Interview with James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble

In 2023, where mind-numbing social media usage is through the roof, the average attention span is strikingly low, and an alarming quantity of recent tv show titles includes the word “milf”, it is hard to argue that our society isn’t in a decline. We traded Kant for the Kardashians and Aristotle for the newest Adidas Sambas, gladly widening the difficult to ignore cultural black hole that has grown in the past decade. One of the first things that comes to mind when I think about this decline is the following foreboding trope: no one reads anymore. Until a few weeks ago, I would have agreed with this statement wholeheartedly, shamefully relating on a personal level. And it’s not just me, a recent Gallup poll found that American adults are reading fewer books each year: Americans say they read an average of 12.6 books during the past year, a smaller number than Gallup has measured in any prior survey dating back to 1990. Bookstores feel far less relevant than they used to be, and the number of students you encounter that are eager to enter the book industry, be it as a writer, editor, publisher, or seller, pales in comparison to the number of Blackstone and McKinsey junkies on this campus.

So is it true? Does no one read anymore? Is the book-industry slowly eroding along with our collective intelligence? Thankfully, according to James Daunt, CEO of Barnes and Noble, this claim is “utter nonsense.” In our interview, Daunt proudly asserted that book sales have never been better and Barnes and Noble is preparing to open 50 new stores in the upcoming year. This news evoked equal parts delight and shock in me; I had assumed that the company had been crippled by Amazon’s dominance in the market combined with a dwindling readership.

Apparently, this hypothesis could not be farther from the truth. Daunt explained that “Amazon democratizes books”. Let’s take a look at the facts. It is estimated that Amazon accounts for a minimum of 60% of all book sales in the United States. This seemingly devastating statistic did not bother Daunt, who assured me that reading can only contribute to more reading. “If someone buys a book on amazon, they are more likely to walk into my bookstore next time they pass by it, and generally, a bookstore will always satisfy a different need from an online platform.” Daunt is correct on multiple levels. Bookstores serve as a foundation of our society and contribute to our communities more than one might realize. Daunt describes his Barnes and Noble franchises as community centers, and essential institutions that combat illiteracy. According to an article by ceoworld magazine, Washington, D.C, Seattle, Minneapolis, Atlanta, San Francisco have been named the five most literate cities in America. This is based on six distinct criteria: number of local bookstores, library resources, newspaper circulation in the city, periodical publishing resources, use of online resources, and residents’ education levels.

My interview with Daunt concluded with an ironic and telling anecdote. He explained that all of the major publishing houses have offices in these gorgeous palaces in London, overlooking the Temps, and their staffs still complain that the book sales are “slow.” This image can hopefully be of service to you next time you have an existential crisis about our allegedly anti-intellectual culture; the book industry remains on the rise and reading will eternally be a foundation of society.