Do used-book sales hurt writers?

Filed under: News — marcia at 10:08 pm on Sunday, January 6, 2008

Novelists Inc. (a nonprofit representing novelists) is pushing for legislation to require used-book sellers to pay a percentage of sales to publishers and authors for any book re-sold within two years of its original publishing date. You can read some discussion about it here.

To me, a law like that sounds like it would lead to more books being thrown away and pulped. Used books are a great way to keep people reading, which helps the industry as a whole.
I can understand that used-book sales don’t count toward an author’s sales numbers and that it must be maddening to see a “Buy This Used for $4″ link on Amazon right alongside the full-price new version of your book. It’s important that people buy your book. But isn’t it important that people read it? (And maybe buy your next book in hardcover because they just can’t wait)
-Marcia

4 Comments »

Comment by Joy

January 7, 2008 @ 8:45 am

Ugh that is a horrible law!! What’s nest, no libraries?

Comment by Joy

January 7, 2008 @ 8:49 am

err… “next.” Not “nest.”

Comment by Robin

January 7, 2008 @ 11:21 pm

Yeah, I don’t know about this one. Imagine what ugly cottage legal industries would spring up to monitor second-hand sales, and how bad the boom would be if this model was adopted by other business sectors. It’s not the sort of precedent I would be proud to advocate.

Comment by Krista

January 21, 2008 @ 9:39 pm

Who would police this and what could they do about it really? All this would do is create more work, raise prices and increase waste. Would anyone like to audit my garage sale?

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