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Old 01-19-2011, 06:50 PM   #3
ATDrake
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Posts: 11,517
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Roundworld
Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia
"Other". What I got from where (and still get) depends on what it is and how much I want/am willing to pay for it. So it's kind of a mix of all three.

New releases from favourite authors whose work I trust and want to support: HB or TPB because I like the way they look. A very small number of these, though, because I can count the number of authors I'm willing to buy this way without having to take off my socks.

Special deluxe annotated collectors' editions: I love these things and allocate a relatively high proportion of my book-buying budget to them.

Backlist reprints of "good" authors whose works I'd like to always have available (and have gotten paranoid about the library getting rid of): TPB if it's available, which I prefer to HC or MMPB.

MMPB: Mostly second/third/umpteenth-hand from the used bookshop because I have this tendency towards genre fiction that goes out of print quickly. At least most places have a decent sf/fantasy/mystery stock. Occasionally new from the specialty sf/fantasy/mystery place or the regular bookstore if it's something I really want that's still available.

Things I go specifically hunting for new and used: the other big portion of my purchases. Mainly specialty subject non-fiction, because those can be very difficult to turn up if they're out of print. Which most of the ones I want my own copy of are.

Stuff that looked interesting and cheap: sometimes nice things show up on the bargain table, in the overstock discount shop, or at the library book sale. I spend a fair amount on these, but the intersection of "cheap enough to be tempting" and "interesting enough to check out" is a lot lower than one might think.

All else: the library is my friend. My friend who sometimes goes on random and annoying purging sprees of the last copies of stuff I like, based on puzzling criteria, while keeping multiple on-shelf copies of ancient "bestsellers" people have lost interest in no one bothers to check out any more, but still my friend.

I do wait for sales and try to get things bargain priced with member discounts and coupons and such, though.
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