By Elaine Viets

"I’m so upset," a mystery lover told me. "My favorite series has been cancelled. I love his work."

She named a writer I’ll call John D. Christie.

"I have all his books," she said. "Now there won’t be any more. It’s so sad."

"Where did you buy his books?" I already knew the answer.

"At that cute used bookstore near the tea shop. Why?"

"You killed him," I said.

She looked shocked.

"I know you didn’t mean to, but every time you bought a used book, you put a nail in his career coffin."

"But I heard John D. speak at the library. He said he didn’t care where we got his books, as long as we read them."

"We all say that. We’re too polite to tell the truth: ‘Thanks for buying my books used. I love not getting royalties.’ "

"Oh," she said. "I didn’t think about that."

"Here’s something else you didn’t think about. John D.’s publisher looked at his sales figures and cancelled the series. Used book sales don’t count. John’s series was killed because he didn’t sell enough paperback originals."

The publishing news has been particularly depressing lately. A critically-acclaimed writer was told by her editor to write a new series – under another name. An award-winning author’s series is on hiatus. He’s writing a standalone. Two hardcover authors I know are now writing paperback originals. And paperback original authors are getting dropped.

The reason? Not enough sales.

I know you can’t buy every book new. I sure can’t. I read four or five mysteries a week, and I’d go broke buying them all.

But if you can’t afford to buy new, do the next best thing: Get them at your library. That way, the author will have some sales.

Writers are an endangered species. Only you can save us. Here are some things you can do:

(1) Don’t share books.

We love it when you talk up your favorite authors. But make your friends get their own

books. You know you won’t get your signed copy back – not without coffee stains. Besides, your friends can afford a seven-dollar paperback. They get hours of entertainment for less than a double latte.

If they can’t buy the book, there’s always the library. Or give them store gift cards for birthdays and holidays. The books they’ll buy will always fit them.

(2) Don’t send books.

These words make writers wince: "I loved your new paperback. I sent my copy to my mother in Seattle. She gave it to her sister in Springfield, who sent it to her daughter in New York."

You’ve spent nearly five dollars to mail a seven-dollar book.

(3) Don’t buy ARCs.

Authors hate Advance Reading Copies. Reviewers get ARCs so they can write about the books before they hit the stores. Booksellers get ARCs as a selling tool.

When you buy an ARC, you don’t get the book that’s sold in the stores. An ARC is riddled with typos. It’s not supposed to be sold. The first clue is that "Not for Sale" on the cover.

Unfortunately, plenty of ARCs wind up on eBay. When you buy them, you deprive your favorite author of a book sale. Eventually, you’ll deprive yourself of a favorite author.

Here’s something else writers love to hear: "I bought your hardcover used online for five bucks. That’s cheaper than the paperback."

And you wonder why your favorite hardcover author is suddenly in paperback? Your bargain cost that author his career.

Can you buy any books secondhand?

Sure. Any writer in the top ten on the New York Times bestseller list. You aren’t going to hurt Dan Brown, James Patterson or John Grisham. Pass their used books around to all your friends. Mail them from San Diego to Saskatoon.

Buy dead authors’ books used. Agatha Christie is long past caring if you buy her books new.

But if you want to keep reading the rest of us, buy our books new.

Don’t love us to death.

Comments

[sarahS]

Thank you, Elaine!
Fortunately (or unfortunately) I think most people are just innocent about the way the industry works. When people tell me with broad smiles that they bought my latest and will pass it around to fifteen friends at work/church, etc., I think they think they're showing their support.
And as the author of a hardcover series who is - by her own suggestion - choosing to publish the next mystery as a paperback, I know all too well how those 15 friends have killed Bubbles in hardcover!

[Cinema Dave]

I guess I should never talk up my favorite authors at the reference desk anymore anymore. I thought I was helping.

[Rebecca the Bookseller]

Elaine - Thank you, thank you, thank you!

As a bookseller, this is breaking my heart - and it is so, so true.

Other than our Book Clubs, it's tough to get this message out to readers.

