Book Hauls Discussion: New or Second-Hand?

[Connavar]

No first Hand books?

I wonder one thing do you guys have a policy of when you buy new books that isnt second hand copy?

It seems this thread you guys only buy second hand. Of course i try to find second hand of rare books or new authors i dont know yet but Fav authors i want their books in new copies, good condition.

 

[Lord Captain Woden]

Re: Book Hauls!

No first Hand books?

I wonder one thing do you guys have a policy of when you buy new books that isnt second hand copy?

It seems this thread you guys only buy second hand. Of course i try to find second hand of rare books or new authors i dont know yet but Fav authors i want their books in new copies, good condition.

Too be honest the only thing I look for in a book is that all the pages are there, my bookshelves are filled with tatty books. I tend to say if I really like a book that I'll buy a nice new edition of it but most of the time I don't get round to it.
The only reason I ever buy a new book is, obviously if it's just been released and their isn't any used copies yet or if I'm having a look round Waterstones and notice something that I want there and now.

 

[AE35Unit]

Re: Book Hauls!

No first Hand books?

I wonder one thing do you guys have a policy of when you buy new books that isnt second hand copy?

It seems this thread you guys only buy second hand. Of course i try to find second hand of rare books or new authors i dont know yet but Fav authors i want their books in new copies, good condition.

Most of my books are second hand mainly because I cant afford new! Plus Im loathe to pay for a book Im not sure I'll like.
But I have bought new Clarke and Asimov years ago, and I had hoped to buy Clarke's last book written with Frederick Pohl, but I lacked the money when it was published so I'm now looking for a second hand copy,preferably first edition.

 

[J-Sun]

Re: Book Hauls!

I wonder one thing do you guys have a policy of when you buy new books that isnt second hand copy?

If a book is new and actually carried by the one new store around and I'm in a position to get it, I do. If a book is old, about the only way to get it, thanks to idiot publishers and bookstores (short of ordering online - which is usually also used) and by far the cheapest, is to get it used, so I do. But sometimes a book takes a really long time (talking years and decades) to find or is non-US-only so I do give up and order it online.

(When I was a kid and you could find walls of SF crammed with a zillion slim volumes with lots of reprints in multiple new-bookstores, and books and mags in the freakin' grocery stores and stuff, and the SFBC didn't suck, I bought everything new.)

As far as quality, yeah, I'll buy a book in any intact condition if that's the only way to get it but I always hunt around and make sure I'm getting the best copy if there's more than one to choose from and will sometimes wait for a better copy or replace a particularly messed up copy and I take near-fanatical care of books myself. IOW, it's both not important and very important. Ideally it is, but I have to give in to reality. I'd love to buy everything minty fresh but I just wouldn't have very many books and even less money if I tried that.

 

[AndrewT]

Re: Book Hauls!

No first Hand books?

I wonder one thing do you guys have a policy of when you buy new books that isnt second hand copy?

It seems this thread you guys only buy second hand. Of course i try to find second hand of rare books or new authors i dont know yet but Fav authors i want their books in new copies, good condition.

I only buy new books when I have gift card, which is frequently. But I only get trade paper, no mass market. Books I can't get new I get used cheap in good condition online using www.bookfinder4u.com . If a book is not available in trade then I always get used.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Re: Book Hauls!

With regards to what J-Sun has said, let me add a heatry "Hear, hear!"

Back in the good old days you could get a reasonably priced paperback at every grocery store and drug store. Classics stayed in print, and works by younger writers were placed side by side with reprints of older stuff.

Today I go into a new book store and the SF/fantasy section, if it exists at all, is crammed with a zillion copies of a few gigantic bestsellers, next to books ripping off the gigantic bestsellers (how many teenage vampire romances do we need?), a bunch of thick books with generic dragon covers or space battle covers, most of them in endless series, and maybe a copy of The Martian Chronicles or an Asimov or Heinlein. I find all the books I actually want to read in used book stores these days, and I don't mind if they're beat up as long as they are readable.

 

[Southern Geologist]

Re: Book Hauls!

