I tried a different approach this month in buying a book I wanted. Frustrated by the in-person bookstore experience, I went shopping online. I found this random company, a1books, that seems to be selling many new books at 50% off the cover price. Of course you have to pay shipping, and the shipping is done through the slower media mail.
Nevertheless, I ordered and received the book about a week later. I ended up saving one-third of the cover price in the whole experience. What's amazing to me is that this shows the huge markups involved with the major book chains. A1books is selling books for 50% off, but still they must be making a profit on that to stay in business. It appears that a lot of a book's cover price goes to fund bookstore locations, employees, advertising, etc.
I don't feel like I'm cheating the authors by ordering discount books. I would assume that they make the same amount whether the book is sold through a chain or through a discounter. This also shows how the self-publishing route can be so profitable. With minimal overhead, much more profit will flow to the author.
After this experience, I will probably lean towards more online book buying. I also envision that the publishing industry will change a lot in the next ten years. With inventions like Kindle, more books will continue to be delivered in electronic format instead of paper.
