Buying remainders & promotional books
Archive: Used Bookdealer
Before we started selling used books online we used to carry remainders. Books Do Furnish A Room is too small to devote space to remainder tables so they were shelved with the other books. Mostly I bought only books that I thought we could sell for three times the wholesale price.
Unsurprisingly it took me several orders to learn how to buy. I'd never heard of promotional books. Most of those big picture-filled books on remainder tables are promotional books, the trade name for inexpensive reprints of coffee table books. Color printing must be cheap in England where most of them were published. Most were fluff but sometimes you'd get good specialized books like a history of English costume through the centuries. The promotional edition could easily cost a fourth of the original. Dorset (since absorbed by Barnes & Noble) reprinted lots of history that had fallen into the public domain. Dorset reprints were often appealing and learned but with little use to anyone interested in recent scholarship. (Dorset titles were typically written around the turn of the century much scholarly writing was less stringent, often appearing merely quaint and partisan when compared to the works produced in the last half of the 20th century). When I first bought promotional books I didn't understand that I was paying half of what the book sold for new. Had to stop buying all those nice art books.
Daedalus Books Wholesale became a regular source. My lesson there was to realize that however heartfelt the blurbs were that the last thing to buy remaindered was literary fiction. (I should've known from the beginning: the used marked for fiction deserves its own entry.) Belles lettres I should've been equally wary of but essays have long been one of my own weaknesses.
My remainder buying tightened up: scholarly books (with an admitted bias toward my own interests). Specialties like chess where we've never had enough titles and what we wound up were the most commonplace. I bought almost any Judaica and African-American and Gay titles with a lowish price. Many people care deeply about their status as a member of a minority. The Judaica proved the most profitable. I'm gay so I didn't fret too much about the queer theory which did fine in the long run.
The best source of all was Powell's Books of Chicago (relatives of Powell's in Seattle). Their buyers had entrée to publishers that ordinarily never remaindered. When they listed AMS Press' facsimile reprints of 16th - 19th texts I bought a copy of everything (and wound up wishing I'd bought ten of some - a few still wait for a buyer).
2 · Posted by: cmoorecole on January 16, 2004 01:07 AM
Re: Your mention of Powell's…..This is almost trivial, unless you're planning to go on the road to buy books (not an uncommon bookseller's vacation), but bear with me.I don't think there's a Powell's in Seattle, at least I've never seen it mentioned in any historical account of the store. If there was a Powell's in Seattle, it would be frequented by bibliophiles from Portland and I've just never heard of such a thing or found a Powell's there unless they've opened one of their many satellite stores. Seattle or not,Powell's began in Chicago, but is now headquartered in Portland (has been since the mid-late 70s) where it's known as the City of Books and holds the record for hugest bookstore in the country. According to historical accounts(I'm so old, it's all history) Michael Powell left Chicago to help his aging father with his phenomenally successful used bookstore. Portland is a literary town - loves its authors and loves its bookstores. It was ripe ground for a store that has grown into a local landmark and tourist attraction. When you have guests from out of town in Portland, you take them to the zoo, the rose gardens and Powell's. Why should it matter that you might have mixed up Seattle with Portland? They're about 4 hours apart, by car, and rain is the only thing they have in common. It's petty but annoying to have Seattle get credit for one of our treasures. I love Powell's. Yet, I learned only recently that they do have a wholesale division and that a third of their business happens at their website. I just wonder if it's as easy to buy wholesale from them as it is to buy from Daedalus. Both used to get a lot of retail business from me. I concur that Daedalus is wonderful. The best part? Most of the books I buy from Daedalus do NOT have remainder marks or the marks are so discreet that many buyers may not see them. Wondering if there's a trend growing to minimize the markings because we'll buy more of those remainders that are unmarked or barely marked.
3 · Posted by: Richard on January 16, 2004 07:09 AM
Sorry about the mistake. When I lived in San Francisco people talked about Seattle all the time and I guess that displaced Portland in my memory. Now that I think about it I have no mental image of Portland at all.
