(a) higher sales volume and higher profitibality meant that they could afford some loss leaders.
(B) online not being as popular meant they were still a market for niches. Today niche interests are almost all entirely online
(C) The one big thing people are ignoring is that with the abundance of alternate media, books in general are almost certainly being read less. It's not just sales but actual consumptions of books that have likely dropped. The number of readers of certain niches has almost certainly reduced.
