RicDay on Publishing

Canada’s Chapters.Indigo.ca website got a makeover this past weekend, apparently to encourage visitors to think of them as being anything but a purveyor of books. They seem to have worked quite hard to make the books less than apparent.

Visiting the new site, one is presented with one of those annoying pop-over windows. For now it trumpets the “exciting changes since your last visit.” In future I suspect the popover will be trumpeting credit card offers, or perhaps in-store origami folding lessons.

What are they saying?

The message in the popover is clear. They now have (my snarks in italics):

• a bright, open space (just like the stores they have been denuding of books)
• bigger, better deals every day (take that, Wal-mart!)
• a new Gift & Paper shop (recycled from books?)
• expanded Toys & Games shop (even more books ditched!)

Books below the fold

In newspapers, getting a real front-page story means it appears above the fold, where it is visible on news stands and racks. Below the fold is home to the also-rans; the not-quite-good-enough pieces.

In the new Indigo, books are below the fold. Far enough down the page that they are invisible unless you have a large monitor. The upper portion of the front page is dominated by an image slider promoting things the store would like you to buy. In order presented:

• All-New Kobo Wireless eReader
• Gift and Paper now available online
• Bananagrams game
• More toys then ever before!
• Gift ideas at your fingertips
• John lennon remastered CD set
• Deal of the week (a book you can buy cheap)
• The Girl Who Played with Fire on DVD & Blue-Ray

Nothing there to suggest they are a bookseller, is there?

When I first looked at the new site, it filled the browser screen; now someone seems to have added some white space at the sides. That is helpful, because I was initially very confused by the pair of cropped-in-half balls on the right side of the screen and spent a while trying to scroll right to see the rest of them.

Turns out the half-balls follow you around, letting you know if there is something lying around in your cart, or if you dropped a list.

Also lurking on all pages are headers which appear to have been created in a kissing-cousin font to the awful Comic Sans. That and a blue cousin to teal took me back to Windows 95. I immediately turned on the sound, just in case I was missing hearing “Start Me Up” or perhaps Edie Brickell doing “Good Times, Bad Times.”

Monster Menus

The menu bar at the top is odd. You can choose “By Shop*” which doesn’t look like a menu item but is, or you can choose “For Kids & Teens”, “Deal Zone”, or “Gift Ideas”. Clicking on any of those opens a sub-menu of options.

Below the dotted line is a line of headings (in alpha sequence, so Books gets to be first) which I assumed initially was the only menu.

Clicking on one of those items opens a monster menu which is really hard to use if you happen to be on a touch screen device. Here’s the one for books.

The Books menu highlights one of my pet peeves with Chapters Indigo. When the Canadian government made the stupid decision to allow the merger of the country’s two largest book chains (and pretty much guaranteed independents would die), one of the commitments by the new ownership was that they would promote Canadian books. That commitment has been “served” by a display in each of the large Chapters and Indigo stores of a selection of Canadian titles.

A quick history: W.H.Smith stores in Canada became a local company and changed its name to Smithbooks, which later merged with another national chain, Coles, and became Chapters, Inc. Well-funded start-up Indigo first sought to bring Borders to Canada and when rebuffed by the government, built 14 stores and then made a successful bid to buy control of Chapters, becoming Indigo Books & Music Inc. There are currently 247 Indigo, Chapters, and Coles stores across Canada.

Trying to find Canadian titles in the online store is damn near impossible. There is no category for Canadian books, nor is there any indication on individual book pages.

Quite how I will find Canadian authors or poets I don’t know. Chapters.indigo.ca makes sure they are invisible. Which is sad. Canada has an interesting history and produces interesting writers. I guess pushing Oprah’s Picks does more for the bottom line.