Thursday, May 14, 2009

Buying books?

I had a discussion with my daughter at Christmas time. One of her friends was very, very into the Twilight series but was not buying the latest book until after payday. My daughter, a single, twenty-something, with a good job, was worried about her friend. Could she really be this poor? I worried that I hadn't presented the basics of the economy and budgets, but my daughter actually works in the accounting department of a rather large company. She must be going to hear about this stuff soon.
On the other hand, maybe not. There seems to be a disconnect with so many people about this recession. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that retail sales in April declined for the second month in a row. The Dow took a tumble on the news. Frankly, Wall Street may have been surprised by the figures, but I wasn't. I knew I hadn't been shopping in April, nor were a lot of my acquaintance. We were hiding out at home, trying to figure out how to pay our taxes.
Be that as it may, sales at bookstores rose last month even if only by .3%. I'm pretty sure that resale of books--at garage sales, Craig's list and e-bay is probably pretty good too. Too bad the stock market doesn't take note of those outlets.
I hear Star Trek did pretty well last weekend at the box office too. So although other news reports are blaring about vacations canceled and a travel industry in trouble, we all need to have someplace to escape to.
So here's the question: Are you buying books? Waiting for payday? Going to the library?
And while you're at it--what makes you buy a book? Reviews? Ads in your favorite magazine? Tell all!

Christine Duncan is the author of the Kaye Berreano mystery series.

7 comments:

Morgan Mandel said...

It's gotten to the point I know so many authors I buy books by authors I know, either at book signings, bookstores or online.

I also buy books at library sales.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I'm still buying!

There's other areas doing remarkedly well right now. I know one chain of bookstores that specializes in 'remainders' and 'overstocks' and their sales are up. One store's sales are up by 28% over last year!!

L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net

Anonymous said...

I'm like Morgan - I meet so many new authors in bloggydom and online social networks - I get to like the author's blog and/or personality and figure hey - let's try his or her book out.

Helen Ginger said...

We're going to the movies - not terribly often, but when something good comes out. We were one of those who went to see Star Trek.

I still buy books. My buys are mostly based on authors I've met or know.

(Word verifications are sometimes interesting. The one for yours today, if pronounced phonetically, would be "fearkiller.")

Helen
Straight From Hel

Mark Troy said...

I'm buying books. I've bought eleven so far this month and my wife has bought at least that many. Two were books by authors I knew, some were must-haves by authors I'd never pass up (Robert Crais and George Pelecanos) and others were books whose titles or covers just grabbed. I also bought The Martian Chronicles, which I read 40 years ago and wanted to see if was as good as I remembered. (It is.)

Jean Henry Mead said...

I'm still buying books, mostly by authors I've interviewed. What a great selection of books out there to choose from. I'm running out of space to store them. :)

Christine Duncan said...

Oh but Jean that's why e-books are so great!