Another thing you can do - in addition to taking Debby's (from yesterday's comments) lead and hand-selling your favorite books to friends and strangers alike, is to buy more books as gifts. When your favorite author comes to visit, buy one for yourself, and buy one for a friend - for birthdays, holidays, get well days, or just because you think they'd like it.

You can also buy new books and donate them to your local library - this helps in several ways: you get a tax deduction (keep your receipt), the author will get on your library's buy list, and more people will read it, hopefully boosting sales of the author's back list and future books.

When Elaine says authors are an endangered species, she means it!

[sarahS]

Wait! How does the library thing work? Do libraries keep track of how many times a book is taken out?
Sarah being ignorant herself.

[nancy martin]

I've been reading about Longtail Economics and its application to selling books. Lately I noted that some marketing experts are predicting the death of the bestseller. (How's that for a switch? We've been hearing "demise of the mid-list" for decades!) Why is the bestseller headed for the tar pit? Because soon all readers will be able to indulge even their most obscure reading taste as all books become more easly available to everyone. (Starting with Amazon, and now all indies have been challenged to better communicate their wares to customers with info, mulitiple reviews online and easy, fast & cheap ordering.) The trick is to make as much info as possible available to the buyer.---And to get rid of used book sales! Then midlist authors will rise again. Just hope we can hold out that long.

[Elaine Viets]

Dear Cinema Dave:
Please read my blog again. Writers love libraries -- and they love us.
Elaine Viets

[Rebecca the Bookseller]

Sarah - yes, they do!

When you donate a book, it's added to the library's circulation list (and others). If the book circulates, then the library is more likely to buy the next one when they receive the notice of a new release.

We have also seen more backlist purchases from customers who read the author for the first time from a library including both Elaine's Murder Unleashed and your Cinderella Pact.

[sarahS]

See, this is why I speak at libraries. Also, for the cookies.

[William Simon]

Elaine-

***THANK YOU*** I've made this argument until I've turned blue, and usually get an indulgent smile, a shrug, and "Oh...a writer..they don't understand the Real World" look.

[Cindy]

WOW! I had no idea this is how the business worked. I feel so guilty for shopping at a used store. I have to say in my own defense is that I primarily use the used bookstore to try out authors that I have heard about and wanted to try. I have found many "new" authors that I LOVE that way- many of whom have been added to my auto-buy list. I also have purchased their entire backlist. I hope that I can be forgiven for my past mistakes, but I will think twice about who I buy and the impact of my purchases at the used bookstore from now on.

[Josh]

I feel bad when I talk up one of Sarah's books, or my sister's books, and I tell my friends, "sorry, I'm not supposed to lend it to you." Fortunately, most of my friends understand, and they buy. (Well, I lend my sister's books, but that's different. Family issues, and all.)

[sarahS]

Ahh, Josh. I have trained you well. Go forth, my son, and talk up....

[Elaine Viets]

Dear Cindy:
Please don't feel guilty. We've all bought used books, before we knew better. Go and sin no more. And thanks for understanding.
Elaine Viets

[Alexandra Sokoloff]

Brava, Elaine - all beautifully said. Now I'm armed with all the perfect persuasive arguments. I especially love the idea of buying new books then donating them to the library for a tax deduction. I had no idea that gets an author on the buy list. I'm going to do that with a bunch of my favorite books right away.

Alex

[laurenjharwood]

I have this weird (okay, fine, everything about me is weird) obsessive compulsive thing that MAKES me purchase MASSIVE QUANITITIES of books BRAND NEW and I can't help it, but I NEVER LEND ANYONE MY BOOKS. Ever. They're miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. (Hey, I'm an only child, we don't share so well)

[Kathy Sweeney]

Lauren - I'm with you and I'm the oldest of five, so I guess it's not the only child thing!

I stopped lending my books years ago when I figured out I wasn't getting them back.

Plus, I need my own books. So when I love an author, I buy copies as gifts.

