Indie Bookseller On E-Books: ‘I Don’t Think We’ll Ever Make Money On Them’

Independent bookstore are unlikely to ever make money from e-books, in the opinion of Praveen Madar of Menlo Park independent bookstore Kepler’s 2020. But he says stores like his have to embrace technology – even if it means giving away Kindles. At an O’Reilly Tools of Change panel this week, Madar told moderator Thad McIlroy that independent bookstores like Kepler’s 2020 have to diversify their revenue models and move away from relying solely on selling print books – but they also can’t depend on e-book sales to pick up the slack.