Where do you buy your books?
When I saw this sign posted on The Elegant Variation, I wondered why more people don't buy books at these little shops around the corner.
Independent Book Store Locator
When I use the independent book store locator at BookSense, I learn what I already know. My town doesn't have an independent book store. The nearest independents are 20.7, 28.4 and 35.6 miles away.
With the price of gas and the time it takes to make the drive, I'm much more likely to surf out to amazon, order enough titles for free shipping, and wait for the books to show up on my front porch.
I doubt that an independent book store can make it in our town. Those who don't shop on line are more apt to drive 18 miles to the nearest Barnes & Noble with its curb appeal looks and its coffee and buy books there.
Is Amazon Your Book Headquarters
Do you drive to the nearest chain bookstore where you can thumb through the books and get to know them before you buy them?
Or, do you seek out independent book stores even it they're not near your house?
Top Hardcover Fiction Selling at Southern IndependentsAuthors Round the South reports these books are the current top sellers in fiction:
1. Home to Holly Springs
Jan Karon, Viking, $26.95, 9780670018253
2. Book of the Dead
Patricia Cornwell, Putnam, $26.95, 9780399153938
3. Rhett Butler's People
Donald McCaig, St. Martin's, $27.95, 9780312262518
4. Stone Cold
David Baldacci, Grand Central, $26.99, 9780446577397
5. A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini, Riverhead, $25.95, 9781594489501
6. Playing for Pizza
John Grisham, Doubleday, $21.95, 9780385525008
7. World Without End
Ken Follett, Dutton, $35, 9780525950073
8. Down River
John Hart, St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, 9780312359317
9. The Choice
Nicholas Sparks, Grand Central, $24.99, 9780446579926
10. The Almost Moon
Alice Sebold, Little Brown, $24.99, 9780316677462
11. Creation in Death
J.D. Robb, Putnam, $25.95, 9780399154362
12. Bridge of Sighs
Richard Russo, Knopf, $26.95, 9780375414954
13. Third Degree
Greg Iles, Scribner, $25.95, 9780743292504
14. Run
Ann Patchett, Harper, $25.95, 9780061340635
15. Protect and Defend
Vince Flynn, Atria, $26.95, 9780743270410
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Submitted by Trick Falls on Sun, 11/25/2007 - 12:07.
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Amazon vs. The Little Guys
I do buy some books at the mom-n-pop places (there are several good ones about 5 miles from me), but I buy more from Amazon. And Borders, just because they are close and convenient. I buy some from the book clubs. I buy LOTS of books...
And lucky for me, our library is just half-a-block down the street from my house. Location, location, location...
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That convenient library...
...is a plus. The one here is 5 minutes from my house.
TF
Wow- the nearest one to me
Wow- the nearest one to me is 38 miles away. And even that's deceiving since I know the general area it's in, and you have to go through some nasty traffic areas.
That's kinda pathetic since I live in a large town/small city almost exactly halfway between Harrisburg and Philly. You'd think we'd have something. All I know about is a used bookstore, and chains.
There are a few independant stores that sell books in them, but are not book stores- such as the comic store near us. Hubby digs through the gaming section while I amuse myself with the 30 books that are for sale.
Of course, I get a lot of books free since I review them too.
__________________________No Dead Weight- my weight loss and debt reduction blog, and My Lensography
Some of the independents sell specialty books
Or it's all used books. The distant places that are good cause a time issue. I don't want to spend two hours in my car to buy one book I can more easily order. Laziness, but I rationalise it.
TF
After checking I found that the
closest independent bookstore is 96.3 miles away - so, I will NOT be visiting them anytime soon.
New books: I usually buy at WalMart or through a book club and I really don't buy many new books. We do have a big chain book store; but, I rarely go there becasuse they have a "coffee shop" and the smell from the coffee permeates teh entire store (I am allergic to coffee and the smell physically makes me ill).
I mainly buy used books and I get them from: used book stores, thrift shops, garage sales, swap meets, and ebay.
Our Wal*Mart has a very limited selection
I forgot about ebay. That's a good source and sometimes a good idea. I used to sell books there but there's no profit in it for the occasional seller. Swap meets and garage sales and libary sales are fun.
TF
Local
We have a local bookstore about 20 minutes away, but they have so many 'gifts' in the store that there is little room left for the books. The books they do have are all bestsellers that I can buy at the grocery store while standing in line to pay for my food - so I don't go there.
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Health After 40
Those gifts aren't why I go there...
...but somebody must buy them. The front area of most B&N stores is crammed with that stuff. My grocery store doesn't carry anything I want to read, so I'm usually at Amazon.
TF
no small bookstore nearby
I do mostly buy from Amazon, ebay, thrift stores, that kind of thing. I love getting them cheap at the thrift stores, those are my favorites!
__________________________When we lived closer to Atlanta...
...we had a good selection of thrift stores, used book stores and independents.
Now, in a town of 6,000 people, lots of people talk about how great it would be to have a bookstore here, but apparantly nobody thinks it will work quite yet.
TF