Have ebooks killed the second-hand paper book market?

[pdurrant]

For the general decline in reading (is there one?) I would look at the rise in availability of other entertainment - video games, podcasts, streaming video. But perhaps that's a topic for another thread?

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

For the general decline in reading (is there one?) I would look at the rise in availability of other entertainment - video games, podcasts, streaming video. But perhaps that's a topic for another thread?

Considering the title question of the thread "Have ebooks killed the second-hand paper book market?", your answer of "the rise in availability of other entertainment - video games, podcasts, streaming video" seems valid to me.

[DiapDealer]

I have to say that I'm pretty convinced by the suggestion that the internet killed--not the second-hand book market, but maybe the brick and mortar second-hand book store. There are plenty of people who still purchase used books, I think. I suspect the used book market is actually still quite robust. The transactions are simply taking place somewhere else.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Or polling/statistics have become products themselves and are near useless to anyone but those who paid for the results.

Exactly.

Shari

[harriska2]

I haven’t purchased a new or used fiction for about 3 years. I just use my overdrive account with my public library.

[Mivo]

I've bought a few used books this year (from overseas, on eBay), but only because they were no longer in print and not available as ebooks. In general, I don't really want to buy paper books anymore, though it's not because of a lack of love for paper books. I enjoy them more than ebooks. If I owned a house (instead of living in a rented apartment), I'd probably still buy mostly paper books, both used and new.

I've been meaning to sell my books, but it almost doesn't seem to be worth the effort. Most of my library is in English (and I'm in Germany), online stores that buy used books pay so little that I'd rather give them away to a good home than to let the sharks have them, and shipping expenses paired with eBay fees make selling them online one by one somewhat unappealing also.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I have to say that I'm pretty convinced by the suggestion that the internet killed--not the second-hand book market, but maybe the brick and mortar second-hand book store. There are plenty of people who still purchase used books, I think. I suspect the used book market is actually still quite robust. The transactions are simply taking place somewhere else.

Confirmed; if I want to get some books for my GF (who refuses to read on an e-reader, except when going on vacation and taking a book for each day is not an option), I always get them at the Amazon Market in the UK or Germany. Often they cost half or less of new, including shipping, even if in Very Good or Like New state.

I like encyclopedic/reference books that are illustrated (for example, one I bought showcasing 70 world-changing inventions), but they're often very expensive when new. Think around €50 or so. When buying them second hand, I can often get books like that for €20 or less in a very good to like new state.

To buy second hand books, I rarely go into book stores to browse, for the mentioned fact that I can barely read the spines when the books are on the shelves, especially when one or two levels up or down from eye height. So I'll have to take books out from the higher shelves, or crouch along the shelves for the lower situated ones.

As I most of the time already know for what kind of book I'm looking, finding second hand books of that type through Amazon.co.uk or amazon.de is much easier and faster.

Illustrated books, and study/reference books are the only ones I still buy in paper. I don't have any use for books containing just text, since DRM has been broken and I can have the actual book instead of only a license.

[rainerm]

I think there are still those who prefer books, second-hand and otherwise, over e-books.

I am reminded of Brodksy's affirmation. The reading population has always been a minority, and it will continue to be despite the unprecedented spike in global literacy rates.

This is not to say that all is well. It is just something that may console us.

Interestingly, Brodsky's suggestion for increasing readership involves replacing the Bible and the telephone book at hotels with a slim anthology of American poetry. Of course, this can suggestion be extended to other countries and traditions of poetry.

The essay I'm talking about is called "An Immodest Proposal."

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by rainerm

I think there are still those who prefer books, second-hand and otherwise, over e-books.

I am reminded of Brodksy's affirmation. The reading population has always been a minority, and it will continue to be despite the unprecedented spike in global literacy rates.

This is not to say that all is well. It is just something that may console us.

Interestingly, Brodsky's suggestion for increasing readership involves replacing the Bible and the telephone book at hotels with a slim anthology of American poetry. Of course, this can suggestion be extended to other countries and traditions of poetry.

The essay I'm talking about is called "An Immodest Proposal."

That would only work if they first remove the TVs from the hotel rooms.
And stop offering WIFi.
And removed booze from the minibars.
And locked the rooms from the outside.
And kept medics on hand to deal with the slashed wrists...



Poetry is one of the reasons the masses avoid books.

[fjtorres]

As to the question of the thread: ebooks are a boon to backlist shoppers.
No, they haven't killed the used book market but they dented it a bit, siphoning off a fair amount of readers.
On the plus side, high BPH ebook prices for both frontlist and backlist has driven many to seek out used books (where online availability via Abebooks, ebay, and Amazon helps).

What I would like to see is a breakdown of used book sales by release date. I suspect recent releases are a bigger share of the market than, say, a decade ago.

[4691mls]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That would only work if they first remove the TVs from the hotel rooms.
And stop offering WIFi.
And removed booze from the minibars.
And locked the rooms from the outside.
And kept medics on hand to deal with the slashed wrists...



Poetry is one of the reasons the masses avoid books.

Yeah, I doubt people who've been non-readers are going to be tempted by a book of poetry. If the goal is just to get people to read something, they'd be better off with popular fiction such as thrillers or romance.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by 4691mls

Yeah, I doubt people who've been non-readers are going to be tempted by a book of poetry. If the goal is just to get people to read something, they'd be better off with popular fiction such as thrillers or romance.

Movie tie-ins and TV show spinoffs are solid draws, too.
There's tons of people who buy and read STAR TREK and STAR WARS books and nothing else. There's so many they don't have time for anything else.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Movie tie-ins and TV show spinoffs are solid draws, too.
There's tons of people who buy and read STAR TREK and STAR WARS books and nothing else. There's so many they don't have time for anything else.

Or, an anthology of stories from all different genres...kind of like the old Readers Digest Condensed books.

Shari

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by shalym

Or, an anthology of stories from all different genres...kind of like the old Readers Digest Condensed books.

Shari

Those were good. 4 Novels in one volume. Usually mixed, thrillers, gothics, bios...
I cut my teeth on those. Better than cereal boxes and encyclopedias.

Then I discovered SF when I was six.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That would only work if they first remove the TVs from the hotel rooms.
And stop offering WIFi.
And removed booze from the minibars.
And locked the rooms from the outside.
And kept medics on hand to deal with the slashed wrists...



Poetry is one of the reasons the masses avoid books.

Poetry... is (one of) the least useful art forms ever invented.

IMHO, of course.