Which Authors Do You Buy in Hardback?

[TheDustyZebra]

For new stuff coming out, just a few:

David Weber
Lois McMaster Bujold
Spider Robinson (well, I buy him in everything -- including languages I don't read)

I'm still working on getting my Heinlein collection back in hardback (had most of them but left behind in divorce), and I bought all of the Harry Potters in hardback. I have tons of every kind of book, of course, but these days I don't need anything that quickly except the abovementioned. I can wait for paperback or ereader on the rest.

 

[Heather Myst]

George R.R. Martin Song of ice and Fire
Joe Abercrombie Anything
Patrick Rothfuss Kingkiller Chronicles
Brent Weeks Lightbringer

These four writers have series that I can't wait for the paperbacks to come out. I would add Michael J. Sullivan to this list if his books were available in hardcover.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Now that I've stopped buying China Mieville in HB, none.

 

[Connavar]

I think several of my fav authors are worth buying in Hardback but many of them are classic authors i can buy in paperbacks only often. Few contemporary authors are worth Hardback prize for me.


Jack Vance - Subterranean press has made alot of me with those 45 dollar new Hardbacks
Tim Powers
Tanith Lee
Elmore Leonard
Chinua Achebe

 

[AlanPoulter]

I don't buy hardbacks (too heavy and clunky to read easily on my commute) or DRM'd ebooks. Good old pocket-sized mass-market paperbacks seem to be going the way of the dodo :-(

 

[J-Sun]

I share your sadness. Hardcovers are expensive and awkward - not great, but not bad. Trade papers are completely stupid and infuriating - getting a hardcover with the cover ripped off so that it's as awkward as a hardcover and is no more durable than a paperback and costs more (and whose leaves curl outward because they're next to all my paperbacks). And commercial ebooks are satanspawn - the worst of all - not even books at all. Mass market paperbacks were getting to be made fairly shoddily and took some care to not ruin but, with care, they're simply the definitive Form of Book.

On topic: I don't buy anything at full new hardcover price. I do have about every SF work of Isaac Asimov's in paperback and have almost all of those in hardcover, too (mostly SFBC, though - some of those were purchased new). So I'm intending to get two practically complete sets.

The closest I can get to the topic is probably Greg Egan. I bought his first four books (since '92) in paperback (though one was special-ordered from Australia) and then I found Diaspora in remaindered hardcover, special ordered Luminous as an ex-library book from the UK, ordered Teranesia and Schild's Ladder new from the SFBC because I couldn't wait, and found Incandescence in a mint used hardcover. (Oceanic was special-ordered but, unfortunately, a trade paper.) But I'm not overly interested in his new (and first) trilogy.

Other than Asimov and Egan, the only fiction authors I have more than a couple of hardcovers of (and those acquired pretty randomly) are Edgar Rice Burroughs, C.J. Cherryh, Phil Farmer, William Gibson, Robert A. Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Doc Smith, Norman Spinrad, and Bruce Sterling but those are mostly not authors I present-tense "buy" at all and I'm not explicitly intending to get the next book by any of those still producing in hardcover, if at all.

 

[svalbard]

Although I own a Kindle I will still purchase hardback copies of Martin, Erikson and if Guy Gavriel Kay publishes anything new I will also get it in hardback. I have all of the Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough in hardback. Also on my select hardback shelves I have Bernard Cornwell's Warlord trilogy, Helen Hollick's Pendragon trilogy and two very old copies of Procopius's Secret History and Herodotus's The Histories amongst others.

If the right book appears I would have no problem in paying for a hardback copy.

 

[zaltys13]

I always buy in hardback:

Iain Banks (both M and non M)
Alastair Reynolds
Ken Macleod
Michael Marshall Smith (or whatever name he's using that week)
Joe abercrombie
Richard Morgan
Joe Hill

I also have a fair few by Stephen Baxter, Dan Simmons, Greg Bear, Peter F Hamilton and China Mieville.

If I find a hardback copy of a book I really like I will buy it (usually from charity shops or discount book stores) to replace the paperback, which then goes to charity.

For example I recently got a hardback copy of The Twelve by Justin Cronin for £2.00, so I went on E-bay, bought a signed hardback copy of The passage (the first book in the series) and passed the paperback on.

I semi regularly buy limited edition books from the likes of subteranean Press, and in the case of Alastair Reynolds I am slowly
getting his entire back catalogue in harback because I missed the first six or seven.

This is obviously quite an expensive hobby

The rest I buy in paperback, sometimes new, if I know the auther, eg, Neal Stephenson, david Brin, Kim stanley Robinson, or second hand if I want to try something new.

Occasionaly I will take a punt on a new auther in hardback, they usually have small print runs and can become very valuable very quickly - The first Law trilogy by Abercrombie is a prime example of this, saw them on E-bay recently for about £1500!

Short story collections, novella's and one shot promotions I buy on my kindle, I find it difficult to read novels on it but it's perfect for the shorter stuff.

