Bookstore closings

During a recent tour of Orlando, the town of Mickey Mouse and grid locked highways, I learned that several bookstores had recently closed. The motive for my search would be obvious to writers, but to those who simply want to peruse the stacks the news that bookstores are becoming hard to find may be a revelation. I googled the topic and this is what I came up with. (source: Open Education database)
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Stats on the State of Bookstores in America Today

– 12% drop in number of stores since 1997
– bookstore sales/retail sales dropping steadily
– eBooks have $3.2 billion of market
– Amazon has 22.6% of market
– more than 1,000 bookstores closed between 2000 & 2007
Independent bookstores dropped from 2,400 to 1,900 from 2002 – 2011
-megaChains are suffering too
– northern cities read more than others
– The average book buyer is 45 to 64, white, has a high income, is married, lives in the west, and is a college graduate.
– bookstore revenues expected to fall over 1%, closings exceed 2%
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While bookstores seem to be faring better than other retail establishments, the closings of which are announced on an almost daily basis, the question remains as to where this will end?

eBooks seem to be the viable alternative? What happens to book signings when the cheaper alternative is digital? How do you sign one for a fan?

Amazon seems to be the big growth medium, but how can a title gain maximum exposure on the internet’s biggest retailer?

Presently, my publisher is featuring a 25% discount on THE SHADOW ZONE until 31 July 2015 and this creates greater reduction from the already featured dpInk deep pocket discounts.

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REAL SCIENCE FICTION

During a recent book signing a friend of mine, who is an attorney, stopped at my table.  He was curious about my new book THE SHADOW ZONE and wanted to know what it’s about.   I told him it’s a story about the search for justice in a corrupt society.

“Now that’s really Science Fiction,” he said.

A Hypothetical Discussion

When I first began the book, it was my intention to use it as a form of hypothetical discussion of corruption in society.   A few drafts later (not so few, actually) I decided to have fun with it instead.   My son-in-law asked me the question Joker used in the Batman movie, “why so serious”?   He was right of course, so I change my direction to something easier to swallow and more fun to read.  But I didn’t drop the whole idea.  Couldn’t really. Read it and you’ll see a political jab or two.   Check it out on my web site; http://www.eliteword.com.

Presently, my publisher is featuring a 25% discount on THE SHADOW ZONE until 31 July 2015 and this creates greater reduction from the already featured dpInk deep pocket discounts.

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EXPLORING A DISASTER

On the morning of August 9th, 1945 the investment of twenty-five billion dollars in 2008 equivalent currency resulted in an atomic flash in the sky above the city of Hiroshima, Japan. Eighty thousand people ceased living in less time than a single tick of the clock. In the weeks that followed, an additional one hundred fifty thousand died as a result of collateral damage and exposure. But that wasn’t the end of the story…

Since that time, the governments of the world have applied themselves to the development of biological and chemical weaponry. These technologies cost less to create, but carry with them the potential of greater human suffering than the atomics that preceeded them. The ultimate goal of these technologies is to kill the target without damaging the property.

My new book THE SHADOW ZONE explores the outcome of the hypothetical deployment of such weapons and the impact they might have on society, including the most innocent among us – our children.

What would it take to halt the construction, storage and use of such weapons? When millions of dollars are involved, would any industrial leader or any cog in the wheels of modern bureaucracy lift their little finger to end it? What would happen if someone else entered the controversy?

What if…
– that person had the capability to actually cause a change?
– she was a member of the innocent group that suffered most?
– she escaped the toxic mists of a biological disaster to enforce her own form of justice?
– if she came out of…

THE SHADOW ZONE