Booksellers Find Their Place in Changing Industry
(The Network Journal) — Watermark Books & Cafe on a midweek morning was bustling with book browsers and coffee sippers. It’s been a surprisingly good year for the Wichita bookstore, as it has been for many independent bookstores across the nation. Watermark owner Sarah Bagby estimates her book sales have risen 20 percent in the past 12 months compared with the prior year. Yet bookstore owners are girding for the changes shaking the industry, with the big chains possibly consolidating, the continued growth of online booksellers, and the rapid rise of e-books.
