Canada's oldest bookstore to close doors

"Another one bites the dust." For the last two years, I've watched Canadian independent bookstores fight to compete with the 'big boys'--major big-box outlets and Internet retailers, but it seems like a fight to the death. As a Canadian, I cheer them on, hoping they'll succeed. As an avid reader, I mourn their loss. As an author, I feel their disappearance is sadly inevitable. Business, after all, means survival of the biggest and most powerful. It's like watching a giant game of Pac-Man. Something is gobbling up our independent bookstores one at a time, and now we're about to lose "Canada's oldest bookstore"--The Book Room in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The Book Room is expected to clear out inventory and close its doors for the final time at the end of March 2008, about eight weeks from now. Eight weeks...and then we'll have to say goodbye to a Nova Scotian icon. Founded in 1839, The Book Room has survived two World Wars, the Halifax Explosion and the Great Depression, and it will be a great loss to Canadian booklovers and to its local community. Charles Burchell, president of The Book Room, is justifiably disappointed. "The Book Room has been an institution in Nova Scotia."

The explanation given for its imminent closure? Increased competition, deep discounting from big-box and Internet retailers, as well as dual pricing issues. In Canada, books have traditionally been printed with two prices--Canadian and American. Canadian prices have always been quite a bit higher, but the recent strength of the Canadian dollar has put much pressure on the entire book industry. Canadian customers want US pricing, with that price on the back cover of books; publishers can't afford to discount their books to US pricing when they've based everything on a higher Canadian price, and booksellers are forced to either lower prices and take a loss or lose their customers and their business.

"Out with the old, in with the new" might be an exciting way to ring in the New Year, but in the book business, the saying is a painfully discordant reminder to make way for the "big-boys", at the expense of tradition.

Farewell to The Book Room. Booklovers across Canada will miss you.

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, bestselling author of Whale Song

Canadian Book Prices Cause Book Rage

In the book world, Canadian prices have always been absurdly high, compared with US prices. It's always been a common complaint, and believe me, as an author who puts herself out into the frontlines by doing book signings in bookstores, it isn't always easy to listen to customers complain, berate staff or even me, or walk out angry.

With the strong Canadian dollar comes some huge savings for Canadians buying American goods or traveling to the States, but it also comes with a frightening down-side. And with the Canadian dollar reaching $1.10 last week, some bookstores have seen enraged customers go above a few nasty words. As James Adams reported in the Globe and Mail last Saturday, "the Canadian bookshop has become a charged environment, perhaps even a dangerous one." There have been two reported incidents of customers throwing books.

As a Canadian author in the middle of a 3 month book tour, I have to sadly agree with much of this article. I have witnessed angry customers taking their frustrations out on innocent bookstore staff--many of them teenagers who make $8.00/hour, if they're lucky. I've overheard loud conversations by disgruntled customers and have born the brunt of their anger as well.

Ironically, my publisher Kunati Books was the first publisher in Canada to lower prices to be closer to par. And they did this about 2 months ago.

What people don't seem to realize is that it isn't up to the bookstore, and it certainly isn't up to the author to lower prices. This is something the publisher must do, and the bigger the publisher, the bigger the financial loss. But I've heard rumors that some are coming onboard with Kunati. Since my publisher is smaller (and maybe a bit bolder), they won't have such a drastic loss. And don't forget, the author would make less as well.

People seem to forget that for every book, thousands of copies have already been printed, taking into consideration the original retail price. Many smaller publishers cannot take the hit. We have already lost too many Canadian publishers as it is.

So my advice to book lovers is: keep your cool and remember that these things take time. No one likes the high prices, not even me. But I certainly don't like customers yelling at me or my bookstore staff friends for something that is out of our hands.

Instead, I invite you to support those publishers or bookstores who have already lowered book prices. Kunati Books will be happy to sell Canadians their books (including my novel Whale Song) for near to par. Whale Song went from $16.95 to $13.95 for a trade paperback. By supporting the publishers who have already done this, you are then sending a strong message to other publishers.

http://www.whalesongbook.com

Buy Whale Song from Chapters.ca or if you're in Edmonton, buy from Audreys Books. Anywhere else, just ask for it in your local bookstore. The new price is in effect everywhere.

http://www.kunati.com/

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
bestselling author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention