Selling Second Hand Books in Canberra?

milkman said :

Time will tell, but I don’t see the printed word disappearing any time soon.

There is nothing like holding an actual book, made from dead trees. I just received author copies of my new poetry collection, some of which were published on-line previously in e-zines, as well as in print. For me, knowing that this book will be in the National Library after I’m dead, and in at least a few other people’s hands before that, is the best thing that can happen.

We’ve really dragged this off topic now!

Paper lasts a lot longer than digital media, it is difficult to imaging archeologists digging up a hard disk in 500 years and getting anything useful off it. Relying on electricity to store information is stupid when you consider that natural events can render that system useless ie. coronal mass ejection from the sun or a large impact from an asteroid…. no iPad then matey.

milkman said :

One of the problems I see with e-books is quality. When a book is published in the traditional sense, there is a (generally large) degree of editing and formatting. With e-books, much of this is lost, so the resulting product, unless from a known author, is often not as good.

Time will tell, but I don’t see the printed word disappearing any time soon.

You are kidding arent you ? I read a lot of books, a real lot. Books published in the last ten or so years are riddled with errors – spelling, grammar, punctuation. The trifecta of editorial responsibility.

i can forgive sloppy plots, middling character development, flaws of logic i could sail the battleship potemkin through – those are the authors fault (although an editor can guide an author out of those problems).

Many of the functions that an editor used to perform are now being ignored or handed back to aspiring authors.

At least a person publishing their own ebook is aware that they alone are the author and editor, and cant rely on ‘the publisher’ to tidy their work for them.

One of the problems I see with e-books is quality. When a book is published in the traditional sense, there is a (generally large) degree of editing and formatting. With e-books, much of this is lost, so the resulting product, unless from a known author, is often not as good.

Time will tell, but I don’t see the printed word disappearing any time soon.

excession said :

As time goes by, and e-books take off, it’s getting harder and harder to convince book-buyers (customers like myself) to BUY physical books.

Amazon/iBooks is the way of the future, and dead-tree versions of books days are numbered.

Normally I’m all with the whole ‘traditional retail is dead’ crowd. However, a huge chunk of book readers are aesthetes who love books as much for their feel and looks (even smell!), and who will never be able to have that type of relationship with a Kindle. There will always be a market for dead trees.

As evidence of this, I suggest you do a quick google search for ‘bookshelf porn’ (one of the odder subspecies of porn on the interwebz)

Of course, as one of said tree-killing aesthetes I still buy my books online, because, hey, why would I give Dymocks $40 for something bookdepository can give me for $10?

kezzafezza said :

Canty’s Bookshop 59-61 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick

You can sell books, or you can get store credit for books and get more $$ worth of credit than cash

Another huge +1 to this.

I just sold some books there the other day, and it is easily the best second-hand bookshop in Canberra. Not to mention that Luke and his staff are lovely. I don’t go to new bookshops any more since being introduced to them 8+ years ago (not that there are many to go to any more).

If you’re a student, or know a student; chuck them up on ANU classifieds (assuming they’re worth anything). Just watch out for ‘tyre kickers’, from experience the classifieds are notorious for that.

kezzafezza said :

Canty’s Bookshop 59-61 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick

You can sell books, or you can get store credit for books and get more $$ worth of credit than cash

+1. We use these guys frequently.

@Amethyst .. I quite a lot of second hand kids books that I would like to sell

Deref said :

Beyond Q in Curtin – best second hand/antiquarian bookshop in Canberra.

Used to be, back when they were Lawtons. Now, not so much. It’s okay.