经济学人136:图书销售 毛骨悚然

 　　Business Bookselling Spine¹ chilling

　　商业 图书销售 毛骨悚然

　　Mass-market retailing² changed publishing before the e-book

　　大规模零售市场改变出版业以应对电子书

　　SNAZZY technology is a twist in a narrative³ already several chapters long.

　　时髦的技术作为发展的转折点早已成为历史。

　　Mass-market retailing has changed the publishing industry: these days books are as likely to be found beside steaks and saucepans as they are to be bought in specialist stores.

　　大规模零售市场已经改变了出版行业：现在书在食物超市等和肉隔壁柜台就可以买到。

　　The story turns on whether broader changes in bookselling will stifle⁴ literature.

　　这个现象又产生了一个疑问，就是图书销售进一步的改变是否会扼杀文学。

　　Dan Brown will survive. Would Dante?

　　丹?布朗将会幸存，但是但丁呢？

　　For most of the past century, governments across Europe protected book prices; many still do.

　　在上世纪的大部分时期，欧洲政府实行了图书价格保护，许多直至今日依然如此。

　　Even in America, apart from dime-store romances, few titles were sold outside bookshops.

　　即使在美国，除了廉价商店出售的言情小说，其他一般只能在书店里买到。

　　But in the 1970s stores like Borders and Barnes & Noble applied⁵ a supermarket maxim⁶ to print: pile them high and watch them fly.

　　但是在上世纪70年代，一些书店如鲍德斯和巴诺把超级市场的理念应用到了印刷品：书架高耸，汗牛充栋。

　　Waterstones did the same thing in Britain and top titles started selling in the hundreds of thousands, even millions.

　　水石书店在英国实行了同样的策略，排行榜上的畅销书卖出了成千上万，甚至数百万册。

　　Just as book superstores forced out many independents, so supermarkets and other mass retailers⁸ have since crowded the book chains (see chart).

　　自从随处可见的图书连锁店的出现，许多独立书店都被挤出市场，超级市场和其他大型零售商也是同样排挤他们（如图）。

　　In Britain, when price regulation was disbanded in 1997, supermarkets rushed in and now sell a quarter of all books, according to the way that Nielsen, a market-research outfit⁹, calculates it.

　　根据市场调查机构尼尔森的计算，当1997年英国解除价格管制后，超级市场蜂拥而至，如今占领了图书市场的四分之一。

　　Belgium and Finland mimicked¹⁰ this trend.

　　比利时和芬兰的情况如出一辙。

　　This has been good for readers: in Britain the average price of a book has fallen by 15% since 2003, reckons BML Bowker, a book-marketing consultancy.

　　这曾是消费者的福音：图书市场咨询公司BML Bowker估计，自2003年以来，英国图书的平均价格下跌了15%。

　　And demand has grown: consumers spend the same amount on books, so they must be buying more.

　　同时，需求增长了：消费者花费了同样多的钱，因此他们一定购买了更多的图书。

　　Those independent bookshops that survived the chain war in America and Britain have held sales and prices steady.

　　在美国和英国的图书联营之战中幸存下来的独立书店，其销量和价格保持了稳定。

　　Meanwhile, mass retailers find books such a draw that they lure¹¹ in customers by selling some titles at a loss.

　　与此同时，大的零售店将某些书亏本销售，用这样的方法来吸引客户到他们的店铺来购物。

　　Higher turnover¹² should also be positive for publishers.

　　更高的流通量也应有利于出版商。

　　But mass retailers demand discounts of up to 60% for bulk orders, shrinking margins¹³.

　　但是，大型零售商对大宗订单的折扣诉求动辄高达六成，这减少了出版商的利润空间。

　　All sides prosper¹⁴ when books sell quickly.

　　图书畅销的时候，全行业生机勃勃。

　　But, unlike groceries, if books don't sell, retailers return them to the publisher—and do not pay.

　　但图书和生活用品不同，没被销售的图书可以无条件退还给出版商。

　　So, when a book with a large print run flops¹⁵, publishers end up with an expensive pile of recycling.

