Out of Print Books
Created | Updated Jun 6, 2003
I find it odd that when one is searching for abook one really, really wants, it is always out of print. About a week ago, when I was looking for "The Meaning of Liff", a book I thought popular and certainly not in jeopardy of being axed, they told me they didn't have it in stock, but they would be perfectly happy to order it from the publisher. I was happy to wait the projected two weeks and joyfully told them to order "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" as well for me. I found later, of course, that they are actually quite out of print. I still have yet to find an affordable copy of this book (affordable for my budget is about $8.00 US), but I was able to get a bit of help from the following websites.
www.alibris.com
www.abebooks.com
www.powellsbooks.com
I also found a site by the name of www.bibliofind.com, but I found it was run by Amazon.com, and I've already had a run in with them about out of print books when I ordered "The Lord of the Rings" Millenium edition. If you absolutely cannot find a book, you might check there. If you can't even find it there, the next step you should take, as I've learned in my large experience with out of print books, is individual sellers, or eBay. When dealing with eBay, it is much easier and conveniant to use a site like eSnipe.com to bid. eSnipe and assorted others bid automatically for you seconds before the auction ends. With this, it is much easier to win auctions. If you're going to go for the over-priced method employed at eBay, you might as well get it signed. If you still can't find it, you might try going a step down; instead of a hardcover, a paperback; instead of a first edition, a regular one.
If anyone has a relatively good copy of "The meaning of Liff" or "The Deeper Meaning of Liff" that they'd be willing to sell for $15.00 US or less, please contact me at [email protected]
