Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarana
Honestly, I don't think the supply of used books is primarily due to ebook reading. I think it is the economy - both for people parting with books and those buying books.
Back in the 80s and 90s, when people moved they threw out their books that they didn't want or donated them to charity (most of which were destroyed). Today, they instead sell them at a garage sale, sell at Amazon, swap or trade them online somewhere. Also, how much of the used book market is the result of aging baby boomers clearing out because of death, inability to read, or downsizing living quarters? They are a substantial population still. Many of those folks now have restricted incomes and are more likely to buy used rather than new, if they can.
I do not deny that ereaders will have some impact on the market. For instance, I'm divesting the last of my novels, collections of Stasheff and McCaffrey on ebay. My brother is selling his entire hardcover sci fi collection. My sisters, on the other hand, while not buying new books, don't get rid of any of their older ones.
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Honestly I think you're extrapolating from a narrow view to the wider world. I've lived for a long time now & in a lot of places-and I don't remember people ever throwing out significant quantities of books when they moved. Donating to charity, yes-and I agree that a lot of those books ended up being destroyed.
Out of all the thousands of people I've known though I've only known a couple-certainly fewer than a dozen-that sold anything online. They buy plenty of stuff but again, it's just too much trouble for somebody who doesn't know what they're doing and only has a few hundred books to get rid of. By the time they figure things out they've sold everything. Besides, most people pack up & move in days or weeks, not months or years. I'm sure many would sell their books in bulk if they knew of anybody buying-but they don't. So they still donate them to charity.
Or they try selling them at garage/yard sales. Sometimes they're successful, sometimes it's like selling VHS tapes. I go to yard sales almost every weekend and I've been seeing fewer & fewer books over the last few years. That might be where I live now-but I started noticing it where I lived before so it might be wider spread too. It's hard to tell with a 'sample' of only two areas. When/if I move again (getting too old for moving every few years, I think) I'll get a better idea. For now I think it's because fewer people read any more. Judging by the paperwork I process a truer statement might be that fewer people are actually able to read any more. I've noticed that more & more news is video now. Online, of course-TV news has always been video with no need for the audience to read at all. Print news seems to be dying unfortunately. Probably because reading is.