The bookshop formerly known as Waterstone’s

Thursday, 12th January 2012

There has been much furore this afternoon about the bookshop formerly known as Waterstone’s. The company has decided to drop the apostrophe from its name to make it more ‘versatile and practical’ according to its managing director, James Daunt. The company is also restoring its old branding.

The suspicion is that apostrophes are not digital friendly. Waterstones, as we must now call it, is turning its attention to the digital world and this latest change is part of a concerted online push. For example, its recently revamped online book reviews (take this one on Jeffrey Sachs' The Price of Civilization) are bulkier than those found on Amazon, and they display the love of reading and learning that Waterstones believes is its unique selling point in this tempestuous market. While the internet book reviews are true to the company’s ethos, the dropping of the apostrophe is its very antithesis, which is causing much ire and a little merriment on Twitter.

Bad punctuation may be irritating, but it's unlikely to floor the flailing retailer. Nor will it save the shop. Ultimately, a competitive e-reader will be critical to the company’s survival, especially as the Kindle continues to surge ahead. Waterstones has already declared its intention to enter the e-reader market and the well-established rumour is that it will join forces with American retailer Barnes & Noble’s Nook tablet.

However, as this extensive piece in last week’s Wired magazine pointed out, the scale and depth of that partnership remains unclear and fraught with difficulty. One thing is certain: Alexander Mamut, who bought the company for £53 million last year, has the desire and resources to give Waterstones a chance of success. Disposing of an apostrophe is a cosmetic distraction from the internal changes within the company, and its changing relationship with the embattled publishing industry.

Blog Tags: Bookshops , Economy , Internet , Publishing