I get many of my books on Kindle, so they're new by default. When it comes to books on paper it varies, really. I try to buy new when possible if I don't have any ethical issues with supporting that author/estate (which is a rare occurrence)--generally from Amazon so I can pay a reasonable price--though I will buy (new) from a book store if I'm in one, find a book I'm interested in, and the mood strikes. As others noted, though, finding books I'm interested in (in paper form) new can be difficult. Often they're out of print.

I do try to make sure that I get my used books in good condition, but if there is a serious price discrepancy between a beat up one and one in good condition--say, one of those ridiculous Amazon used seller price jumps from $1 to $100--I will settle for the beat up one and hope I can replace it later at a reasonable cost.

 

[Connavar]

Re: Book Hauls!

If a book is new and actually carried by the one new store around and I'm in a position to get it, I do. If a book is old, about the only way to get it, thanks to idiot publishers and bookstores (short of ordering online - which is usually also used) and by far the cheapest, is to get it used, so I do. But sometimes a book takes a really long time (talking years and decades) to find or is non-US-only so I do give up and order it online.

This is why i asked because if a book is new my fav store is English bookstop that can get any book that is in print for me as new,cheap. A new book cost less than 10 pounds usually which is less than 3D films cost these days.

I never have to buy books online unless its rare old second hand books that i can get from abebooks type sites. My policy is if you are new author you are library book and if you are a fav i buy new paperback. Second hand books i have bought sometimes from real stores that cost as much as new books often and they are in bad condition.

Reading fresh,new smelling paperback adds to enjoyment for me. Reading A Princess of Mars from 1940s paperback that is in pieces isnt fair to ERB for example.

 

[AE35Unit]

Re: Book Hauls!

Second hand books smell better!

 

[Fried Egg]

Re: Book Hauls!

This subject probably deserves it's own thread but here goes:

I tend to buy far more second hand books than new ones. Perhaps I should by more new to support authors but I have to admit that most books I read are over thirty years old anyway so I think that factor is less important.

As for new favourite authors, I don't really have any that I would regard as "favourite", at least in the realms of SF or Fantasy. Horror is different. There are quite a few new favourites that I buy new, partly it has to be said, because that's the only way I would ever find them (I would be bowled over with surprise if I found Ligotti, Barron, Samuels, etc. in a second hand book store).

 

[AE35Unit]

Re: Book Hauls!

I could quite happily buy all Neal Asher's and Ian M Banks' books new but we would be skint the rest of the year!

 

[j d worthington]

These days I buy few books, period, finances being what they are. However, when I do purchase them, I do tend to have certain criteria for whether I go for new or second-hand. With my very favorite writers, I much prefer new, where possible, hardbound above paper (where such are available), unless I am going for a particular edition for one reason or another. Beyond that, I still prefer new, but I go for affordable prices, which generally means online; both because I can often find them for less (even with s&h) there than I can in bookstores, and because there aren't that many bookstores dealing in new books with a wide variety, especially in the fields I am particularly interested in. I do, however, also make a habit of visiting used bookstores a good deal, and can often find second-hand which are in mint condition... one can't even tell they've been touched. And, again, sometimes even so, online is less expensive here as well.

I will, however, agree with AE that second-hand books often "smell better"... or, at least, they have that wonderfully evocative smell of slightly (at least!) musty paper....

 

[Mangara]

Re: Book Hauls!

Second hand books smell better!

Yes!

Plus I like recycling!

 

[Extollager]

Living here in Vanishing Rural America as I do, I suppose I go literally years between visits to true book stores. I don't count the university bookstore, which is an outlet for apparel, flash drives, chewing gum, and some textbooks. By far the majority of the books I buy are from online dealers selling used books. If I buy a new book, it is likely to be from the publisher or from Amazon, Amazon UK, or the Book Depository (UK books at sometimes excellent discounts).

There is literally no living person identified as a science fiction, fantasy, or horror writer writer whom I buy full-price new. On the other hand, if I read that a new book of Ian Frazier's essays was out (I don't mean his humorous pieces, but things like his essay on the Holland Tunnel, etc.), I would probably order that immediately.

I did look into buying that book Adrift on the Sea of Rains a little while ago & couldn't find any way to do so that seemed affordable to me. I'm someone who wanted to cut his book buying way back for this year but I have already ordered 10 books (not counting buying some books turned up for me, very cheap, by a correspondent in Philadelphia who haunts library sales, etc.) in 2013. So however stern I may have sounded above, you see that I am susceptible to the appeal of buying books, used and new....

