From: melyons at adelphia.net <melyons>
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2005 11:57:03 -0400

Cassie, I'm glad to hear that you're giving away the books. It's hard for us booky people to believe, but some kids have never owned (or read) one single book.

How advance copies are distributed is a minor issue for me. Writers appreciate the hard work that goes into building a book's reputation, including reviewers' efforts. It's seeing multiple used books for sale alongside the just-born book that hurts.

My husband the bookdealer tells me that not every used book on Amazon is a reviewer's copy. Non-bookstore people (ebay types who would sell a used pencil for a penny if they thought someone would buy it) are buying titles at a discount, just as Amazon does, then undercutting Amazon's price. So even if every reviewer gave away books, the problem would still remain, though it wouldn't be as bad.

Used bookdealers generally pay 25% or less of the cover price of a new book. For a $16 children's book, that's somewhere around $3.50-$4.00. As Norma Jean pointed out, this is minimal. Still, it's more than twice what the author receives for writing the book if he/she receives the standard royalty of 10%.

Those of you searching online for a used children's book can also try abebooks.com or alibris.com. Alibris owns the actual copies. Abebooks is a clearing house for used booksellers. Abe takes a cut of the sale just as Amazon does, but it's less, therefore kinder to established booksellers with brick and mortar stores.

For a rare or hard-to-find titles, try the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers at www.ilab-lila.com. Some of the titles mentioned this month might be here if you can't find them elsewhere. (And with that last sentence, I have managed to stay on topic!)

Thanks for letting me share my concern about Amazon. It's been on my mind for a long while. Publishers often discuss bottom line. Writers should be able to talk about bottom line, too.

Mary





---- Cassie Wilson <cassiewilson at comcast.net> wrote:
> The post below simply fills me with real anger and indignation for the
> writers involved. Why can't publishers figure out how this happens and
> stop it? Not only is the writer being cheated, but libraries and
> anyone buying the book are having to pay for those advance reading
> copies that went to someone else who did not use them as intended.
>
> And I, as a librarian, give my previewed copies of books to children, so
> giving them to libraries doesn't seem so bad as long as they are not put
> on shelves as final products.
>
> Cassie Wilson
>
> melyons at adelphia.net wrote:
>
> > Courage is called for after publication, too, especially when a writer sees used copies of her new book available on Amazon even before the first review has appeared. It happened to me just this morning. Seventeen used copies of my latest book are available, with nary a review in sight.
> >
> >Those who want to encourage writers might consider giving review copies away to children (not libraries) instead of selling them as used books. This would be a treat for kids who don't own many--or any--books. It also supports unsalaried, un-tenured, un-health-insuranced writers who pay their full social security and work without sick leave, professional leave, or vacation days.
> >
> >For more on Amazon's controversial and harmful used book policy, see the Author's Guild of New York web site.
> >
> >Thanks for letting me vent,
> >Mary
> >
> >Mary E. Lyons
> >www.lyonsdenbooks.com
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Received on Tue 18 Oct 2005 10:57:03 AM CDT