I've met Powell Sr. who last I knew was running the wholesale business out of Chicago. (This would've been about five years ago.)
Powell's was the first place I but used books (for myself) online. It could be very frustrating since back then they had no description of the book's condition.
Only a slender number of the book buying population care about remainder marks. We get emails on and off asking what “remainder” means.
4 · Posted by: Keith on February 5, 2004 04:40 PM
Hey Richard,
I was hoping you could point me in the right direction. I'm looking to buy wholesale lots of non-fiction books very cheap. Either hardcovers or large softcovers. Any idea where they could be found/obtained? Thanks.
Keith
5 · Posted by: bama on February 18, 2004 07:50 PM
I own a used and rate bookstore and have just been approached by a corporation for an order of 1000 “coffe table” type books for decor purposes. I need a CHEAP source for bulk buying. If i can find the right connection, this business relationship would be profitable to both, since this company plans to make many such purchases. Can anybody point me in the right direction?
Sincerely,
BAMA
6 · Posted by: Sue on March 2, 2004 08:07 AM
I am looking for a cheap supply of books - used/remainder/wholesale - preferably paperback - in the UK. At the moment I use Blaketon Hall - anyone know of any others (or US suppliers if they don't charge extortionate freight rates - I did attempt an order for $250 from one, but the freight was going to be $500 ).
MANY THANKS!!!!
7 · Posted by: Cathy Barron on March 31, 2004 03:52 PM
My name is Cathy Barron, I'm the owner of Nefertiti Books & Gifts here in Jacksonville Florida. I need to know if you carry African / African American Titles. If possible please provide us with a list, if you don't could you direct us to a company that wholesale these books. Your prompt response would be greatly appreciated.
Cathy Barron
Nefertiti Books & Gifts
7640 Lemturner Road
Jacksonville, FL 32208
904-766-3830
nmaat@bellsouth.net
8 · Posted by: Mark Lee on April 6, 2004 06:02 PM
We are a small publishing house with quantities of books we need to sell off. So far we have been unable to get interested remainder houses to interest in the five titles we list to offer for bids. Any thoughts or leads would be helpful.
INSIDE ARGENTINA FROM PERON TO MENEM by Laurence Levine, retail $25.00 2000copies
CALIFORNIA HERB COOKERY by Alan Hooker and Beatrice Wood, retail $22.95 1000 copies
WALKING IN A LANDSCAPE OF WORDS by Pamela Hoxsey
retail, $22.95 200 copies
WAISLER & MALIK by Lee Waisler 200 copies, retail $60.00
10 · Posted by: animegination on January 26, 2005 11:55 PM
I am interested in acquiring remainder Japanese anime books…both American Versions and Japanese. Any ideas? I know they're out there. Tokyo Pop is one of the publishers.
11 · Posted by: Atar Hadari on September 30, 2005 03:58 AM
Hi - What are the current sources of remainders in the UK? Anyone got any recommendations for Judaica, particularly? Many thanks.
Feel free to share your feelings about Buying remainders & promotional books. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted.
This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard
1 · Posted by: elizabeth (real name!) on December 13, 2003 10:05 PM
I have just read an article written by you on the internet. I too buy remainders mostly from England and can relate to all you said. I have 7 secondhand bookshops in Australia, 5 on the West Coast and 2 in Sydney. My 2 Sydney shops are in Darlinghurst the gay capital of Aust. and Newtown the Lesbian capital of Sydney. I am hoping with all your knowledge you may be able to give me some hints on where to find gay & lesbian fiction, erotica or anything related. I find I have no trouble selling these books but finding sources to buy them seems hard. I will buy any secondhand, remaindered or hurt titles I can get. Large quantites obviously makes the shipping more viable. Thank you for any information you can send my way. Regards & Merry Christmas Elizabeth - www.elizabethsbookshop.com.au