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Used book outlets

Second-hand book sales threaten authors' income

24 January 2005

Authors and agents are increasingly disturbed by the booming sales of second-hand books, but there seems to be little they can do to stop this. The growth in used book outlets has been rapid, as reported in News Review 12 July 2004. Abebooks now represents a huge and still growing way of finding a book through booksellers all over the world.  Read more

Second-hand books boom

12 July 2004

A recent article in Publishing Trends, the newsletter of US consultants Market Partners International, has reopened the debate about the effect of used book sales on new books. Second-hand books have always possessed a resale value and been a way that people with less money can feed their reading habit.  Read more

Books as second-hand consumer items

26 April 2004

The rapid growth of book clubs and successful promotions such as The Big Read and Richard and Judy have stimulated book purchasing and library borrowing.  Read more

Second-hand books take off

20 October 2003

The Internet has transformed the sale of used books. In an operation which works a little like Ebay, except that it serves primarily the antiquarian book trade rather than private sellers, the Canadian firm Abebooks has opened up a new world. Antiquarian books used to be a somewhat dusty corner of the book trade, even though large amounts of money could change hands when wealthy c  Read more

Second-hand Books go Global

23 September 2002

In a move that is sure to stoke controversy about online sales of second-hand books, Abebooks, the American used book site, has announced an alliance with giant online bookseller Amazon, to be called Amazon Marketplace. This will enable the thousands of booksellers who currently list their used, rare and out-of-print books on Abebooks sites to access Amazon's huge customer base.  Read more

Writers Guild Battles with Amazon on Used Books

22 April 2002

The used book debate is hotting up. After Jeff Bezos of Amazon sent an email to thousands who had sold second-hand books through the online retailer, over 4,000 of them emailed the Writers Guild of AmericaAssociation of writers in motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media.  http://www.wga.org. As expressed by Nick Turner, the President of the Guild, its view was that:  Read more

Authors Lose out the Second Time around

25 March 2002

The well-known web author and journalist MJ Rose, in her column for Wired.com, has drawn attention to the growing threat to authors' income posed by the spread of secondhand book sales via the Internet. Although there has always been a market for used books, more aggressive selling through eBay and Amazon has seen them listed next to new copies, with an obvious price advantage to lure buyers.  Read more

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