The ability to buy and start reading a new book instantly from wherever you happen to be is an advantage that a conventional bookstore would never be able to offer without embracing the digital format. In an effort to ride the e-book wave, many major book retailers now sell e-books themselves through their websites, and this has had a major impact on their business models. Barnes & Noble, for example, offers over 1 million e-book titles in a variety of file formats at prices comparable with---and sometimes greater than---paperback editions. You can read these on the Nook, the company's own e-reading device "See Reference 1." Borders offer a similar range of e-book titles and has developed their own e-reader software applications for all of the major mobile operating systems "See Reference 2."
The scramble to embrace digital technology, however, has not been an easy ride for the traditional bookstore. Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the U.S., reported a net loss of $63 million for the third quarter of 2010. The company attributed this in part to "heavy investment in digital products," while the BBC describes the future of the chain as being "complicated by the emergence of digital books, or so-called e-readers" "See Reference 3." The CBS Interactive Business Network also points to the rise of e-books as partly to blame for the financial struggle of Borders Books, America's second-largest bookstore chain. By 2010, Borders had resorted to widespread redundancies in the U.S., and Borders (U.K.) had already gone into administration by late 2009 "See Reference 4."
Smaller independent bookstores have historically struggled to compete with the large chains but are now also beginning to benefit from the expanding e-book market. In May 2010, the American Booksellers Association, the national non-profit trade association for independent booksellers, announced plans for an unprecedented venture with Internet search giant Google. According to the New York Times, part of the deal will make the forthcoming Google Editions the digital format of choice for hundreds of indie booksellers across the country as they expand their online e-book sales strategies. By selling Google Editions through the websites of smaller bookstores, Google hopes to gain a slice of the increasingly lucrative e-book market. Independent bookstores hope the move will enable them to remain competitive in what has become a rapidly changing and unpredictable industry.