The New York Times has an article today on the economics of used books and the the place of Amazon.com in the market.
Personally, I love used book stores. Amazon is great if you really need something, but nothing beats the browsing experience. Fantasy and sci-fi is such a tough genre sometimes – the covers and blurbs are so awful and misleading that it’s hard to pick anything up at the bookstore – and if it’s crap or yet another lame Tolkien rehash, you’ve wasted your money. (Libraries, meanwhile, will often only get the best-sellers.) With a used bookstore, you can unload the crap and get more books for half off the cover price or less. It’s a win-win situation for the reader.
In fact – may Lucasfilm and Del Rey not smite me as I type – I would recommend getting used books if you’re trying to catch up on the Star Wars novels. They’re plentiful in many used bookstores and with the ups and downs in quality, you’re probably better off not wasting the extra cash on anything but the authors you know you’ll enjoy. Face it – the Jedi Academy trilogy is simply not worth $21 new when used copies are available on Amazon for as low as 39 cents.
Generally, with authors I enjoy, I do make it a point to buy new when possible. But the amount of authors and series I’ve gotten into because of used bookstores is hard to estimate. But with new releases, I simply don’t have the patience to wait for books to hit used. I shudder to think of what I’ve spent on the Expanded Universe over the years – I even bought Shadows of the Empire new, even though I knew it probably sucked at the time. (And so it did!) Learn from my mistakes.
I too have spent a lot on the AU over the years, and much of it new. Zahn’s about the only author these days I’ll put out for new – and in addition, have the time to keep up with. Otherwise I go purely on reccomendations. Also, being this close to Powell’s has spoiled me. I buy used whenever possible!
I do enjoy a good used bookstore, if only for the smell alone. Nothing smells quite as good as used books.
Sadly, the Atlanta area has been reduced to this crappy chain that (to my horror, anyway) puts a 5-inch tall stamp in all of the books that come into their posession.
But we shall overcome!