A few months ago I was delighted to learn that I could buy e-books through my local bookstore, meaning I could funnel at least part of my money to someone local, instead of handing it to Apple or Amazon. Bank Square Books, of Mystic, sold books through an e-book distributor named Blio, which, to my way of thinking, had one of the better e-readers around, clearly superior to Googles.
A few weeks ago Bank Square shut down its website as it underwent alleged improvements, including improvements to its e-reader service. A day or two back up it went, and much to my surprise and disappointment, Blio was out, and Google was in. I would likely have made the transition, much against my preference, but now I see that the folks at Bank Square, all unknowing I’m sure, backed the wrong horse:
On Thursday, Google announced that it would sunset its retailer partner program for e-books by the end of January 2013. Google’s announcement followed the release of a letter from the American Booksellers Association to its members informing them that their partnership with Google would end at the end of the year. ABA CEO Oren Teicher also added that the association was already engaged in talks with other partners to give independent bookstores a way to continue to sell e-books on a major platform.
Here’s hoping the ABA goes with Blio, or some other outlet more dedicated to meeting its members needs. It would be a tragedy if independent bookstores disappeared, but unless they can get a share of the e-market that would appear to be their fate.
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