And what I've noticed with those sales is that very few people buy only used books. Used books are their personal 'library', if you will. Instead of taking the book out of the public library system, they buy a used copy. It's a cheap way of sampling an author one might not otherwise want to spend the 8.00 US to try. I've certainly seen people then come back and buy everything new if they liked the book.
I feel like I'm in this category. That, and the out-of-print books, which I'm guessing the authors aren't going to mind, especially if I then start wailing and lobbying for the things to be brought BACK into print.
Part of it was also spending significant parts of my life in South Korea. Try finding a decent selection of sf/f IN ENGLISH--I was so happy when Amazon.com would ship to Korea. And as a result, I'm very un-picky about used book condition as long as pages aren't falling out (and honestly, I have some of those, too). In the back of my head, I'm used to sf/f being scarce, and I nab what I can when I can. I can spend hours in most bookstores goggling over the selection...even though I know intellectually that I'm not in scarcity-land anymore, the psychological habit-of-mind is hard to break.
Then, too, a few friends and I pass books on to each other--books that would otherwise be discarded. I hate tossing books out when they're still in readable, even good condition. I'd rather find 'em a new home.
Hmm. If I ever find out that a particular author I like hates used books, I suspect my next instinct would be to grab it at the library, or request that the library get it. I'm not sure that this is a better thing from such an author's point of view, though, and I'm rather too tired to research the preferences of everyone I read.
Okey-dokey, continuing with the mix of new- and non-new book purchases.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-08-06 11:01 pm (UTC)I feel like I'm in this category. That, and the out-of-print books, which I'm guessing the authors aren't going to mind, especially if I then start wailing and lobbying for the things to be brought BACK into print.
Part of it was also spending significant parts of my life in South Korea. Try finding a decent selection of sf/f IN ENGLISH--I was so happy when Amazon.com would ship to Korea. And as a result, I'm very un-picky about used book condition as long as pages aren't falling out (and honestly, I have some of those, too). In the back of my head, I'm used to sf/f being scarce, and I nab what I can when I can. I can spend hours in most bookstores goggling over the selection...even though I know intellectually that I'm not in scarcity-land anymore, the psychological habit-of-mind is hard to break.
Then, too, a few friends and I pass books on to each other--books that would otherwise be discarded. I hate tossing books out when they're still in readable, even good condition. I'd rather find 'em a new home.
Hmm. If I ever find out that a particular author I like hates used books, I suspect my next instinct would be to grab it at the library, or request that the library get it. I'm not sure that this is a better thing from such an author's point of view, though, and I'm rather too tired to research the preferences of everyone I read.
Okey-dokey, continuing with the mix of new- and non-new book purchases.