Originally Posted By alexbook It happens in most retail stores--some items just don't sell. You mark them down and they still don't sell, so you end up packing them up and selling them in bulk or returning them to your suppliers. I've always hated this part of the book business--I feel so bad for the authors who worked so hard to get their books published in the first place. And there are always books that I really like and I can't believe nobody else wants them. Then there are the books I've been meaning to get around to reading that I see slipping away. Even worse, I find myself imagining the poor books' feelings. "Doesn't anybody want to read me? Please?" Right now, it's worse than usual: We're doing our big post-Christmas, pre-inventory clearing-out, so hundreds of books are going away at once. Even worse, I was recently promoted, and part of my new job involves packing up and shipping all these sad, orphaned books. As I load up a box of stories to be sent off, possibly for pulping(!), I start getting a little teary-eyed. People at work think I'm weird.
Originally Posted By adizneeguy I feel ya man. As both a book lover and a writer (thought you probably can't tell that from my posts,) I get the same sad feelings for those writers who put their heart into a work and have it neglected by the public. However, my greedy side knows that the "new" books that get packed up just go to a warehouse and get that annoying remainder mark on them. Then get sent back to stores, where I can find them on the "bargain books" table and scrounge for the good stuff at cheaper prices. Tell me this, as a bookstore person. Would you look strangely at a customer who takes a stack of twenty of the same book, and opens up and looks at the title page of each copy? I do this all the time and sometimes get weird looks.
Originally Posted By Ursula I don't think you are weird at all!!! I am a bibliophile and even though I don't have time to read as much as I'd like, I LOVE just looking at my books and knowing they are mine and they don't have to worry, as I do re-read them all time to time. I did have to do a reduction over the weekend. We have two huge bookcases full of gorgeous books but we have to move soon and I had more books that wouldn't fit. I chose carefully who went and who stayed. No hardbacks went. Chick-books went first. I love these, but they are fluffy and great to send on so others can enjoy their brief relief from life. Then the books I didn't care for went. You know, the ones that you start, don't finish, probably won't finish.... Instead of selling them, I sent them to the church thrift store, where I know they will be read by those in rehab that the church supports or will be sold for a profit to the charity. So, keep up the good work in looking after those books, Alexbook! At least they are being sent away by someone who cares.
Originally Posted By alexbook peeaanuut: Yes, in fact I'm posting from the PC in the stockroom when I should be working. Don't tell anybody. adizneeguy: Most of my co-workers would give you weird looks, but I've worked in stores that sell used and collectable books, so I'd just figure you were searching for first editions.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan So, keep up the good work in looking after those books, Alexbook! At least they are being sent away by someone who cares.<< Exactly! It shows that you have a real love of writing and reading that you care about these little lost books. And it is sad to see them go, especially if they're going to be turned into mulch. It may show how out of touch I am with mainstream reading tastes that I always, always find dozens and dozens of quirky books on the bargain tables and at second-hand bookstores that catch my interest, far more than whatever the current bestsellers are. Or, it could be that I'm just a cheapskate.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka I can understand. I always feel sad when I see the lonely Xmas trees that nobody wanted left in the lots on Xmas Eve/Day. I love books and hate the thought of them being destroyed. It is nearly impossible for me to get rid of a book. We just keep buying new bookcases.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 My books are my babies so I don't think you are weird. I have such a hard time letting them go. My attic, bedroom, office and rest of the house are a testiment to that.
Originally Posted By wahooskipper Why wouldn't a book company donate the unsold books and take the tax benefit?
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Like adizneeguy is, I also am a lover of writing and reading. I can understand where you're comin' from, Alex.
Originally Posted By alexbook wahooskipper: Some books do get donated (or sold at deep discount) to schools and libraries, but not a lot, unfortunately. The credits often aren't big enough to pay for a donation program, and many of the books aren't ones that schools or libraries want anyway. (We're talking about the books that didn't sell in the first place, after all.)
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Not weird at all, Alex... I'm not as avid a reader now as I was when I was younger (I hope to have the opportunity again in retirement), but I know the pain of having to do the give-away-for-the-sake-of-the-house thing. I'm a Christmas tree 'weirdo' like mele, too... and it gets worse when I see them, oftentimes tinsel-intact, laying on the sidewalk waiting for the garbage truck to come for them. Here is a once beautiful, living, breathing tree that was cut down and decorated for a family to enjoy... then reduced to nothing. This is why I've had a fake tree for almost 20 years now.
Originally Posted By LVBelle I desperately need to go through all of my books to clear out some room for the baby. I'm dreading having to pick between all of them.
Originally Posted By u k fan I totally feel your pain! I feel the same when I see bargain bins in record stores. When I worked in retail we donated a lot to charity, tax breaks or not. If it wasn't selling even at a hefty discount we just walked round to the local Charity shop and handed it in!!!
Originally Posted By Mary Poppins Every book has a story to tell (no pun) in how it was produced. No one would write a book wanting it to fail (except in the Producer's). It is sad to see the loss of a dream in a book's demise.
Originally Posted By JohnS1 I hope my book isn't already on the remainders pile!!! (If it is, at least put it on the top, won't you, Alex?!) I have a remainders story to tell, however. In December 1997, I went to my local grocery store and they had one of these big point of purchase bins made of corrugated cardboard with some sort of heading link "Book Bargains" or "Bookarama" or some such silly sign. In the pile of books were not one, not two, but three or four copies of "Disneyland: Inside Story" by Randy Breight. If anyone is not familiar with this book - it's a coffee table type book full of photos, maps, cponceptual drawings, etc. about Disneyland from inception to the point when the book was published in 1987. At the time, I simply figured it was a book about DL that must not have sold well. I have since found this book selling on e-Bay for $120-$180 and I paid - get this - 6.95 I think. Now, how this rare, collectable Disneyland book made it into this box of remainders I will never know. But I will always regret that I didn't buy all 3 or 4 of them. What a dummy I was!!!! Okay, back to your scheduled thread.
