Here is an interesting story run in the Chicago Tribune on Monday. It's interesting in part because it discusses changes in the book business, and also because it quotes Sam Weller and refers to his book on Ray. http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/premiu...ntbusinessmonday-hed

I couldn't read the article without registering. Is there any way you could cut and paste the relevant section on Sam's comments?

I believe THIS is the 'Chicago Tribune' article in question... and the following long winding link should get you there to the article...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0508080072au...oll=chi-business-hed

I think it's okay to quote excerpts:

"Chicago author Sam Weller, whose new book "The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury," was released in April, suspects that some sellers are purchasing books at retail for the purpose of reselling them at a higher price.

"It's virtually impossible to quantify used-book sales, but I know, from an author's point of view, that it's making a dent," he said. "I do a book signing with Ray [Bradbury] and people will come up with a stack of 20 books. You know damned well that they're going right to eBay to sell them. They don't want the books signed to anyone in particular. They just want signatures."

Not that Weller minds.

"If it has some kind of an afterlife as a used book, I'm all for it," he said.

Many authors feel otherwise, complaining that they lose out on royalties when a copy of their book is purchased second-hand, rather than new."

If the last quote is true (and it seems like it would be) then the 2nd-hand "illegitimate" market hurts authors where they should be making thier money. If the same new book is sold six times--rather than six new books being sold, it would hurt their income and their reputation. As buyers, we need to support the authors. It's kind of like pirating CDs or DVDs--it cuts into the earning power of the artist.

I still go to bookstores all the time. I love walking around in them, looking through all the different sections, reading the book jackets, finding out about new authors, etc. And I still buy a large number of books at the bookstores. But I must admit the majority of my book purchases in the last few years have been used books from Amazon, Alibris, used book stores, thrift shops, etc. I do not mean to undercut the authors, especially my favorite ones like Ray and Sam, but if I can get a good condition used book for a couple dollars, how can I justify spending $10 for a paperback or $20 to $35 for a hardcover just to buy it brand new? (Especially after looking up what my raise will be this new school year and finding out that after taxes it will amount to about $30 bucks a paycheck??!!?? Yikes, my mortgage just went up $112 per month due to a big tax increase!!) I don't like the idea of someone getting Ray or any author to autograph a whole pile of books just to sell them the next day, but otherwise, I'm going to go for the used copy when it's available.

No judgement from me. Unless Sam was quoted out of context, he doesn't seem too disturbed by it.

I’m no attorney but here’s the way I understand how these things work: An author sells the various rights to his work. (These are broken down in various ways: hardcover, paperback, serial, movie, audio, etc.) The terms of the sale usually include some kind of royalty agreement. Simple enough. The question then becomes does the royalty agreement extend to secondary sales? I’d say no, since no publisher would have control over what happens to the book after its subsequent sale and, therefore, would not purchase those rights. So I’d say that puts the secondary bookseller at risk for re-selling copyrightable material. We already know there’s an exception for libraries and certainly a private individual can do what he wants with any book he purchased (lend it, re-sell it, or, perish the thought, burn it.) (Or, like I do, stash it away in the attic.) Wouldn’t that right extend to the secondary bookseller? That is, since that seller bought the book in a good-faith transaction, paying fair value for the item in which all involved have been rightly paid for their work, that seller can now do with the book what he will.

But, on the other side, let’s take an example of DVDs. Let’s say I purchase a DVD but charge people a fee to watch it in my comfy home theatre. Say I turn a fair profit. Does that put me at risk at violating the DVD’s copyright? I seem to remember seeing disclaimers to this specifically and so I’d say I was barred from doing so. That is, my purchase price did not include purchasing the right to exhibit the movie for profit. The disclaimer for print simply prevents me from copying the material and using it for my own benefit. There’s no such restriction from re-selling the book in my used bookstore. (Or on E-Bay.)

Does this harm the author? Hard to say. Authors are already not getting money from people like me who buy used books because they can’t afford to buy the book at full, or discounted, retail anyway or will wait until they can borrow it from the library. And let’s not even get into the problem of enforcing secondary book sales. Talk about intrusive government practices.

Should we support authors all we can? Of course! But used bookselling has a long and honorable history and I think the harm to writers is actually minimal, the grumbling of a few malcontented writers notwithstanding.

Best,

Pete

This message has been edited. Last edited by: pterran,

Pete,

Should there be a "not" interjected after authors are in your statement "Authors are getting money from people like me..." Unless I missed something earlier in your post, used book sales would provide no means of attributing a royalty to an author.

Am I all wet or what?

biplane1

D'oh! Thanks for the eagle-eye. I corrected my post.

Best,

Pete