One of my listservs has been discussing this article for the past couple of days. Touching on the economics of book buying, I thought it was interesting to see this article given the feedback I received from reader about my book buying post a few days ago. Comments left for me both on the blog and in email showed that for many of you the decision between buying and borrowing was money driven. Given that the publishing industry is churning out more titles than ever and that publishers will soon be introducing book buyers to a new, up-sized paperback book (with a matching up-sized price), I have to wonder how this will impact the number of people who are regular book buyers. The idea of paying more money for fewer titles is very unappealing. Could this be a possible downfall for the book superstore?

This question reminded me of an article I read during my blogging hiatus in the New York Times called Attention, Shoppers: Sale on Fresh Books in Aisle 3. This article looks at the growth of book selling in grocery stores. Here's an excerpt:

Supermarkets, long the domain of paperback romances, pulp thrillers and astrology guides, are the new frontier of book selling. Chains like Wegmans, Kroger and Albertsons have greatly expanded their book sections, adapting the techniques that move large amounts of Velveeta and Count Chocula and applying them to Nora Roberts and John Grisham.

While their sales can't compete right now with those of Amazon.com or Borders, the number of hardcover and trade paperback books sold in grocery stores is significantly climbing. To coincide with that, grocery stores are giving books some significant shelf space. The article noted that some Kroger book departments can carry up to 2,800 titles (largely bestsellers). And while that is not the 200,000 titles that a Barnes & Noble could house, it sure beats the several hundred that you would find at Target or Wal-Mart.

Which leads me to question what some have already raised as a criticism. With consumers being bombarded with so many new (and sure to be best-selling) titles, how will they discover new authors? Heck, how will they discover mid-list authors?

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