Books are an expensive commodity today and the fact so many bookstores are going out of business means that being able to buy books will become harder. Sure, you can still buy books online but their “look before you buy” options are pretty limited. There is nothing quite like being able to pick up a book and thumb through it that gives you an opportunity to make a well-informed decision on whether you want to buy it.
As the book selling world transforms before our very eyes we may be overlooking a golden opportunity to help booksellers, ourselves, and authors. You see, for years people have preferred to save money on books by buying used books. Although used book stores are great resources for finding long out-of-print titles you cannot buy anywhere else, many authors (and publishers) simply do not benefit from those “after-market” sales. Instead, they ask that you buy your books new rather than used, so that they can continue to provide you with the kinds of books you want.
And there is a way you can help authors and publishers while still buying books at a great discount. If you visit your local large bookstore you’re almost certainly going to find a clearance section. These books were once offered at full price but failed to sell. Booksellers have the right to return unsold books to their publishers either for credit or refunds. But the shipping costs may be expensive; worse, publishers don’t want to keep a lot of unsold books on hand.
Publishers occasionally dump their older, unsold books to “Remainder Houses” — booksellers that pay pennies on the dollar for books that don’t sell well. Some of these companies, like Daedelus Books, operate online. But some large booksellers — like Barnes and Noble — carry remainder titles in their “Bargain Books” sections. Remainder books are still “new” in that their authors and publishers get some money from them. But they are often very inexpensive.
So the next time you want to buy a few books, consider buying some Remaindered books before hitting the used bookstores. Especially when you’re hunting for contemporary information such as history and science books, “how to” books, and so forth the Remainder market usually offers much more up-to-date information than the used book market.
You may be able to buy books for as little as 20% off original retail price, depending on how long they have been available and how many copies are left. The majority of bargain book prices probably start around 50% off original retail price. These are great values for hardcover books and often are very competitive with on-the-shelf trade paperback (overlarge) retail prices.