AOL's Book Maven

From my previous entry came this response:

"Bethanne:

New topic!  AOL published an article saying books are one of five things you should never buy new.  Now, if no one bought new books, there wouldn't BE any new books.  This was appalling news for those of us--namely, me--who makes a living writing books.  That's worth a discussion thread, I think!

www.louisemarley.com
www.tobybishop.net
Comment from lmarley - 11/10/06 10:59 AM"

Louise, a long-time Book Maven reader, is exactly right -- I saw that headline on the AOL Welcome Screen the other day and just sighed... like every reader and bibliophile I know, I buy books indiscriminately: online and offline, new and used, moderna and antiquarian. I would no more think of not buying new books than I would swear off my morning coffee.

Here's what MSN's Liz Pulliam Westin says in her piece about '10 Things Not to Buy New' (see, I'm villifying The Competition... JOKE!) (emphasis mine):

• Books, books, books. Now this is awkward, because I wrote a book. (Warning! Shameless plug ahead!) It's called, "Your Credit Score: How to Fix, Improve and Protect the 3-Digit Number that Shapes Your Financial Future," and of course, I'd love for you to go out and purchase a new copy. (End of shameless plug.)

But the reality is that most books don't get read more than once, if that, and they're astonishingly easy to find used at steep discounts -- if not absolutely free.

Your local library, for example, may allow you to reserve titles online and then deliver them to your nearest branch for pick-up. Used book stores abound, both in your town and online. If you're looking for a potboiler to get you through your next cross-country flight, just stop by almost any yard sale and pick up four for $1.

Exception: Reference books you'll use again and again. For example, I bought a deeply-discounted copy of Cheryl Mendelson's excellent "Home Comforts." That was after checking the book out at the library and running up a small fortune in fines because I couldn't bear to part with it.

Hmmmm... well... who among us can resist a bargain? Not Liz Pulliam Westin. Nor can I; if you Google my name long enough you'll probably find a Wall Street Journal article in which I admitted to purchasing a best-seller in gently used condition.

Now, as then, I will point out that the part of my quote omitted from the piece was about how I shop for books several times a month and often buy ten hardcover books new at a time from favorite shops whose displays tempt me beyond measure... Because, as Louise sanely points out, without people buying new books, there would be no more new books.

I know that we hate to think of books -- those frigates that transport us, those magical low-tech pages -- as mere products, as objects of commerce. But they are! If everyone decided to follow 'The Tightwad Gazette' way of life and buy all clothing from yard sales and fashion toilet-paper dispensers from discarded wire hangers, what would Old Navy and Home Depot do?

Hmmmmm... well... you might hate Old Navy and Home Depot. Substitute that delicious little local boutique and your beloved old hardware store instead. (We aren't really able to do the same thing with big-box book stores versus independents, since most of the latter have gone the way of the dodo, alas...). Wherever you buy your wonderful whatsits and thneeds, you buy many of them new, and that's why your wherever stays open.

People, if you want to read -- you've got to sometimes pay the piper. Think $25 is too high for a hardcover? That's just six venti lattes -- and even if you only read the book once, that's a lot more worth, IMHO, than the consumption of the lattes.

Of course, one of the hardest things is if you buy a book and it's not worth the money you paid for it -- which is, of course, why I hope you read my and other blogs to find out which books might (again, IMHO) be best worth your time and money.

What do you think? Louise?

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• #4 Comment from arulraj1985
  2/13/08 12:20 PM | Permalink

  
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• #3 Comment from lmarley
  11/16/06 12:17 PM | Permalink

  There is another way to avoid the pitfall of losing our book buying choices:  shop at the nearest independent bookstore.  You can find it by going to the BookSense web site, which lists independent booksellers by location, and which has quite a good search feature.
  
  Louise
  www.louisemarley.com
• #2 Comment from brownbarnbooks
  11/14/06 9:35 PM | Permalink

  Maybe you'll read a new book only once, but if you don't want to keep it and you've passed it around to your family and friends, why not give it to a local hospital?  Nearly every hospital has patients who'd love something to read instead of watching television day and night. Or if your local library doesn't have book sales to raise much-needed funds, why not try to get them to organize one, and give your read book to them?
  
  But for the sake of the authors who put years, blood, sweat, tears, anguish, and anything else you can name, not to mention the booksellers, designers, typesetters, printers, and even us publishers, most of whom will probably starve to death if people don't buy new books, PLEASE don't limit your bookbuying to used books.
  
  Nancy Hammerslough, Brown Barn Books
  
  
• #1 Comment from besujuji
  11/14/06 1:16 PM | Permalink

  There are some books you should just save you money and NOT buy....Rachael Ray is one.  This stuff she writes in issufferable.  You can E E V O that.