Secondhand Prose

摘要

Some people check stock quotations to see how their investments are doing. I look at used-book prices online. I've never been a collector, but over the years a few novels that I've hung on to simply because I liked them have, ah, matured in value. I own a couple of Cormac McCarthy hardcovers from the '80s, for instance, that are now worth $1,500 each. My indifference to collecting took a beating the day I discovered those prices online. But what really holds my attention when I visit a used-book site is how little I have to pay for an out-of-print book that I might just want to read. Used hardcovers that I never hoped to find in a local store are suddenly at my fingertips for $10 or less. If I order promptly, that is, because it turns out that I have competition. Last year Americans spent at least $530 million on used books, roughly 5 percent of the $10 billion trade-book market. In this marginally profitable business, where sales have been virtually flat for the last five years, that's a lot.