I haunt a lot of used bookstores -- well, perhaps not a *lot* since there
fewer and fewer of these operations around -- but would agree the ARCs make
up a very insignificant amount...in my experience, in fact, much less than
Dave's number... probably a fraction of a percent.
I'd also agree that used bookstores are valuable and valid retailers. Any
considerations or efforts to curtail their resale business is, I believe,
misguided. Not only for the reasons already discussed, but I'd also suggest
that a vast majority (more than half, certainly) of the books there are OP
(out-of-print), so even those who suggest (I believe wrongly) that one
should buy new because buying used takes a royalty away from an active
author should see that, in most cases, this simply isn't the case.
Ron C.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com [mailto:rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of davezeltserman
> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 10:34 AM
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Used Books and ethics
>
> Even though I stated my earlier preferences now for new books, I agree
with Jim +
> Bob + others on this subject. Generally, used + library books are good for
authors--
> anything that helps to get the author read is good. One small nitpicking
point,
> though (since I'm in a nitpicking mood)--not all books in used bookstores
were first
> bought--more and more ARCs and free books from the publisher are ending up
in
> used bookstores and online--but this would be a small percentage of
overall sales
> (probably less than 5%), and anything that gets the author read is good
and can
> lead to sales down the road.
>
> --Dave
>
>
> --- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, JIM DOHERTY <jimdohertyjr@...> wrote:
> >
> > Bob,
> >
> > Re your comment below:
> >
> > "I've never understood the bubbub about used books. in order for them to
get into
> a used bookstore so0mebody had to but them. And you got your royalty. And
I
> figure anybody buying my books used will eventually-- hopefully- -start
buying them
> new."
> >
> > As an author (if one of far less prodigious productivity), I'm with you
on this.
> >
> > Being a devout,practicing Catholic, I'm capable of feeling guilty about,
well,
> practically everything. But it's never occurred to me to feel the tiniest
iota of guilt
> about buying a used book.
> >
> > Nor have I ever felt guilty about borrowing one from the public library.
> >
> > In both cases, as you point out, the book's already been bought, the
writer's
> already gotten his royalty, so no one has a beef. The book, as a physical
entity
> rather than an intellectual property, now belongs to someone else (in the
former
> case, first the reader, then the bookseller the reader sold it to; in the
latter case, the
> tax-paying public), and that new owner of the physical entity is, and
should be,
> absolutely free to dispose of it as he/she/they choose.
> >
> > Further, as you also suggest, particularly in the case of public
libraries, the
> presence of the book, and its availability for borrowing, is long-term
free advertising
> for the author. How many of you have discovered an author for free by
browsing
> your local library and then went out and bought something else by the same
writer?
> How many of you have ever bought a used book by an author, and were so
> beguiled that you bought the next thing that came out for free?
> >
> > Finally, in many cases, the book is no longer in print, so buying it
used or
> borrowing it from the library is the only way the book can be made
available to
> readers.
> >
> > My response to this non-issue is somewhat similar to those who feel we
don't pay
> enough taxes. If you truly feel personally guilty about not sending more
money to
> the government, make a voluntary donation. Similarly, if you truly feel
you're
> cheating an author by buying a copy of a book that has already generated
income
> for that author, then mail him/her a check for whatever you calculate
would have
> been the royalty if you bought it new instead of getting a used copy or
borrowing it
> from the library. That, it seems to me, relieve any guilt you may feel
more
> effectively than kvetching about what the greater bulk of the reading
public can only
> regard as wholly imaginary moral or ethical issues.
> >
> > As for myself, I'd rather my books were read by as many people as
possible, and
> libraries and used book shops are one form of keeping books widely
distributed.
> >
> > JIM DOHERTY
> >
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
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