How do you buy your books?

You’ve heard about a book which sounds vaguely interesting, so when you have a spare moment you search for it on the web. What form does your actual purchasing behaviour take from there on in? I have to confess that my usual method is to look on Amazon and if the book’s available new at a good price I often buy it there and then.

I prefer to get it direct from the Amazon store but sometimes I buy from the New and Used section.  If it’s only available from a high-price reseller, I often assume it is out of print, move on and forget about it.  Unless I’m really keen, I’m afraid I probably won’t look anywhere else.  I do also buy from bookshops, but these days that tends to be a special trip where I set aside some time for serendipitous browsing. I keep a list at the back of my notebook for things I’ve been looking for and I consult that when bookshop browsing, but for targeted buying I always go to Amazon first.

While I’ve been here in the USA on a temporary stay, my book acquisition behaviour has changed a bit, but I’m gradually swinging back to Amazon. The current picture is that first I visit the university library, with mixed success. Second, I visit local bookshops in Santa Barbara – there are quite a few and it helps me to get to know the area. I start with Borders in Goleta, then the Borders on State Street, then maybe Barnes and Noble, then move on to my list of used bookstores (which involves a fair bit of driving around). But sadly the result is nearly always the same – nobody has the book I want. They offer to order it, but I usually decline in the hope that the next shop will have it. An alternative would be to sit and ring round them all, but that can be time consuming and I don’t enjoy the tedious business of doing call-arounds. When I get home, I pull out my dog-eared list and sit down with Amazon. A few days later, I have what I want, sometimes new, sometimes used.

But these are titles I need for my research, books which I have to pursue. But idle purchases, for general pleasure and interest, are at the mercy of Amazon. If Amazon has it I buy it. If it's not there, or relegated to expensive used copies,  I’ll probably never look for it again unless I remember to add it to the list in my notebook.

How do you buy your books?  Have you, like me, grown to be largely dependent on Amazon for information about what’s available?

Comments

[Jess]

Gee, another interesting question Sue. I second Nancy's initial response: "impulsively." Buying books (for pleasure) is a sensory experience. I want to touch, feel the weight, smell and flip through pages. Preferably used books. In Leicester there *was* an excellent local book shop (other than Frontline which has also closed) on Belvoir which stocked loads of used academic books and general (photography, cookery, history, geography) finds. Sadly that has just closed. I love looking for local and/or used bookshops whenever I travel. I've found some amazing little bookshops in Rome, Edmonton, and Cape Town. On and offline Oxfam is pretty useful.

If I *need* a book and time (thus research) is of the essence it's got to be Blackwell's...I do enjoy their Charring Cross location too.

[Det Bazelmans]

About the subject:
I listen to a lot of podcasts about art and books, my ears are fine!

My relevant podcasts are:
The Guardian Books
The New York Review of Books
NPR book tour
PRI’s The World: World books
Art and Ideas BBC Radio3
World Book Club BBC World service
BBC World service Global Arts and entertainment
BBC World service Forum, a World of Ideas
Book reviews with Simon Mayo, BBC radio5
Front row Highlights BBC radio4

Maybe there are more interesting podcasts?

I buy my books online via amazon.de or amazon.co.uk depending on the lowest price. It is for me usually amazon.de
Amazon.de has a lot of new books for the price of € 0.01 + € 3.00 shipping.
Amazon.com is almost always the most expensive one.

By the way:
I don’t like reading audiobooks. My problem is: my thoughts wander rapidly (making associations) and the audio file is much further the moment I realize I have to push the pause button. Who is an expert in reading audiobooks?

Det Bazelmans

Gallery: www.detdigitart.com
Info: postmaster@detdigitart.com
World project: world@detdigitart.com
Just a talk: det@detdigitart.com

[Janine Bullman]

It is a really interesting question. I have to confess that I buy from Amazon too, mostly from the used/2nd hand section. It's cheaper and I feel like I am still in someway supporting small independent booksellers. It is certainly the best way for me, especially for academic books, mainly because I just don’t have much time to shop.

