For the love of books

For those confused by the title – checkout the ‘Idea’ Advertisement being referred to.

When e-books were first introduced in the 90’s, being a lover of the conventional paper books, it took me no more than a minute to write them off. The first generation e-book readers were so unaesthetic that major publishers did not see a reason to convert their titles to this digital format.

As booklovers, we found it too inconvenient and tiring to read an e-book on the screen. We resorted to it only if we had to wait too long, like when ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ released and none of the book stores had it in stock. Hence, the paper book continued to exist and thrive, even in the fast advancing Digital age.

Well, all that is set to change, in fact has already started changing. In the past few months, we’ve been introduced to Kindle2, Nook, iPad, and so many impressive gadgets, and have woken up to a reality that e-books aren’t that bad after all, if you have such nice gadgets to read them on.

The patented E-ink technology ensures your eyes have the same reading comfort as with ink on paper. Add to this the convenience they offer – download any book you want to read, in a matter of seconds, not having to wait for your next visit to the bookstore, or the 2 day wait for delivery of your order at LeBooks.in. There have been several occasions when we’ve told some of you that we’ll need to import a book and shall take about 4 weeks to ship it, and you’d hardly have a choice but to wait to get that title. Having to wait to have something that you can download? – Aren’t we called the impatient generation!! (remember that Airtel Broadband Ad). And how about being able to carry your complete 500-book collection with you, anywhere you go?

Now that I am convinced that the books – as we’ve known them for years are going to change, I wonder how the book industry would change over the next few years. Idling with these thoughts, and having a fair idea of the Indian book industry now, I can see several things changing.

Publishers would be publishing all books in e-book format(ePub) and making better margins. They need not wait for weeks to get copies printed and distributed to retailers in far flung areas using a distribution network that is unbelievably unreliable. Like the music industry, their biggest challenge will be fighting piracy.

The worst hit will be distributors and the brick and mortar retailers who will see almost half of their sales getting wiped out in the next 5 years.

Online booksellers like us will move to platforms to deliver e-books and also selling to those still crazy about the paper books. We’ll also keep developing applications/products to enhance your reading experience. In fact, the e-book model shall suit us better as we won’t have to waste time handling logistics and our only goal shall be to look after all the needs of booklovers.

Many would argue(as I did till sometime back) that we can’t really substitute our beloved paper books with those plastic slates. How can an e-book reader substitute that smell of paper, that experience of walking through tall book racks, the beautiful feeling of finishing a book and writing a note on the last page?|

All I can say is that we’ll adapt, we all will. I’m not saying that our paper books will cease to exist, but yes, they will definitely become much less popular. Our generation is going to miss them and narrate stories to their grandchildren about our beautiful experiences of flipping through the pages, using those lovely hand-made bookmarks, and stacking our cupboards with that primitive form of books.

How books are going to change, is anybody’s guess. But till the time e-books take over, I’m going to cherish these wonderful paper books that I have collected over the years, and will continue to add more to the collection till a stupid gadget gets me hooked.

Feel free to share your thoughts on how do you see e-books changing our world in years to come.

Chandler: Hey, I just came across this really cool site LeBooks.in, which offers great discounts on books and also free shipping!

Ross: I also know of this other site, some Indie… Wait did you say FREE shipping??

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Consumers love free shipping, we all do. In fact who doesn’t?

Consider this:- Site A offers free shipping on all orders worth more than Rs. 150 while site B charges Rs. 10 per book and yet another site C charges a flat Rs. 30 per order. Which of the three sites do you think would be more popular?

My bet is site A. Simply because despite different discount structures, there is one thing constant, which Ross will always remember and that is site A ships for free. Site A has created a great marketing tool. Besides, by offering free shipping, site A is telling Ross upfront how much a book will cost even before he adds it to the cart and this enriches his customer experience. He need not undergo the hassle of adding a book to the cart and checking out till the end to know the final amount!! So even if Site A is at times not matching the discount by Site B or site C, the former is still expected to fare better, ceteris paribus.

In the Indian context, there is another factor. For some reason, as much as we Indians love free shipping we also hate paying for it. Better give us lower discounts but don’t ask us to pay for shipping. Why is it so?

Maybe it’s because we have been conditioned to think so from the early heydeys of e-commerce in India when ebay.in was still Baazee.

I remember sellers luring buyers by offering outrageous discounts and then in turn outraging them by levying ludicrous shipping charges to cover their costs.

In the West it is a well-established practice to pay for shipping. Even Amazon, which any Indian swears e-commerce by, charges for shipping unless the order amount is more than $25. In our case it would have translated to orders worth more than Rs. 750. Free shipping over there is used to incentivize the customers to buy in bulk; in fact there is a free shipping day. So why do we not also follow their practice rather than make a habit out of it here?

I would someday really like to explore this psychology of ours because when we were contemplating our own shipping policy for LeBooks.in, I myself was vociferous that we not charge anything!

The Foundation series started off with a trilogy of three books – “Foundation” (1951), “Foundation and Empire” (1952), and “Second Foundation” (1953). Due to popular demand, Asimov continued the series with “Foundation’s Edge” (1982), “Foundation and Earth” (1986), and wrote two prequels “Prelude to Foundation” (1988) and “Forward the Foundation” (1992).

The series were continued by another trilogy popularly known as the “Second Foundation Trilogy” – Foundation’s Fear by Gregory Benford, Foundation’s Chaos by Greg Bear and Foundation’s Triumph by David Brin.

Suggested order of reading is the same as above.

