Musings from my Sci-fi garage sale

[Dave]

Yesterday was my neighbourhood garage sale. This is a big deal where I live. Each year on garage sale day I'd estimate at least 5K bargain hunters walk past. A perfect day to liquidate my dead-tree sci-fi collection! 50 cents for a paper-back, $2 for a hard-cover.

It was interesting to observe what sold and what didn't, and who was looking and who wasn't.

* Ender's Game was by far the most sought after specific book. It was the first book I sold, and almost every other person that day, after browsing the other Orson Scott Card books, asked "Do you have Ender's Game?"

* My second sale was the The Foundation Trilogy. Quite a few people asked for that, even after all my Isaac Asimov books were gone.

* Anne McCaffrey was the most widely sought after author. My paperback collection of her books books sold very quickly.

* Dragons are a big draw, especially with women of all ages. I had some hard-cover copies of All the Weyrs of Pern and The Renegades of Pern prominently displayed, and once they sold the female traffic at my table dropped off considerably.

* Demographics-wise, the many of buyers were people in their 20s, which was interesting since most of the books I was selling were older than they were. Interestingly, there were also many older people (40s and 50s) who bought books they had already read, for their children. I don't recall a single teenager buying anything, or even stopping to look (except for the group who commented they wouldn't buy anything they couldn't read on their Kindles).

* The award for most-times-picked-up-but-not-purchased author goes to David Brin. I had a set of all his books from the Uplift Universe, and they were pawed over many many times but didn't sell until the very end of the day. Sundiver was his book most picked up, which I found surprising since I consider that one of Brin's weaker books. Most people seemed to have read The Postman (which I was not selling) and no other Brin novels.

* Julian May was the most overlooked author. I was selling a complete set of the Saga of the Pliocene Exile and the Surveillance series and the Galactic Milieu Trilogy, which IMHO are all excellent, and none of the books were even picked up.

* The Fall of Hyperion sold before Hyperion did. Go figure.

* Flashforward sold quckly, as did The Terminal Experiment. The rest of my Robert J. Sawyer collection languished until somebody came by and bought them all together. (Note to self: be careful what you sell. I almost sold my signed hard-cover copy of Calculating God for $1, before I remembered what it was and pulled it from the sale!)

* My Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle books were surprisingly unpopular. Either everybody has already read the likes of Lucifer's Hammer, Footfall and The Legacy of Heorot, or nobody is interested anymore.

* The misinformation award goes to This Alien Shore. More than one person asked if I had the sequel to this book. As far as I know, there is no sequel to this book. Did I miss something?

[Ian]

Agree on the Julian May books, I love the saga of the exiles and have all those books, and you don't seem to see it anywhere these days. Why are you selling them, this is one of the series I go back and read again every five years or so, it's a classic

[Alterjess]

except for the group who commented they wouldn't buy anything they couldn't read on their Kindles

What an odd point of view - yard sales are the *perfect* place to buy things you can't read on a Kindle!

[Dave]

Ian wrote: "... Why are you selling them..."

I am selling to get rid of my clutter. When I feel the need to read any of these books again, I'll buy the ebook, or check them out of the library. The only books I am not selling are my Arthur C. Clarke and my Tolkien collections.

[Dave]

Jess wrote: What an odd point of view - yard sales are the *perfect* place to buy things you can't read on a Kindle..."

Maybe I should rephrase that. They were only interested in reading books on a Kindle. Dead-tree books were, well, dead to them.

[Skaw]

As far as I know, you are correct, This Alien Shore has no sequel. This doesn't mean there won't be one. The author wrote The Wilding quite a while after In Conquest Born. I enjoyed Alien Shore and hope there might be a sequel one day.

I enjoyed your breakdown of your book sale. I don't really blame those who put Brin's books back down. I tried his Uplift trilogy, and to this day it still holds my mental record of the slowest books EVER!

I understand your less cluttered goal intellectually, but not on an emotional level. While I do winnow my collection periodically, I couldn't imagine voluntarily getting rid of most of them. Instead, I contemplate more bookcases. . .

As for the people who don't read anything not available in an ebook, I think they are missing out on a vast sea of wonderful books, not to mention spending a lot more money.

[Fresno Bob]

Excellent tale, thanks for posting. Loved the julian may piloscene and GM stuff, i guess i should checkmout the survelliance series. that takes place right before the singularity, right?

