How do you buy your books?

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by andrew.v.spencer

I like to support book stores where I can, in the same way I try and buy what I need from the smaller local stores near me in Cumbria.

I tend to avoid second hand bookstores as I feel they're doing the author out of business and doing bookstores out of business.

However, I often find myself shopping at Amazon owing to the range of books available. Unless the book store is very large I find it will have book 2 and 5 of a series, or only one book by an author I like.

I agree on second hand bookstores. I dont buy books from my favs when i see them in second hand stores which is pretty often. I rather pay the full price and support my favorit authors no matter how famous he/she is. I like the thought of awarding an author you like with your money

Only thing i use second hand stores are for finding books of authors i want to try and see if they are any good. If i cant find them in the library first that is.

Also i like my bookshop so much that i rather keep them in buisness than a second hand store. The people there are like the big chains,they know they will get old books and sell them for double and they know people will buy alot of cheap second hand books .

Like the big chains who dont bother to have a good price on their books cause they know they are huge and no small bookshop can compete with them.

[woodsman]

I agree in someways, but then I wonder how much we are just feeding the publishers. Actually itend to buy new books if I see a 'new' author or someone with their first publishing, but not of established authors, such as G.R.R.M or Erikson. I mean they're generally doing pretty well.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by woodsman

I agree in someways, but then I wonder how much we are just feeding the publishers. Actually itend to buy new books if I see a 'new' author or someone with their first publishing, but not of established authors, such as G.R.R.M or Erikson. I mean they're generally doing pretty well.

Of course we feed the publishers and they in turn feed the authors. Thats the way it works.


Thats a weak excuse IMO for GRRM big authors.

They deserve to get paid for their work as much as the new and much lesser famous authors.

Not all my favs are nearly that big but i dont care if they are even bigger than Stephen King. If i enjoy a writer, i will buy several of his books in new and good condition. Not cheat him from getting paid for his work.

[woodsman]

Fair do's. On t'other hand I feel some pleasure from knowing some of my cash is feeding the poor and the homeless, not makeing someone who's rich, richer but thats really another augument.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by woodsman

Fair do's. On t'other hand I feel some pleasure from knowing some of my cash is feeding the poor and the homeless, not makeing someone who's rich, richer but thats really another augument.

Atleast thats one thing we can agree on. I feel some pleasure too from knowing you are making a small time writer sell better and make more money

[kaelcarp]

These days, I get most of my books used online. I've had a lot of luck just looking for stuff through Amazon. My wife is also part of this thing called Paperback Swap, where you post books you have and send them to whoever wants them, and in return you can request books of other people. It's pretty cool.

[GOLLUM]

Most of my books I buy new. Until last year most of those were from bookshops. Now that I've discovered Amazon and various small press publishers in the last 12 months a lot more were through online sales.

[The Ace]

I love to buy second-hand, but it's all-but impossible for Perth to support a second-hand bookshop, they tend to last about 6 months, and the charity shops are worse than useless.

[purple_kathryn]

A lot of my books are impulse buys so they tend to be new

If I want a specific book I normally check ebay or amazon

Unfortunately while I know a couple of 2nd hand book shops in Belfast none are particular convenient too me (where as Waterstones, WH Smith and Easons are) - I was in them more before I started working in Belfast funnily enough

[HoopyFrood]

As I've said previously, since joining this site I've realised there are so many authors and books I need to read, so if perusing a second hand book shop, I'm bound to find a book by at least one of them (and that's how I've built up my collection of Moorcock, Heinlein, Erikson etc). A large majority of the books I've bought in the past year have been from second hand shops -- and I do like the older books you find in them, they have retro covers and have that wonderful old book smell.

However, it's very rare for me to go into a large chain like Waterstones and leave without a book, so I often buy new as well. And I often ask for book vouchers for occasions like birthdays and Christmas, which are usually for the large stores like that. If a new Stephen King book comes out, or something similar that I must have straight away, I'll also buy it new (and usually in hardback, I just can't wait!)

I rarely buy books from Amazon unless I know for certain which ones I am after -- I've only once browsed with nothing in mind and ended up buying books from there and that was because there was a three for two sale and I can't resist things like that. My course books almost always are bought online though, because they are cheaper and it's much easier than trawling endless shops looking for them.

[clovis-man]

It has gotten to the point that I rarely buy books new off the shelf at a major retailer. Once in a great while, Amazon may have something I just can't live without.

Otherwise, I do desultory shopping at various used shops or at places like Half Price Books or Friends of the Library, where I do volunteer work. I find eBay is helpful if you're looking for a set of books, say several volumes by the same author. If I'm looking for a specific title, I'll go to Half.com / Books first. That's where I find the best prices and reasonable shipping. If that doesn't work, the best place to find it is usually BookFinder.com: Search for New & Used Books, Textbooks, Out-of-Print and Rare Books

Jim

[D_Davis]

I only buy used. Books are way too expensive new. They've more than tripled in price in my life time alone. I refuse to pay $9 for a MMPB - and they new, "better" size is a joke.

I mainly buy books at a US chain called Half Price books. I can pick up all of my classic sci-fi there for usually less than $1 per book.

If HP doesn't have it, I go to the Amazon marketplace.

There are only 2 authors I buy new, Joe R. Lansdale and Philip K. Dick. This is because Lansdale's stuff is usually only released in small quantities by small press publishers and it is almost impossible to find used. And with Dick, I want to have a complete set of the new trades.

A lot of my favorite authors are dead, and I don't get one with too many new genre authors - their books are usually too long or part of a series that is too long.

This makes used book buying pretty easy for me.

[Rane Longfox]

Virtually all the books I buy are new (or new-ish), so a regular bookshop is the best method for me. Second hand stores almost never have what I'm looking for.

[D_Davis]

If any of you posters across the pond ever make it over to the states, Pacific Northwest - Portland, Oregon - make sure you go to Powell's Book City. It's the world's largest used book store, and it is amazing. You just won't believe how awesome it is until you go.

[nj1]

The biggest store near me is about 20 miles away in Cardiff, It's a Waterstones and I hate to buy books from there as the prices are not cheap. The other week I bought two books that cost me just over £20!! Are the books in the states expensive?