It’s true.
Yesterday twitter was, well, atwitter with conversation started by Shelf Awareness about bookstores charging for events.
Others noted some bad behavior of book buyers, particularly those who will purchase the book online ahead of time and bring it in to be signed, and browsers who jot titles in their phones and then go home and order on line.
Hamilton Nolan at Gawker, particularly angry about that, had this to say:
You think the owner of that book store doesn’t know what you’re doing? Oh, they know exactly what you’re doing. You say you “love” books? You say you enjoy perusing the soothing aisles of a book store, so lovingly curated by a book store owner who spends his or her life ensuring that the very latest and most interesting book selections are there, presented for you in the most interesting possible way? You like that a lot? Yeah. So you can go home and order that shit online.
Read his rant here.