 

[Alex Mason]

None. Most of my reading takes place outside of my home so transport size and weight is a big issue. Also, cost is a factor since I read so much and you don't get extra words in hard-back. Ideally, I get books in e-book format because I can fit my e-reader in my pocket so it is most portable, but sometimes a book is better if I am in the wild or some other area that risks my e-reader to breakage.

 

[Bick]

I'm going to get more Library of America books, though that's not an author, I realise. But these books are lovely. As for authors, I would like to collect an author in hardback, but have not done so to date.

Hardcovers are expensive and awkward - not great, but not bad. Trade papers are completely stupid and infuriating - getting a hardcover with the cover ripped off so that it's as awkward as a hardcover and is no more durable than a paperback and costs more (and whose leaves curl outward because they're next to all my paperbacks). And commercial ebooks are satanspawn - the worst of all - not even books at all. Mass market paperbacks were getting to be made fairly shoddily and take some care to not ruin but, with care, they're simply the definitive Form of Book.

I agree with every word of this.

 

[Rodders]

Hardback are more for display than transportability, surely?

 

[Frozeninja]

Quite a few more than I can afford to be honest.

Steven Erikson
George R.R. Martin
Patrick Rothfuss
Joe Abercrombie
Ben Aaronovitch
Scott Lynch
Jim Butcher
Brandon Sanderson

 

[zaltys13]

Hardback are more for display than transportability, surely?

Yep, for the collector. I read my hardbacks at home, and paperbacks on the bus.

 

[elvet]

I use my hardbacks to read at the gym, where a paperback is too small and thick to sit on the machines.
The other reason I want hardbacks of my favorite books is durability. IMy PB copies of ASoIaF and Malazan Book of the fallen are falling apart and more of a pain to read because of that.

 

[K. Riehl]

I purchase every title from:
Jim Butcher
Patricia Briggs
Lois Bujold
Patrick Rothfuss
Julie Czerneda

I purchase select titles from:
Iain Banks
Guy Kay
Ursula Le Guin
Poul Anderson
C. J. Cherryh
Elizabeth Moon
Neal Stephenson
William Gibson
China Meiville
Ryk E. Spoor

I also search for signed, limited, leather bound, chapbook, and other versions of:

All the authors listed above+
Roger Zelazny
A.E. Van Vogt
Jack Vance
Issac Asimov
E.R. Burroughs
E.E. Doc Smith
C. L. Moore
Henry Kuttner
Larry Niven
Gordon Dickson
Arthur C. Clarke
Stephen R. Donaldson

I love hardbound. Some of the quality bindings are like art.
I don't like digital as there is not much "presence" in the reading. I mean that if I read a digital book I find that I forget it faster, that I don't associate with cover art, with the typeset, with the construction.
If I am trying to remember a story I can go to my library and just by scanning the spines recall almost every story. If I am trying to recall a digital story I have no physical reference and I am out of luck trying to find a mnemonic to find it.

 

[zlogdan]

I highly prefer hardcover versions but I am usually bound to a rule: if the paperback costs less I will buy it. It is not that I'm a cheap person, it is a matter of being able to afford the prices.

 

[Fried Egg]

The short answer to this is: None, if I can help it...

Sometimes, sheer lack of options will mean I will purchase an expensive hardback edition if it is one of my favourite authors. Recently I have purchase a few of Robert Aickman's reprints in hardback simply because they are not available as cheaper paperbacks. I also bought a reprint of a Thomas Ligotti recently as the collection in question has long been out of print.

 

[AndrewT]

Louis L'Amour
JRR Tolkien
Isaac Asimov
Peter Hamilton
Brandon Sanderson

will be starting to collect David Gemmell soon

I happen to like trade paperbacks as much as hardbacks. The large print is comfortable to read and they tend to be cheaper used. I dislike dust jackets so I like hard backs that have the images printed or ingrained onto the hard cover itself. That is so nifty.

I'm also starting to collect the Easton Press versions of some classics. You can sometimes find good deals on them used. Those are very deluxe and make a classy library. I recently bought and read Easton's "Sea Wolf" by Jack London. Wow super book, by the way. Instead of having them auto-shipped I like to just get the ones I want on ebay.
Barnes and Noble is starting to have good sales of their special cloth volumes at times. The HP Lovecraft collection B&N version is very spiffy looking (see link).

Check this out: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bar...ft-h-p-lovecraft/1106658815?ean=9781435122963

(The 2011 version is great, but the one from 2008 had a ton of typos. You can tell them apart by the bookmark ribbon - 2008 is gold and 2011 is purple)

 

[FireDragon-16]

I tend to stay away from hardback copies because those are usually more expensive and they're definitely heavier which makes transporting them difficult, especially since I have at least one book with me at all times.

I did buy copies of the last 3 Harry Potter books in hardback (only because I pre-ordered them because I was unable to wait for a paperback copy to come out).

 

[Bick]

For those who collect and enjoy these hardbacks (and I do get it), what do you do with the dust jackets while you're reading the books? I remove them and keep them somewhere safe as they are a royal pain the the ass, and I would crease them for sure. In my house HB's only wear their dust jackets when they're sat on the shelf. Am I odd doing this, or is this common?