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Question about the price of books
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If a book is out of print, some sellers will ask a huge price for it, hoping that they'll get it! And some out-of-print books, especially those published by small presses, by university presses, or for the library market, were issued in small quantities and thus can be pretty hard to find. Print-on-demand books and self-published books also tend to be much more expensive than other new books.
I know some of Helen Hollick's books are being reissued, but I don't know what the situation is with "Harold the King." If it's not in print, that's probably why the seller is asking such a high price for it. You might check her website to see if it's one of the books that's being republished!
Have you checked ABeBooks.com? They are very big.
Yes, AbeBooks is wonderful!!! They have very rare and autographed books for sale. I have used them to buy books before. I also buy books on EBay...sometimes you can find someone who just wants to get rid of the book and sells for cheap...same with Amazon. Its kind-of a matter of timing with the last two. :) Hope this helps!
I've used Alibris to get books at more reasonable prices, especially out of print or UK books.
And some books are priced for libraries - but that probably isn't paperbacks.
I definitely didn't pay that much for Harold. That was one of the few books I was not able to get via ILL (interlibrary loan). I think the note they sent back was that they would have to go out of the country to get it. I did get the other, The Hollow Crown via ILL.I think I heard Helen is waiting to see how things go with Sourcebooks before letting them have Harold.
I always shop around my favorite used sellers before making a purchase (except for those one penny wonders). Thriftbooks, Abe and Alibrus.
Sorry, not parting with my copy :)
You might try putting it on your wishlist at PaperbackSwap. You'd be surprised what can turn up there!
Susan wrote: "You might try putting it on your wishlist at PaperbackSwap. You'd be surprised what can turn up there! "I think I have it on the list over there, actually. :) I checked Book Depository and Alibris yesterday and the price seemed really, really high. Guess I'll just wait and see what happens later.
There's a long list at PBS and Bookmooch. Amazon UK shows it available, I think you'll work out to $20 US plus shipping.
I also use bookfinder.com a lot when looking for older books. It will give you a list from several sites (including Alibirs, Abebooks and others) so you can easily compare prices and locations (it includes book sellers in the US and UK).
Tanzanite, thanks for the tip about bookfinder. That was new for me.
Robin, it appears Sourcebooks will reissue both Harold and A Hollow Crown. AHC will be first in '10 with Harold in '11. If you can wait that long.
Pfft. I'll just search around on Abebooks and the like to try to find it in good shape. I don't want to wait over a year to get it! lol!!
I wouldn't want to wait either. I'd still recommend comparing the price at Amazon UK if they have it in stock.
There's always the original edition of Harold, with some more reasonable prices,http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/00...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0099...
http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Searc...
Could anyone clue me in as to why these are soooo expensive??