You can read about it here.
What about that then, readers and writers?
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
A Waterstone's Volte Face
Has everybody heard - I've literally only just picked it up from the booktrade update Book2Book (subscribe here) - that Waterstone's is abandoning its central command-and-control model and going back to 'localised' bookselling practices as Tim Waterstone initially set out to do with his shops?
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3 comments:
I prefer for chain bookshops to have a combination of central and local control. It's useful to publishers to be able to blanket the country with a new release--which is easiest if there is a strong center--but it's also vital to allow the local managers the room to use their understanding of the local market and community to go in directions the central office would never head.
I haven't seen a chain yet in the US that gets this right, and most of them err in the direction of too much central control. So this seems like a good thing to me!
I agree, David, If Waterstone's can do this then it'll be a wonder to behold.
Sounds good to me!
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