The basic theme of the Foundation Series is a vast interstellar galactic empire, which many believe is still in its heydays. But few, especially an old mathematician Hari Seldon through his knowledge of psychohistory, know that the empire is slowly and steadily declining and a thousand galactic years later will be followed by a dark period of suffering for the mankind, which will span over 30,000 galactic years.

The first of the three books – Foundation captures the story of its namesake, which Hari has helped set up as an anchor for humanity in those dark times. This is the story of Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow, and how they successfully navigate through various Seldon Crises and ward off aggressive attempts of their belligerent neighbors to subjugate the Foundation and its capital Terminus.

The second book of the series – Foundation and Empire, continues on with the story with a focus on the Galactic Empire, which having had forgotten about Foundation is now beginning to see it as a threat. Though the Galactic Empire is in its death throes and has lost almost all control over its peripheries where Terminus is located, it is still a major force to reckon with. And along with this threat, there is the Mule, who is threatening the ultimate collapse of the Foundation along with Hari Seldon’s plans.

An interesting aspect of this series is that unlike books such as “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin or “Wheel of Time” by Robert Jordan there is not a single battle scene described and yet it leaves the readers on the edge of their seat craving for more and that not in a bad way. The suspense leading to the climax and its aftermath, with a major emphasis on character building and dialogs between the lead protagonists is a hallmark of Asimov’s writing in the “Foundation” series.

The third book of the series – Second Foundation reveals the presence of another Foundation secretly set up by Hari Seldon to help guide the “First” Foundation. This is the story of Mule’s and eventually the First Foundation’s search for the Second Foundation and the conflict that ensues between them.

The Second Foundation has been destroyed and the First Foundation has emerged victorious. Was it predicted by Hari Seldon or has his plans been irrevocably damaged? Or is the Second Foundation still lurking out there, or is there some other mysterious third force subtly guiding events in the galaxy? Foundation’s Edge is the story of Golan Trevize who may have the fate of the whole galaxy resting on his shoulders.

In Foundation and Earth, Trevize along with Pelorat and Bliss attempt to seek answers by seeking the location of Earth, the knowledge of which has been systematically removed from everywhere, so much so that its name is considered an obscenity in many worlds outside the Foundation’s sphere of influence.

The first prequel, Prelude to Foundation, is a story about Seldon and his initial days on Trantor; about the resourceful Hummin and his accomplice Dors; the relationship between Seldon and Dors; and also about the enigmatic Demerzel and his secrets. Seldon arrives as a young mathematician on Trantor, head full of ideas on psychohistory but with no practical approach on making it a reality, and gets jostled between various political forces who wants to use him.

After writing the last book for the series – Forward the Foundation, Asimov himself died within weeks of writing Seldon’s death. The story is about Seldon, whom Asimov regarded as an alter ego, his life’s devotion, the all-consuming fire to develop psychohistory, and his joys and despairs shared with Dors Venabili, and ultimately his poignant death after the establishment of the Foundations.

Foundation’s Fear is set in the period covered in the early chapters of Forward the Foundation, while Foundation’s Chaos covers the early chapters of Foundation. Foundation’s Triumph covers various loose ends and describes the setting up of holographic messages to the Foundation.

All in all, foundation series is one of the epic science fiction series spanning over 500 standard galactic years, winning the one-time Hugo award for “Best All-Time Series” in 1966 beating even “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Resources:
1. Asimov Home Page
2. Wikipedia – Isaac Asimov
3. Wikipedia – Foundation Series
4. Isaac Asimov’s Book Reviews
5. Hugo Awards
6. Nebula Awards

The summary can also be accessed here

While I write the first post for the blog, many topics come to my mind on what the blog should really focus on.

Personal Experiences
When the seed of the idea germinated some three years ago; our reasons for launching LeBooks.in; our efforts and struggles over the past six months.

Or Professional Insights
The current state of the Indian publishing industry; the highs and lows of entrepreneurship; our learning in the process of starting up – hoping that this will eventually encourage some people to leave the rat race and live up their dreams.

Or Simply Books & Customer Experience
New releases, authors, reviews and discussions; features that you may want on LeBooks.in; ways to help improve the overall customer experience.

Well, I guess its going to be a mix of all because in the end everything is actually inter-related.

The customer service and experience is not just front-end but rather hinges on a number of variables with one crucial factor being the back-end information and supply chain system. Just to give an idea:-

The benefit of an online store is that there is no restriction on the number of titles it can hold. The books are not kept in inventory (under certain exceptions, which I will address in some other post) but rather procured from various distributors. Like any other regular supply chain, in the book industry also it is pretty simple:

Publishers -> Distributors -> Online & Offline Retail shops.
That’s the basic business model you need to start any bookstore!!

However, as you may see, the biggest advantage of an online store can also work against it when compared to a retail store, which sells only what it stocks. Since an online bookstore does not hold any inventory and works against confirmed orders, it really really and I must stress really needs to have good tie-ups with all upstream entities in the supply chain and get accurate information on a timely basis. If we say the book is in stock and ships in 2-3 days, then this is based on the information provided to us. If it is inaccurate and the book is instead out of stock or no longer in print, then we can lose a customer!!

And that is where you set yourself apart from any other online store – how do you value your customers? Just like another statistic on the excel sheet resulting in profits for the business or rather as a friend?

Our intention is the latter and it was really great to feel the thrill and joy upon executing our first orders this week. Thank you all for the great reviews. We need your constant support to make this a huge success. All feedback, criticisms and compliments are welcome.

We hope that in the process, through a journey together, we all revel in the marvelous world of books.

–
Vikas
LeBooks.in – We too love books!!