On book buying
Nov. 4th, 2010 05:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenayI've been thinking about book-buying, specifically where and why I buy.
I'm a big fan of the second hand book market. It's a fantastic way to track down out of print titles or get well-loved copies of classics. My beautiful copy of Emma from 1950 that's been printed to be handbag size made me squee outloud when I spotted it. The dedications inside my Chalet School books give me an insight into the other people who loved those books. Second hand books are fantastic and an afternoon in a second hand bookshop followed by a nice cup of tea while reading my newest treasure is my idea of heaven.
There are things that I don't buy second hand, basically anything that is still within author copyright and available new. Buying something second hand that's either public domain or out of print isn't taking money away from an author. Buying second hand when new copies are available and the author is alive and holds the copyright? Yeah, I'm starting to feel more uncomfortable about that than I used to because I've become attached to authors through their blogs and Twitters. So I've largely stopped buying that kind of thing second hand, unless it's a second (or third) copy to be a travelling copy.
When buying new books, as much as I'd love to buy from a nice independent bricks and mortar bookshop, one must actually have a nice independent bricks and mortar bookshop to buy from. My local bricks and mortar bookshop is Chapters. I use them a fair bit, but their range isn't as good as Amazon and it's range that I go for more than price these days. I buy a lot of books on recommendation and half the time, those books simply aren't available on the shelves. As I already have an Amazon account (and Chapters hasn't got the easiest website to navigate), it's to Amazon that I head to track down my book.
When I'm in England, I always make time for a good long browse in Foyles. I can always find something awesome there and it's probably one of my favourite bookshops ever. At some stage, I'm planning a trip to New York just to hit up all the bookshops and probably end up shipping a ton of books back to Canada :-)
My Kindle has changed my buying habits slightly. If it's available on Kindle and it's not something that I'm desperate to have on the shelves forever and ever or I'm likely to want to lend out, I buy the ebook now. My book spending has actually increased in the two months that I've had my Kindle - rejoice, authors!
If it's an author that I love so much that I buy in hardback within a couple of days of release or something that I know that I'll want topimp lend out then I buy the dead tree version. After all, the dead tree version will never encounter technological issues that will either destroy it or render it unreadable due to technological shifts.
My library borrowing is down a little, but not drastically. There were already a lot of times when I'd buy rather than borrow because the library only had hardback copies and those don't transport well for casual reading. It's just that I buy Kindle copies rather than paperbacks.
My personal borrowing and lending remains the same, I think. Unlike with the second hand thing, I have no issues with lending or borrowing within friends even if the book is available and the author alive. The difference is that by lending out, I know that I'll be generating sales because a lot of people will borrow the first book by the author and then buy other books by that author. Likewise, when I borrow something from a friend there's a good chance that I'll end up buying my own copy.
In other words, lending is good advertising for authors and generates sales (word of mouth etc.), which is why that doesn't bother me at all.
Hmm, I had a point when I started this. It got lost somewhere.
Still loving The Moonstone. It's so readable! And intriguing!
*exit stage left*
I'm a big fan of the second hand book market. It's a fantastic way to track down out of print titles or get well-loved copies of classics. My beautiful copy of Emma from 1950 that's been printed to be handbag size made me squee outloud when I spotted it. The dedications inside my Chalet School books give me an insight into the other people who loved those books. Second hand books are fantastic and an afternoon in a second hand bookshop followed by a nice cup of tea while reading my newest treasure is my idea of heaven.
There are things that I don't buy second hand, basically anything that is still within author copyright and available new. Buying something second hand that's either public domain or out of print isn't taking money away from an author. Buying second hand when new copies are available and the author is alive and holds the copyright? Yeah, I'm starting to feel more uncomfortable about that than I used to because I've become attached to authors through their blogs and Twitters. So I've largely stopped buying that kind of thing second hand, unless it's a second (or third) copy to be a travelling copy.
