make money, or they'll close. If people aren't buying enough books, the money has to come from somewhere else.

I wonder why the authors and publishers who don't want bookstores to make a profit from their events or want to hold free events to build an audience don't just hold the events in libraries instead.

2Nicole_VanK
jun 22, 2011, 5:28 pm

Hm, maybe. I see more and more bookstores closing - this side of the ocean too. Other hand: it would put a lot of customers off. Not sure.

3jjmcgaffey
jun 22, 2011, 7:14 pm

The author comment about the people who didn't know about her/the event but were just passing by and got hooked expresses my concern. If I knew there was an author event, if I knew the author and wanted to see him/her I might pay for it, I wouldn't for a new author. And if I didn't know about the event and it was an author new to me, I certainly wouldn't pay if I happened by. It also requires a separate event space, rather than the author just being in the store (unless they plan to close the store to anyone who hasn't bought an event ticket), which is kind of cutting off their (the bookstore's) noses to spite their faces - people might come to an event and not even enter the bookstore. At best, it reduces browsing opportunities.

Hmmm, now that I think about it - I'd actually be more willing to pay (a small amount) to go to an author event in a library than one in a bookstore. Not sure why - maybe because supporting a library feels good (public good) and paying a bookstore feels like giving my money to a for-profit entity (I'd weigh the possible return on my money a lot more carefully).