Used books

These are the worst of times and the best of times. If you are looking for used books you are in luck. Prices are low and thanks to the Internet it's possible to find books from all over the world.

If you are in the used book business these are the worse of times. Prices have collapsed. Try and run a business when the absolute lowest price out there, thanks to the Internet, is all that people will pay. Exceptions exist, for rare books with a strong demand. For everything else prices are nearing pulp paper prices.

It's weird when you think about it. Regular paper books, used, are often selling for less than e-books. Something physical, in the real world, is cheap. Electronic media, something less real than vapor, goes for good money. Real books are wonderful. Printed on good paper, they can last for hundreds of years. No special equipment is required to read them.

Some years back my lovely wife and I dabbled in the used book business. Our local area has a low population density with less education than average -not the best book market. Selling books through the Internet seemed like a godsend. We could reach a much wider market. Had we thought about it we would have realized that everybody could reach that same market.

That was then. For a period of time it was a decent part time income. Recently my lovely wife sold some of our left over used books. They went for about a third of what we used to get for them. It was hardly worth the trouble.

On the bright side, I don't mind having a house full of books. Who knows, some day they may even be worth something.

-Sixbears