When buying new books, as much as I'd love to buy from a nice independent bricks and mortar bookshop, one must actually have a nice independent bricks and mortar bookshop to buy from. My local bricks and mortar bookshop is Chapters. I use them a fair bit, but their range isn't as good as Amazon and it's range that I go for more than price these days. I buy a lot of books on recommendation and half the time, those books simply aren't available on the shelves. As I already have an Amazon account (and Chapters hasn't got the easiest website to navigate), it's to Amazon that I head to track down my book.
When I'm in England, I always make time for a good long browse in Foyles. I can always find something awesome there and it's probably one of my favourite bookshops ever. At some stage, I'm planning a trip to New York just to hit up all the bookshops and probably end up shipping a ton of books back to Canada :-)
My Kindle has changed my buying habits slightly. If it's available on Kindle and it's not something that I'm desperate to have on the shelves forever and ever or I'm likely to want to lend out, I buy the ebook now. My book spending has actually increased in the two months that I've had my Kindle - rejoice, authors!
If it's an author that I love so much that I buy in hardback within a couple of days of release or something that I know that I'll want to
My library borrowing is down a little, but not drastically. There were already a lot of times when I'd buy rather than borrow because the library only had hardback copies and those don't transport well for casual reading. It's just that I buy Kindle copies rather than paperbacks.
My personal borrowing and lending remains the same, I think. Unlike with the second hand thing, I have no issues with lending or borrowing within friends even if the book is available and the author alive. The difference is that by lending out, I know that I'll be generating sales because a lot of people will borrow the first book by the author and then buy other books by that author. Likewise, when I borrow something from a friend there's a good chance that I'll end up buying my own copy.
In other words, lending is good advertising for authors and generates sales (word of mouth etc.), which is why that doesn't bother me at all.
Hmm, I had a point when I started this. It got lost somewhere.
Still loving The Moonstone. It's so readable! And intriguing!
*exit stage left*
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-04 09:29 pm (UTC)Don't forget to ensure the wishlist is up to date before Christmas!
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 09:25 pm (UTC)I think Amazon is brining out the lending feature, but no word on when. It will be the same thing as the Nook though: limited time period, only allowed to lend out a book once and then never again. Anything that I'm going to want to pimp out will still be getting bought in paper form!
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Date: 2010-11-05 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-06 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 09:33 pm (UTC)At the moment, I have the money to buy new when it's something that is available and the author is alive to get paid. When it's by an author I particularly love then I'm definitely buying new. If it's something that's going to be hard (or impossible) to source new or the author is no longer alive then I'll trawl the second hand market with the best of them :-)
I think the problem for me is that I've been following authors and learning about the publishing industry. 2nd hand clothing feels different (to me) and Tommy Hilfiger is a major international corporation. They're not going to miss the money :-D
And author, who is already not getting paid masses for his work, can use every penny that I can send his way.
It's possible that I'm getting odd in my old age.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-04 10:48 pm (UTC)The same with computer and console games.
It's a very interesting thought though.
Originally I wanted my books to be new, only read by me, perfect. Though recently I have had to accept that I cannot afford to buy all the books I want so I have been buying a lot second hand.
I think there's a limit for me really, around £15. If it's over £15 I'll look for it second hand.
Your post has intrigued me though, and maybe I should sit and evaluate my spending.
I'd be very interested to know what current authors think about the second hand issue...
In a way though, if I couldn't buy a book really cheap second hand, I'd end up getting it from the library and not buying it, so at least I'm buying it and then in the future if I have more money I may replace it with new.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 09:43 pm (UTC)I have to admit, the really expensive books (the hard backs that I have to have OMG) go onto my birthday and Christmas wishlists :-)
At least you're buying it and supporting a second hand bookshop that needs your business. Second hand bookshops are amazing and you can find some incredible things - I'd hate to see them disappear. It's my only worry about ereaders: will the second hand market eventually die?
no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 08:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-05 09:44 pm (UTC)Broken book spines make me crazy. I'll sit in awkward positions just to be able to see the pages without cracking the spine.