　　所以当一本印数巨大的书滞销时，出版商最终只能付出高昂的代价回收。

　　That is why some publishers have stopped doing new deals with the likes of Costco, an American warehouse¹⁶ retailer⁷, which likes to order very large print runs.

　　这也正是为什么一些出版商停止了和美国科思科这样的连锁企业签定新合同的原因，他们倾向于大量订货。

　　Few people will mourn publishers' losses from increased price competition and new technology like e-readers.

　　很少有人会同情由于价格竞争和新技术（如电子书）而利益受损的出版商。

　　The question is whether these trends undermine the quality of books which are being published, by breaking a business model that has let firms focus on variety and range.

　　问题是破坏企业专注于多样化和范围的商业模式的趋势，是否会降低出版图书的质量。

　　Publishers have good reason to shiver at the decline of traditional bookshops.

　　传统书店的衰退已经使得出版商不寒而栗。

　　To fund the discovery and promotion¹⁷ of new authors, they have relied on books that sell steadily¹⁸ over a number of years.

　　发掘和推销新作者的资金依赖于于出版商多年来销量稳定的图书。

　　Yet mass retailers stock a few hundred new blockbusters.

　　当然大型零售商同时备有几百部新畅销书。

　　At first sight there is no reason for concern. New works are abundant—40% more titles came out in Britain in 2010 than in 2001.

　　乍一看似乎也无需紧张。新著层出不穷——相比2001年，2010年英国的新书目增长了40%。

　　But this obscures a starker¹⁹ trend: "mid-list" titles are selling in smaller numbers in America and Britain.

　　但这遮掩了一个糟糕的趋势，非畅销书在美国和英国的销量比以往更少了。

　　This matters for cultural life, because most literary fiction and serious non-fiction falls into that bracket and much of it could become uneconomical to publish.

　　这事关文化生活，因为大部分文学小说和严肃的非小说作品都属于非畅销书，其中大部分出版以后都成为了浪费。

1 spine   

n.脊柱，脊椎；(动植物的)刺；书脊

参考例句：

• He broke his spine in a fall from a horse.他从马上跌下摔断了脊梁骨。
• His spine developed a slight curve.他的脊柱有点弯曲。

2 retailing   

n.零售业v.零售(retail的现在分词)

参考例句：

• career opportunities in retailing 零售业的职业机会
• He is fond of retailing the news. 他喜欢传播消息。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

4 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

7 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

8 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

9 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

10 mimicked   

v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的过去式和过去分词 )；酷似

参考例句：

• He mimicked her upper-class accent. 他模仿她那上流社会的腔调。 来自辞典例句
• The boy mimicked his father's voice and set everyone off laughing. 男孩模仿他父亲的嗓音，使大家都大笑起来。 来自辞典例句

11 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

12 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

13 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

14 prosper   

v.成功，兴隆，昌盛；使成功，使昌隆，繁荣

参考例句：

• With her at the wheel,the company began to prosper.有了她当主管，公司开始兴旺起来。
• It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper.我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。

15 flops   

n.失败( flop的名词复数 )v.（指书、戏剧等）彻底失败( flop的第三人称单数 )；（因疲惫而）猛然坐下；（笨拙地、不由自主地或松弛地）移动或落下；砸锅

参考例句：

• a pair of flip-flops 一双人字拖鞋
• HPC environments are often measured in terms of FLoating point Operations Per Second (FLOPS) . HPC环境通常以每秒浮点运算次数(FLOPS)加以度量。 来自互联网

16 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

17 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

18 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

19 starker   

（指区别）明显的( stark的比较级 )； 完全的； 了无修饰的； 僵硬的

参考例句：

• As night falls, the contrast between these worlds grows starker. 随着夜幕的降临，两个世界的对比更为鲜明。
• What's more, compared with 1992, voters face a starker economic choice. 另外，跟1992年相比，选民面临着一种更为刻板的经济选择。