Is anyone else here trying fairly hard to cut back on book buying? In my case it's not just economics of money but economics of time; I saw that every additional purchase could represent the further deferral of reading something already on hand. I hope that when I depart this life my heirs won't find a great many books on hand that I never read.

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/537022-from-way-way-back-in-your-book-backlog.html

http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/537466-from-way-way-back-in-your-reading-life.html

 

[Lady of Winterfell]

If it's a book I have been waiting to be released, I will buy it new when it comes out, or shortly thereafter. But if its an older book, I generally try to find it used first, or borrow it from the library. Financially for me, this makes the most sense.

The other way I obtain books is my birthday and Christmas. I always have a list ready, and my parents and husband will get me brand new books for those. The rest of my family knows I love to read so they will usually give me gift cards. But I always try to find a used copy first before spending them, so I can save them for when I can't find a used copy.

 

[J-Sun]

Re: Book Hauls!

This is why i asked because if a book is new my fav store is English bookstop that can get any book that is in print for me as new,cheap.

That's how it ought to be (and used to be here) but the idiot bookstores now tell you to go order online. So people do - from Amazon. And those bookstores wonder why they're going out of business.

 

[The Ace]

To me, it's a matter of simple economics - I can afford to buy used books (particularly as I work in a charity bookshop).

The above complaint is also valid - there's far too much worthless junk clogging up the limited science-fiction/fantasy/horror (why is horror lumped in with those two ?) section of my local Waterstones and WH Smith.

 

[Extollager]

Living here in Vanishing Rural America as I do, I suppose I go literally years between visits to true book stores.l

In case I didn't make this clear -- there are no true book stores in my area. If there were even some pathetic chain book store in my town, no doubt I'd go into it and probably sometimes buy things I didn't even want that much.

So I do a lot of book buying, but almost no browsing around looking at books. I already know what I want when I go to abebooks.com for used books, or wherever it is I go to find a book. When you folks write about going into a bookstore to look at what's on sale, for me that is like something from a long time ago. And yet I have averaged bying around a hundred books a year for a while... too many, too many.

 

[Tim_Eagon]

I usually buy used books or off the internet. For one, it's generally cheaper and I buy a lot of books. Second, I'm often interested in older books, which are hard to find and/or obtain from chain bookstores. I really enjoy hunting through the stacks at the many used bookstores where I live (there's a large university here, which helps), and when I visit new places, one of the first things I do is find the used bookstore.

 

[j d worthington]

[...]there's far too much worthless junk clogging up the limited science-fiction/fantasy/horror (why is horror lumped in with those two ?)[...]

Again, this (at least, as a full discussion) is a subject for another thread but the (relatively... hey, Ace, you know me) short answer is that all three emerged from the same eighteenth-century reaction to the prevailing literary views of the time. Admittedly, "horror" (or terror, as it was then called) is the oldest of the three, with the advent of the Gothic novels and shorter tales; but even within this limited aspect, there were plenty of elements of outright fantasy (see, for instance, "Sir Bertram: a Fragment") and, with the advent of such things as Frankenstein, not to mention its largely forgotten predecessors, or Poe (who frequently used themes and tropes we would consider early science fiction, both for horrific and humorous purposes -- or sometimes, as in "Metzengerstein", both simultaneously), the "scientific romance" entered the picture as a form of its own... yet still in many ways inextricably tied to these slightly older genres.

Those origins have, by and large, stuck with the three forms of fantastic literature ever since, both in the critical and general public mind (as well as that of the people in marketing); this is even more to be expected when one sees how often elements any one of them enter into the composition of the other two. Examples: King's "The Jaunt", The Stand; several of the tales in Barker's Books of Blood, or his Damnation Game, Imajica; Tolkien's writings, which often have a fair degree of the terror tale to them; Robert E. Howard's fantasies, horror tales, and interplanetary novel, Almuric; Moorcock's blending of the three in a considerable portion of his work; Andre Norton's Witch World series; Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser tales; Lovecraft; Dunsany; Ballard; Ellison; Tanith Lee; even Heinlein, with various of his stories and novels... the list goes on and on.