Second hand book shopping has got a bit less fun- or at least, it has at my old local Oxfam bookshop, which sells paperbacks for 2.99 to 3.99, slightly more than the 3.86 they go for new at Tesco.
I always used to shop there anyway, because it was next door to Daunts, a beautiful bookshop which steadfastly refused to stock me, even when I lived five minutes away. So I would walk past their door in a very determined fashion and turn into Oxfam with a sniff. But a good pick up joint for cheap books Oxfam is not, especially when you factor in that you have to let them keep the change.
Oxfam did used to sell proof copies though- a couple of major publishing houses were nearby and used to offload proofs (pre-publication uncorrected editions that are sent to reviewers and stockists). You could pick up absolute gold dust- pre publication major hardbacks- really cheaply because they tend to have very plain dustjackets and are on cheap paper. Then one day my friend Matt Whyman said to me, ‘do you know, I was in a second hand bookshop and found one of my proofs! I really hated that. How are people meant to know these aren’t the finished article, that they’re still works in progress? I’d absolutely hate someone to read one of my uncorrected manuscripts, think I’m an idiot and never read one of my books ever again’.
Anyway, a few other people thought this too and as a result you can’t get proofs in Oxfam bookshops any more. Which, whilst obviously Quite Right is a tad disappointing.
However, not to worry, because my parents live in a market town in Scotland which, whilst extremely nice, has a plethora of second hand shops. It is cut- throat. And the best one of all has a large room full of books at- get this. Four for a pound. I know. It’s brilliant. It’s less money than you actually drop out of the hole in your pocket just walking there. It’s one of the things I most look forward to doing when I visit home.
The great thing about getting books really cheaply is that you can buy stuff you have always secretly wanted to read but couldn’t bear to actually pay real money for. I swear, I was THIS close to buying this except it was too heavy to cart back on the plane, and I did in fact buy The Game, an enormous betrayal of my feminist principles which I can only leaven my conscience by thinking that, well, at least it’s twenty five pence to the children’s hospice.
I also gracefully submitted to my Noel Streatfield addiction with White Boots, which I can’t link to as amazon suggests it is currently unavailable (SCORE!) . I hope it’s as good as A Vicarage Childhood. If it is, I’m going back and gathering up all the Gemmas.
So as an author you have no qualms about people buying books second hands and thus the author not getting their ‘cut’? I always feel slightly guilty when buying books second hand/getting them out of the library instead of buying them (except for John Grisham since I’m sure he has enough money by now). In preserving trees/resources etc it does make sense to buy second hand/get them from the library.
I do always buy your books – but then I pass them on to my sister – so I guess in that way I am loosing you a sale!
I fell in love with your books when I first read Looking for Andrew McCarthey (we were in London and it was plastered in all the tube stations).
Looking forward to your next one.
Dorothy
Hello! I was a reader long before I was a writer, so however you get your hands on books is fine! I suppose I prefer libraries to second hand shops, which can still be expensive, and libraries benefit a) everyone and b) the writer!
Thanks so much for dropping me a line, J xxx