Anonymous Patron writes “Here’s A Cox News Service piece on, you guessed it, used books. Whether they’re slightly read copies of current blockbusters or forgotten tomes from the past, used books are bargains for consumers, a boon for independent booksellers and a nagging concern for publishers and authors.
They also are one of the fastest-growing segments of the publishing business.
Book Trends estimates that used books accounted for 14 percent of adult book purchases in 2003, up from 1 percent in 2002. And Book Hunter Press reported that used book sales amounted to $614 million in 2003.”
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The Broker
$27.95 for “The Broker” by Grisham??? My blood runs to cheap. I would only pay that kind of price if I was at a book signing and I got to meet the author and have my book signed. I am a member of Zooba and they would have shipped a new copy of “The Broker” to my door for $10 and that includes shipping.
Wrong
`Every used book sold is a new book that’s not sold,” says Carolyn Sakowski, president of John F. Blair Publishers in Winston-Salem, N.C. On the other hand, she doesn’t blame readers for shopping for bargains.
There is definitly not a one to one correlation in regards to a used book being sold killing a new book sale. There are numerous used book purchases that I have made where I never would have purchased the book new. If I had not purchased the book used I never would have pruchased it at all.
Re:Wrong
Some of our readers from the great Northwest are probably familiar with a massive bookstore in Portland, OR called Powell’s World of Books. The place is huge- three stories in parts and covers an entire city block. When I die, I want my soul to go to Powell’s.
Anyway Powell’s sells new and used books. Unlike many used bookstores, however, Powell’s puts their new and used books on the same shelves side by side. You can buy the new or you can buy the used and they’re both right there to compare. Even with this style of marketing, they manage to sell tons of new books. After all, some books just aren’t available used. Either they’re not there, or the book is brand new, or whatever. So you may have to buy the new one.
My friends and I make regular Powell’s pilgrimages. Speaking for us, we’ll even sometimes buy the new over the used. Either we want a pristine copy or the used is just a bit too used. Doesn’t matter, we’ll still get at least a few new books every time.
used books
Without being introduced to new authors via used books stores, I would never buy their new offerings in hardback at the regular bookstores. I think the used and unused book markets feed off of each other.
Sticker-shock
New books are *expensive*.
Basically, I like owning things, instead of renting. Thus I like buying movies over seeing them in the theaters. If I take someone else, usually I’ve paid the price to purchase the movie.
I typically am only willing to spend up to an hour’s wage on 2 paperbacks, or 1 hardback. Anything more is too pricey for me. And at new book prices, and my current wage, used is the only way to go.
I also can’t *find* 3/4 – 90+% of the books I’d like to buy at new bookstores. Thus I started shopping at used bookstores – they have a much better chance of having out-of-print books.
If there were a store that sold new copies of every book ever published, I might have to change my tune – and plunk out the change for the books I want. I’ve been hunting some books for almost a decade. Yeah, I could succumb to online ordering, and maybe I could get some of them, but the shipping is atrocious. (I priced a few that I could find the other day – I would’ve been paying 30$ in shipping for 7 books, and around $10-20ish for the actual books….).
— Ender, Duke_of_URL
Used Books
As I work at a public library, we get many used books donated. We have a policy that clearly states what we will accept–and won’t, such as out-of-date medical and legal books, sets of encyclopedias, textbooks and weekly magazines. Items that are in good condition are reviewed for possible additions to the library collection and the remainder go to the Friends of the Library for their monthly ‘silent auction’ and monthly booksale. All of the FOL proceeds go towards funding programs for the library. The Friends of the Library depend on the used book donations for their income. I agree that the used book market is not goint to put booksellers–or libraries–out of business. If publishers are so concerned they could reduce the price of books. They, apparently, are not concerned about the used book market either.