Thanks to Mary Alice at Mystery Lovers, I've known about this library thing for awhile, and I always get a copy for our local library, especially when an author is nice enough to do a signing. Our library loves it and, hopefully, it helps the author too. Especially with hard covers, lots of people can't afford to buy them, so the library idea is good for everyone, I think.

[Sandra Parshall]

Elaine, thanks for posting this. I feel like a beggar sometimes -- "Please, please buy my book so I'll be able to sell future books" -- I don't like guilt-tripping people into helping me out, but I'll do it if I have to. It's not enough to love a writer's books. You have to buy them if you want him/her to continue publishing.

Sandy

[Annette]

It has been my experiencew that when donating books to the local library, these donations go to the library's Friends organization for the next book sale.

[nancy martin]

Yes, Annette, you have to make sure the book goes into the library circulation, not the auxiliary sale! It's a different process. And my experience is that paperbacks go to the sale, but hardcovers can go into circulation if you ask politely and go through the library's procedure.

[Sally]

Just a few words in defense of used book sales--I find out-of-print books there, that I can't find elsewhere. Otherwise, for current, newly published books, I buy them new---I hate reading through other peoples' food and drink spills.

[Harley]

Ah, vindication. I've been feeling guilty about the fact that I can't even walk through a bookstore without buying truckloads of books, but no more.
And I love libraries, for all those reasons and this one too: air conditioning and an AC outlet so I can keep cranking out the next book without the children trying to "help" write it.

[ramona]

"Go and sin no more."

Thanks, Elaine. You've now ruined used book sales for every Catholic in the land. Which, I suppose, was the plan...

[Debby]

See, I talk up an author (ex. Sarah or Nancy or....) to a friend. THEN, I provide them with their own copy (probably PB, and always new) to try. This way they have no reason to not try, and more incentive as the guilt that I will lay on them otherwise is not something to be taken lightly! LOL!!! 99% of the time, they love my author and will now ask me to be sure to pick up the next copy for them and they will reimburse me.

Take Sarah and CINDERELLA PACT. I rcvd a copy as a most awesome of awesome gifts. But hey! I must show my $ support as well, so luckily for me, I had three friends that I wanted to pick copies up for... Brandi.. Andrea...and Cindy. Brandi was crying when she missed Sarah at Chester County Books, so was thrilled that I got her one in Bethlehem. Andrea is just working through the Bubbles books, but considering her profession (nail tech), she was easy to hook.

Or Nancy's series...my sister Cindy is often asking me for suggestions of reading material. (Actually, I just took her in March to her first ever book signing in Philly and she joined as a Jr. groupy) But due to her lack of finances, and me having a strange compulsion to buy books...I bought the entire series so that she wouldn't have to worry about missing anything. And now know what to get her each year now.

I have bought used, but actually only after already purchasing a new pb and deciding that the author and book is a keeper...and I prefer HC in that instance so will search for a copy somewhere. So, then I have both.

Debby ~ I always wanted to be a groupie, so am glad that I have found some wonderful author/friends that I can now stalk..ummm ...support!!!

[Kerry, the Martial Tart]

I confess that I both buy used books and loan out my paperbacks. In my defense, however, I do so judiciously and in ways that, I strongly hope, result in a net increase in book sales. Like Cindy, I use used book stores and used book sales as a place to find "new" authors. And, like her, if I like them, I'll buy out entire backlists. Similarly, I lend books within a very small circle. If my friends like the first book, they'll go out and buy the rest.

Eventually, though, I run into the problem of dealing with the large selection of paperback books I can't keep indefinitely. As much as I want to keep encouraging folks to buy books to support my favorite authors, I need to do something with the silly things. So this time, I'm donating them to the local hospital, where they will be given and/or sold to patients and their families.

With luck, some of them will discover authors they haven't read and whose backlists they desperately need to buy . . .

[cindy]

Thanks for the absolution Elaine. I feel less guilty now. I did want to say that some of the authors that I "discovered" and are now on my autobuy list are all of the ladies of the Lipstick Chronicles. If it wasn't for the used copies I fell in love with, I might never have found you all and bought your backlist and continue to buy the new ones.