MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Electronic versions of out-of-print paperbacks

Gannett · 10-12-2010, 12:07 AM

Thanks for your encouraging words. I had thought of that plan, I might even give it a go.

Yes, it is a bit tedious and time-consuming, but I really don't mind, it's certainly more interesting than my day-job!

My motivation is less money (I would happily give them away, but if there was a bit in it, all the better!) and more making these books available and preserving them for the future. I read alot of literary criticism and hear alot of readers raving about some old "rare" pulp story or obscure novel they've read, and you know that unless you have the time to tour the second-hand bookstores, or you are an academic with access to a university library, you'll never get the chance to read them. I heard a wonderful talk on BBC radio a few years ago about John Creasey which made me go and bite the bullet and find a stack of his novels, loved reading them, and think that others would enjoy them, not just because they're economically-written and well-plotted stories (even if the characters are a bit two-dimensional), but that they hark back to the days when a 180-page thriller had its place, before the 50-minute TV crime drama put them out of favour. See...you got me on my hobby horse!

10-12-2010, 12:07 AM	#16
Gannett Junior Member Posts: 7 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: none	@GA Russell Thanks for your encouraging words. I had thought of that plan, I might even give it a go. Yes, it is a bit tedious and time-consuming, but I really don't mind, it's certainly more interesting than my day-job! My motivation is less money (I would happily give them away, but if there was a bit in it, all the better!) and more making these books available and preserving them for the future. I read alot of literary criticism and hear alot of readers raving about some old "rare" pulp story or obscure novel they've read, and you know that unless you have the time to tour the second-hand bookstores, or you are an academic with access to a university library, you'll never get the chance to read them. I heard a wonderful talk on BBC radio a few years ago about John Creasey which made me go and bite the bullet and find a stack of his novels, loved reading them, and think that others would enjoy them, not just because they're economically-written and well-plotted stories (even if the characters are a bit two-dimensional), but that they hark back to the days when a 180-page thriller had its place, before the 50-minute TV crime drama put them out of favour. See...you got me on my hobby horse!