I love 2nd hand bookstores, sadly I don't have one local to me, if I did I would probably live there. I love getting out of London though and discovering 2nd hand bookshops. I certainly have a book addiction, particularly for old 50s pulp fiction. There is nothing better than coming across something like an old Hank Janson; the artwork is out of this world. Which brings me on to the reason why I am personally boycotting Waterstones. Having just completed my first book and having been lucky enough to secure the artist Linder Sterling to do the cover art, I was pretty gutted to hear that Waterstones had no idea or really cared about who she was and refused to use her artwork because it wasn't commercial enough. It's a book about Punk, so commercial wasn't really the aesthetic I was looking for. Linder was one of the finest punk artists in the 70s she was responsible for many classic album sleeves so her work for the book was credible and genuine. They decided to replace her sleeve with a union jack cover, perhaps the most unoriginal symbol of Punk. My mission is to go across all the London Waterstones when the book hits the shops next month and paste the real artwork on top. I find it highly disturbing they have so much control in the book market. They have so little completion that no one dares to stand up to them, so after that I am all for Amazon! F**k Waterstones!

[Anna Pitt]

I like to buy books at my local Waterstones. I would be very sad to see it leave town so I go by the use it or lose it principle.

Having said that, I have bought many books from Amazon too.

I have a bookshelf full of books I've read, and a bookshelf full of books to read. Reading this post and all the comments has made me realise I probably have enough books on my bookshelf to see me through this lifetime. What a thought!

I have been trying to use my local library. I often request books and find they get them for me within a week usually.

However, I think I'm addicted to buying books - seriously.

[Kate Pullinger]

I use Amazon almost exclusively, opting for new copies. As a writer I've always had a tortured relationship with bookshops - they never live up to my platonic ideal of The Bookshop - and as far as I can see they are getting worse and worse over time. In London, Foyles is the only one I like at all. Book retail is a totally corrupt industry, the only retail industry where they force their suppliers into sale or return deals at the same time as demanding that suppliers pay for the priviledge of being displayed. You do realise that those tables at the front of the shops are actually bits of real estate, and that publishers have to pay to have their books displayed there? Now I'm getting all hot under the collar.

Another foible of mine - I don't like second hand books and I'm not overly fond of library copies. Weird, I know. Expensive too. I prefer my books crisp and new.

[Bernie Goldbach]

It's dead easy to support a small shop by clicking into the Amazon listing and finding merchants offering quality service at prices below Amazon's. The only problem for me is their easy availability and quick responsiveness drains my pub account before my second round is finished at the weekends. I read in my local (pub) now in Ireland, just like I used to read in my local (library) in the States.

[David Brake]

I'm not sure what the delay is between request and fulfilment at my libraries. Must be a few weeks at least. I tend to put in requests and forget about them then get a pleasant surprise when a letter pops through the slot telling me the book's arrived. I seldom need a book so badly I feel put out at the delay. If I really need an academic book I can order them inter-library of course which only takes a week.

[SteveEllwood]

Nearly all Amazon.co.uk; sometimes for some of the tech books Amazon.com. I'm very happy to buy used/second-hand, which I guess comes from 30+ years of buying SF at bookstalls all over the UK. The odd serendipitous purchase at airports (Robin Hobb, recently), but most of the airport/station stuff goes straight back to a s/h seller. Once I got over 3k books, even my wife's patience began to get a bit exhausted. But I put up new shelves in my office (Sssh!)

[Cristina Costa]

For technical books I go directly to amazon. I usually get second hand ones. But when I can, I go downtown to the book shop. I could spend hours and hours there reading book blurbs...

[Sue Thomas]

David, typically how long does it take for your library to process your special book order and put the book in your hands?

[Gary Maddock-Greene]

@Simon Mills ... was your chat connected with any research Simon? I would be interested from an academic point of view if you intend publishing anything.

Regards Gary

[Mary King]

For many years I bought all my book at Kinokuniya or Maruzen, two huge bookstores in Tokyo which have at least one floor dedicated to books in foreign languages (mainly English). Occasionally, I sell my books to secondhand English bookstories here and then I will see what they have on their shelves that leap out at me. But largely, for the past four years, I've been buying my books through Amazon.