[Dave]

@Skaw, The Uplift Trilogy is rather slow at times. But I rank Startide Rising (which is not part of the trilogy but does feed into the same story) as one of the finest books I have ever read.

@Fresno, You are correct. The Surveillance books (there are 2) tell the events in the decades leading up to the Intervention. The GM trilogy describes the events following, up to and including the Rebellion. I liked the Surveillance books better. I think Julian May was running out of steam by the time she got to the second book of the GM trilogy.

[Mel (booksandsundry)]

The comment from teens about Kindles made me sad, not because they prefer it but just thinking about what they're missing. For me the Kindle is about having access to books that are harder to get where I live, but I like options.

I suppose some people who prefer records might think the same thing about iPods though.

[Camilla]

@Mel: I agree with you completely about Kindle books. I buy Kindle books (usually older ones) on my computer when the library doesn't have them or I need them quickly.

@Dave: As a young female I cannot understand the mass appeal of dragons. I mean, I like dragons. Dragons are cool, but I would have been all over your Niven books.

[Dave]

Mel wrote: "The comment from teens about Kindles made me sad, not because they prefer it but just thinking about what they're missing. For me the Kindle is about having access to books that are harder to get w..."

It does seem silly to refuse to read a book because it is not an eBook (the reverse is just as silly). I'm hoping it is just a rebellious stage that the teens will grow out of.

At least, however, the kids are reading. I heard one comment along the lines of "...I've read so many books since I got my Kindle." That, I have to think, is a good thing.

[Christopher]

Nice post...sounds like a great sale and a lot of fun!

[Mel (booksandsundry)]

Dave wrote: "Mel wrote: "At least, however, the kids are reading. I heard one comment along the lines of "...I've read so many books since I got my Kindle." That, I have to think, is a good thing. "

I absolutely can't argue with that! It's fantastic that reading is still loved and enjoyed. Stories are so important to our lives.

[Kim]

Dave wrote: "It does seem silly to refuse to read a book because it is not an eBook (the reverse is just as silly). I'm hoping it is just a rebellious stage that the teens will grow out of."

It's not a teen thing. There's members on here who won't read anything not on ebook. I prefer to read ebooks but if I really want a book that's not digitised yet I have no problem getting a DTE. My reading choice is mainly due to lack of space for more books plus ease of reading on Kindle.

[Dave]

In case people are curious, here is a list of what I had left over after the sale ended:

* All of My Julian May books, as mentioned above.
* Sundiver, by David Brin
* This Alien Shore, by C.S. Friedman
* The Proteus Operation, by J.P. Hogan (maybe the picture of Hitler on the cover did not help)
* Code of the Lifemaker, by J.P. Hogan
* The Legacy of Heorot, by Niven, Pournelle and Barnes
* Oath of Fealty, by Niven and Pournelle
* Inferno, by Niven and Pournelle
* The Flight of the Horse, by Niven
* King Davids Spaceship, by Pournelle
* Lovelock, by Card

[Robert]

Great analysis and tale! More posts like these would be quite welcome.

[Alterjess]

Dave wrote: "Maybe I should rephrase that. They were only interested in reading books on a Kindle. Dead-tree books were, well, dead to them. "

Oh no, I understood. It just seems like a very strange perspective to offer up at a yard sale.

I suppose some people who prefer records might think the same thing about iPods though.

I don't think there's an exact parallel there - the thing that keeps me from buying old records at yard sales isn't that I think they're old-fashioned and not worth my time, it's that I don't own a record player. To read a paper book, you just need the book.

[Chloe]

Man I wish I had been to your sale! I'm planning on getting a Kindle soon so I'm trying to only buy paper books that I know I will read over or that I care enough about to want a hardcopy sitting pretty on my shelf. But I would scooped up that lot for sure! I can't ever seem to find decent books on the cheap...

[Dave]

I don't have a Kindle myself, but I do have a Kobo and also read a lot of books on my iPad. I love real books, but eBooks win out in the end because they take up no space.

The books I sold had been sitting in a crate in my basement for years, so I figured it was time for them to go. Although it was hard to see some dear old friends carried off by strangers, discussing the merits of this book or that author with all the people dropping by was a lot of fun. It was like a 6 hour impromptu book club meeting! I'd do it again next year, except that I don't have much left to sell.