An interesting and saddening (to book lovers) article from the Phoenix New Times.
Anyone involved in publishing and book selling already knows about the industry-wide practice of stripping printed book covers, sending the covers back to the publisher or distributor for credit, and trashing the rest of the book.
As a writer, I cringe at seeing this. I catch myself thinking: Ohmigod, whatifthatwasmybook? NowIwannasaveALLthebooks. Well, maybe not all the books by Dan Brown, E.L. James, and Elizabeth Gilbert. Posterity deserves some warning of our crimes, ya know. And I’m fairly sure that some of the books and magazines I’ve published in have suffered the same fate.
As a reader, I know very well that when I buy a book at an outlet like H@lfPriceBo0ks or Bo0km@ns, the original author isn’t getting any portion of that sale. Yes, I’m contributing to the slow death of a midlist print author being shunted from bad contract to awful contract, to probably no contract. (Unless they can put their backlist into e-pub formats, and maybe rise like the phoenixes they all deserve to be.) But I am fickle, I am A Reader, and I am poor – so I will get my books as legally and cheaply as I can.
As a book artist, I am often amazed by the ways artists use printed material and even whole books as structural forms. I’m a snob here, too: if it’s well done I’m likely to cheer. If the resulting piece telegraphs its maker’s laziness, ineptitude, and lack of creativity, I reserve the right to go Mystery Science Theater 3000 all over it.
A shout out to anyone who might ever travel to the Phoenix, AZ area during February. If you love books, bring cash and strong shopping bags to the annual, two-day VNSA Used Book Sale. You must wear layers and get there before dawn on the first day. You should be tanked to the gills on the stimulant of your choice. You must block out several hours, if not more, for browsing. You will send money to hundreds of local charities that desperately need every penny they can get. You will leave with treasures.