[pwalker8]

Quite a few years ago, I heard one of my favorite authors describe his backlist as his 401K. Given the old model of re-releasing backlist books on a rotation basis (kind of like Disney use to release their classic movies) so new readers could find them, then a good author whose books held up well could keep up their income stream, even once they get older and their output starts to slow down. I say this to explain why authors don't just give away their old backlist books.

Ultimately, a book is a book. It doesn't really matter if it's just now being published for the first time, or if it was first published 30 years ago. The only question is do the readers want to read the book? Why would a book that was first published 30 years ago be any less valuable than a book being published today for the first time? I can understand why used paperback books are less valuable, but do we expect a backlist book to cost less when it's being republished? I certainly haven't noticed such a trend in some 40 years of buying books.

Personally, I buy backlist with a hoop and a holler, simply because it means that I have easy access to my favorite books (all 3000 of them <smile> ) I re-read books a lot, so backlist books are valuable to me.