telophase | (no subject)

Why is it only now that I've found out that Katherine Neville recently published a sequel to The Eight, The Fire: A Novel? Actually, that might tell me something about how good it is if nobody on the f-list ever mentioned it. XD But I have a copy now! So please, no spoilers if you've read it! Actually, I don't even want to know if you found it wanting or disappointing in any way, because that would give me an excuse to put it down and not pick it up again, and as I'm not very good at making it through longer novels these days, that would be a shame!

I came across a mention of it somewhere online last week, and remembered on Sunday when

myrialux and I went to sell excess books at Half-Price Books. And sure enough, they had a copy of the hardback, so I got it.

If you're in my area and have manga and graphic novels to sell, I can tell you which Half-Price to take them to! They're desperate for them and pay well.

*holds up a hand dramatically* And before you cry "I would have bought your manga and graphic novels!" or "But here's a worthy cause you could have donated them to!" let me assure you that that was not an option - the postage for mailing out all the books would have been prohibitive and besides, I had less than a week to get rid of them. :) I sold about 10-12 moving boxes of books* - paperbacks, hardbacks, manga, fiction, nonfiction, etc - and received three hundred and forty dollars which was about 200% of what I was expecting. Um, wow. Yeah, they really want those books! (They also complimented me on their condition, which plays a big part in their pricing.) That $340 will help me with paying movers, buying a tall cat tree so that Sora and Nefer can lord it over us, and buying me a multi-drawer work storage thingybopper in which I can store my craft supplies.

* Less than half of my collection. :) I do have a revolving collection - buying books frequently and then getting rid of the ones that I didn't finish or liked but know I'll never read again. This time I also bit the bullet and pared my collection of art how-to books considerably by getting rid of the ones that had lived in the garage for a year without me even once thinking about them.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wow, that's amazing! I would have thought more like $50 tops for 12 boxes. :p

I've learned through experience that I can usually count on $10ish for a paper grocery bag packed tight with books, and $20-25 for an 18 x 12 x 12" moving box packed tight with books, provided they're all in good condition, although the larger hauls tend to average less per box, probably because of condition/not-in-demand. I was really expecting more like $160-180, which is what my previous Half-Price run netted me. :)

Wow, that's still pretty good.

A friend of mine once worked at Half Price and told me their buying policy was to offer 10% of what they thought they could get for it, but that would be bumped up and down depending on how often you came in to buy, the condition of the books, and the demand for what you were selling. Manga and graphic novels are hot stuff right now!

The only place I sell books is Book Off. I've never tried selling English-language books there, though they do carry them. But for Japanese manga they give you pennies, even if they're near mint. >_< I don't think it's even 10%, more like 5%, probably.

I sold books at Book Off once. Never again. They took everything, but I got almost nothing for my stuff.

I do it as a last resort. I always try to sell through my journal first, but if I need the money and need to get rid of manga, it's really the only option. >_< I think I got $18 for 70 volumes the last time I was there.

A lot of places I used to sell my books at went under, so it was me trying someplace new. I brought them some manga but mostly four big bags of books, some of them hardcover. They gave me $22 and a coupon for 20% off my next purchase. If I were less polite, I would have asked them to slide all the piles of my sorted stuff back when they gave me the total. Also, the employees I spoke to didn't speak English well and I worried about how long the wrangling would take.

Yeah, I don't even know of any used bookstores in the LA area anymore. And since I'm selling Japanese-language manga, even if I did find one, they'd probably give me an even worse price than Book Off. (I suppose I could try a comic shop, maybe.)

With my books, I just put them up on BookMooch and before that I would just donate them to the library, because I know I'd get even less than for the manga...

I'm in New York City. A lot of the small bookstores I loved and sold my books to are gone. A lot of the stores these days are specialized and don't want my sci-fi/fantasy and manga.

we have HPB here in Minneapolis, and I was wondering about their buying policy (I've sold stuff there and it's, as you said, variable but I didn't know quite how variable) thanks.

I hear you on the "not mailing" option because half.com is so slow to sell on, and I have more credits on PBS and BookMooch than I know what to do with. I did a recent cull and took most of it to Half-Price Books, and what they didn't take I donated to a local thrift store.

the trade sites are frustrating me because almost everything I post is on someone's wishlist but I almost never get wishlisted books on BookMooch. PBS is slightly better, but only because I'm first in queue for stuff I've had on the WL since 2006.
(I think I sent you a book once, actually.)

Hee! I've got a huge wishlist on PBS, which I basically forget about, and every so often it's nice to see the "Your book is here!" email. XD

(Which one? Do you remember?)

(deleted comment)

I suspect the response of nearly everyone will be Oh, I had no idea there was a sequel! Huh. XD I thought that it was only recently published, until I saw the 2008 pub date on the hardback I got and realized the "recently published" mention I came across must have referred to the paperback version, which just came out this month.

I could probably sell or give them away and ask for postage costs, but the hassle of packaging them up and taking them to the post office is just Too Damn Much.

I'll do my best to post on it, although I've been sucking at that recently. XD

(Off work in a matter of minutes, then dinner and my first piano class! Which I will also attempt to post on!)

I am so jealous! I took an entire tote bag full of sf/f paperbacks to Book-Off and got...$2, for like five books they took.

Half-Price Books has always done well by me. :) OTOH, I used to have a friend who worked at one who told me their Seekrit* Pricing Scheme, which was to offer 10% of what they thought they could get for the books, but to bump that up or down depending if the books were in demand, on the condition, if they were familiar with the person and they came in and bought a lot, and so on. :) I think at the moment they're giving more like 30-40% of what they think they can get for the manga and graphic novels.

* Probably not very seekrit. :D

Well, if you read my book blog, you'd have known, because I got an advance copy. Reviewed at said blog (http://riofriotex.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Fire) Won't share my opinion as you requested but others can certainly click the link if they are so inclined. I did read The Eight a few years back in book club.

Hee. :)

It's been so long since I reread The Eight that I don't remember much about it. I might have to go by Wikipedia or somewhere and see if I can find a summary.

Speaking of moving and things you don't need, how much should I pay you for Duo?

Now that I'm finally not moving anymore, I came back across the cards and realized I never sent them out. :)

Just send your address to telophase14 (at) gmail and I'll send it on. Don't worry about the money, it only cost a buck. :)

♥ Thank you! I'll email.