How Do You Acquire Books Published In Other Countries? (10/19/25)

[Marc]

If a publisher in your country doesn't have an edition of a book you want, what services/resources/retailers do you use? Share your best tips/tricks/sources for good selections, cheapest shipping options, free/library alternatives, etc.

[Emmeline]

My first stop for new books is Blackwell's.

If something is out of print or I'd rather have a second hand copy, I use bookfinder.com. You plug in your location and it tells you where the cheapest edition is to be got... which is how I've bought books on Czech and Polish ebay, among other places.

One thing I'm seeing though is that the internet means that prices are pretty similar anyway, especially if it's a book someone has decided is "rare."

[Jennifer]

I have purchased books in Canda and Iceland. And ordered from the UK Amazon from time to time in the past.
I have sent my niece books to Canada as they were not published yet there.

[Robert]

World of Books has helped me many times when this has happened

[Bill]

We still have a few decent brick-and-mortar bookstores in SF. Since the pandemic, many local stores are happy to handle special orders through their distributors, or even establish accounts directly with non-local publishers they think are interesting to their customers. Recently, I talked with our local genre bookstore about a new Joel Lane edition. They were pretty excited to find out about Influx Press (in the UK), and promptly set up an account.

After these, like Emmeline, my first stop is bookfinder.com.

If bookfinder doesn't come through for months, which does happen, I may directly contact the publisher. Unfortunately international shipping has gotten exorbitant since the pandemic. I know these days we're all lazy and complacent with options like evil amazon, but I remember ordering books with a UK publisher in the 70s. Yes, that was a project for a teen.

For the really zero-distribution books, if you can get as obsessive as me, it's often possible to just contact the author. The UK abstract comics artist Gareth Hopkins was kind enough to prepare a packet of graphic novels for me to purchase at a London comic shop, when I happened to be in town. He doesn't even ship outside the UK.