Ron Catapano of Ron's Comic World in Mount Holly, New Jersey read the recent article regarding the American Booksellers Association asking the Department of Justice to investigate the recent book price wars (see "Booksellers Go to Dept. of Justice") and had this to say:

The ABA is attempting to halt the extreme discounting of books by a small number of retailers online because they "are devaluing the very concept of the book," the association argues.  "Authors and publishers, and ultimately consumers, stand to lose a great deal if this practice continues and/or grows."  What if these online retailers are selling the books above cost, but are selling them at such a tiny profit margin that no retailer that isn't part of an international corporation can realistically compete for sales?

I hope the comic publishers are paying attention.  When the Watchmen movie came out and Amazon was selling the Watchmen trade paperback for less than I could get the book from Diamond Comic Distributors (including shipping cost), I complained and nobody cared.  For most discounters, these books are not a significant part of  their business, they are just something to make a few extra dollars on.  

The problem for most retailers is that we can't keep a store open without making a profit on the books we sell.  The problem for publishers is that these discounters don't actually care about your product, only the numbers (sound familiar?).  If they draw (XXX) customers, they sell your books, but if they draw (XXX - 1) customers, they sell widgets instead.  They don't care!  Here's the hard part for publishers, while they're patting themselves on the back because the number of books they sell to Amazon or Walmart, what will they do when, after helping to drive so many bookstores out of business, these discounters decide that your books aren't worth carrying anymore?

A question for those that own actual stores, how much of your business have you lost to online discounters?  This isn't just a problem for bookstores, this is becoming a problem for all smaller retailers.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.