I have accounts with Japan Amazon (which also does English books), U.S. Amazon and U.K. Amazon. I usually buy brand new, but have recently started buying secondhand too. I mainly buy through Japan Amazon because it is more convenient for me. I also find the service at Japan Amazon to be better than the other two. I have also, somewhat surprisingly, found it easier and cheaper to get older (out of print) English books through Japan Amazon than the other two. In fact, while studying at DMU a student was desperately trying to get a particular book that had gone out of print and found it on U.K. Amazon at quite an outrageous price. I managed to get the book for her for the equivalent of a fiver. It also arrived by post the very next day.
I will say that I have become somewhat addicted to Amazon, and I have really had to stop myself from just browsing through their books because I spend way, way too much most of the time. My shelves are stacked with books that I have yet to read, and I keep telling myself that I should not order another book until I have cleared at least half my book shelves (I live in very small space).
I believe that Amazon has made me lazy, and I had quite forgotten how much I enjoy browsing around bookstores until earlier this year when I was in London. It was really lovely to pop into Waterstones at Trafalgar Square on a rainy day loll in an armchair for a good few hours and have a good old read. Apart from the reading, I enjoyed eavesdropping on conversations and observing others in the store. I realised I had forgotten how social reading (and shopping) can actually be.

[David Brake]

I almost never buy books because I can get to read whatever books I want either by asking the LSE library to stock it (if it's academic) or by paying 40p to my local library who will then buy it (from Amazon) and put me on the reserve list when it arrives. Can you tell I love libraries? Seriously, though - many UK libraries will buy any book you want for you within reason. It's worth trying it out at your own library...

[barrington salmon]

since i moved to East Africa, most of my book buying has been on Amazon. Whenever I go to the US, then I indulge myself by wandering through bookstores, enjoying the ambience and smell of new books.

Although I have seen the economic devastation wrought by Amazon on small booksellers, the prices of second-hand books brings me back again and again.

if at all possible, I try to support the smaller businesses even if i spend a little more.

[Alan Sondheim]

Swap books with Tom Zummer, haunt stoop sales and second-hand bookshops,
trade in at second-hand bookshops, for example three early volumves of
Chatterton for twenty-four small volumes of plays as acted assembled by
Thomas Dibdin, 1815, very occasionally order from Amazon or Abe (for
example Dreyfus' letters from Abe), sometimes get review copies - I wrote
about all this once as the political economy of books. Also from the net
sometimes - Lev Manovich's book was available online gratis. Also of
course library, for example Dreyfus' diary or James Lee Burke, and Barnes
and Noble, for example cds to go with Arabic Musical Scales, sometimes
Itunes University, for example Walter Lewin's video lectures on physics.
I think a lot of time in second-hand bookshops; Unnameable books trades
really well and keeps my book budget way down, and the Strand usually has
a lot on cyberspace and ornithology, while Atlantic Avenue books keeps me
in science Dover paperbacks. On the other hand, I have no university
access or affiliation and no contact with students re: Cris below, so word
of mouth is pretty much non-existent - word of net helps a bit. We're on
an impossibly tight budget and barter - trade with bookshops - is the name
of the game for the most part.

[Mags Treanor]

I live in Galway - a small town in the West of Ireland. We have about four main booksellers and a huge second hand bookshop. I find myself in the latter very often. I am very much a book person. I love the smell, feel and look of books. I love browsing. When I buy gifts they are nearly always books.
When I hear about an interesting book I normally look for it in the secondhand bookstore, and then move on to the main shops. Sometimes I'll order a book just to give them the business.
Amazon - my main online book source, is for speciality books, the last one being Barron's PSAT test book for my son. I always look for them second hand first, and as a rule, although there is a two week postage time, it normally arrives within days. I love the excitement of buying secondhand books online and not knowing what country they will arrive from. I feel a thrill when I get books from strangers and read their highlighting, underlining and dog ears. I also go into the amazon website at night sometimes, if I'm bored, or can't sleep and want to research something. One problem I have though, is that I am not very well off and I don't have a credit card, so that makes online purchases difficult.
Up to about 18 months ago one of the central buildings on Galway's main street was home to a bookstore/ art gallery called Kenny's. They sold second hand books, antique books and collector's books. They were the second bookstore ever to go online, and although this boosted their international sales, it resulted in the store itself closing down and moving out to an industrial estate. It was a huge loss to the town. I have added a link to an article written in the Irish times on the day they closed their doors. As a bookshop junkie I did find it very emotional!

http://www.kennys.ie/help/aboutus/irishtimesarticle.shtml

[Ines Amado]

Art books always tempt me! So if I have the money and the temptation is too great to put aside, I buy there and then; Tate, Photographers Gallery, ICA, Serpentine, Whitechapel, etc. Otherwise it will be mostly Amazon. And of course there is Portugal.....where I buy at my local book shop (loads) as well as in a place called FNAC, good for poetry, historical and socio political things.

