Books-a-Million is probably going to go private. That, if you don't know, is Not A Good Sign. It doesn't necessarily mean impending bankruptcy, but it means that the company isn't of enough interest to the investing public to make it worthwhile to have it listed on a stock market.

I do think that independent bookstores can find a specialized niche (in fact, if they haven't already, they probably went under a long time ago). But the chains...not so much. Their pitch was always low prices and large selection, and Amazon just cleans their clock on that.

And does it matter? Well, watch this video about the Romantic Times conference to the very end. (I know, I'm making you look at scantily-clad male models. That is because I am a sadist!) They talk about one publisher that was making 30% of their sales from Borders when it went under. Everyone despaired, but they wound up making that money back in e-sales in one day.