[Jo Webb]

I try not to use Amazon. I've worked in bookselling and worry about its impact on the overall market.

In Leicester I used to use Browsers bookshop in Stonygate, now closed, which would order from the wholesaler and deliver reliably and quickly, limited discounts but very convenient. Now I keep a list and go on book buying trips to Oxford (I have a personal Blackwells account) or Foyles in Charing Cross Road or sometimes Borders in Leicester or elsewhere. For out-of-print I use Abebooks. For one publisher I order direct as I get a 30% author discount so the same as a trade purchase.

Mail order is awkward as I always have to fetch the parcel from the post office because I am rarely at home when deliveries are scheduled.

Work material we buy from our main suppliers as the discounts are much higher and the cost or ordering means that it is always more cost-effective.

To trace materials I use Amazon or another Internet booksellers account - I just need the bibliographic details which I can get from lots of places.

[Ximena Alarcón]

I enjoy "surfing" for books in England only in London, at "Foyles".

In Leicester, no many choices (it's a shame Shany Lee closed her Frontlines bookshop)... Waterstones offers to order the books for me, and I say "no, thanks".

The process when I know the title I want:

1. I see if the book is available at DMU library.

2. I go to Amazon. I check for the cheapest option, used or new (including shipping rates).

3. If they don't have it... the book goes to the "another time" list.

A good experience last week: The book via Amazon was going to arrive very late, the copies in the library were "on order". The bookshop at De Montfort University had the book, and I obtained staff discount! Cheaper and faster then, than in Amazon.

[Tia]

Hi Sue,

I buy almost all my books from Amazon. I browse often and buy less often. I have about 60 books on my Wish List and almost the same number in my Shopping Basket at any time (I wish there were an easy way to transfer items between these two lists, or to sync them).

Unless there is a pressing reason why I must have the particular book ASAP, then I only buy anything from my Shopping Basket when I see a notice that it has been marked down significantly - 20 to 60%. I seldom buy a single book. I usually buy two or three at a time to take advantage of discount delivery options. I do usually check out the secondhand options, but often once I have added delivery charges it works out cheaper to buy the new ones with the free delivery.

I also am a great fan of Folio Books, although this year, in deference to the credit crunch, I have so far successfully resisted all enticements to renew my membership of the Folio Society.

Tia

[Alison Norrington]

I click straight to Amazon too. So far I've always managed to find exactly what I want on there - often 2nd hand at great prices! I find that I browse more in a book shop but like the way that Amazon highlights other books that are similar to the one that I'm looking for!

[Ron Herrema]

If there's a book I know I want, I generally go to Amazon. If there's a high quality used copy, I'll buy it only if I don't need it quickly. Amazon is generally the fastest. Occasionally I'll buy books serendipitously that I see in bookstores, but this is fairly rare. I'll also buy from the bookstore if I'm looking for a how-to book that I know they'll have a range of selections for - gardening, travel - or for a classic that I know they'll have and I want to buy it based on how it looks and feels (e.g. recently, Alice in Wonderland).

[Simon Mills]

Gary,

If you buy from Amazon marketplace they still take a cut of the P&P. I had a really interesting chat with a friend who works in the publishing trade the other day about the growth of new businesses on market place.

best,

Simon

[Gary Maddock-Greene]

Interesting Sue. I too have changed my buying pattern recently. I have always jumped straight to Amazon, but have had such good service and considerably lower prices on the Amazon Market place that I order through a third party via Amazon. It's the best of both worlds now. All the advantages of Amazon trust with better prices ... not sure how beneficial it is to Amazons bottom line though!

[Nancy White]

When you asked on Twitter, all I could think of was "impulsively."

But now that I read your post, here is my tack:

1. Call bookstore down the street (trying to support local economy these days) and if they have it, buy it there (usually at a higher cost)

2. If they don't, I call the University of Washington Bookstore.

3. Then I go to Amazon. If time is not an issue, I try and buy a used version. I have mostly given up on Barnes and Noble and the local big box book stores except browsing if I'm in the vicinity. And if there is a small local store and I'm walking by, the magnetic force draws me in and I spend money. I'm hopeless.