I came across something strange today, and wanted to talk about it. While making sure my genre changes took affect on Mal-adaptive (it somehow found its way into the Horror category), I found that a copy of Unlimited was being offered used from another Amazon seller.

Needless to say, my first reaction was definitely a knee-jerk reaction. I’m not making any kind of commission from that sale! A bit affronted, I stopped to ask myself (and my girlfriend) what that meant.

The first ‘goal’ I have when writing, is to ‘share’ these stories with anyone who’s interested.  Depending on which definition of the word you’re looking at, monetary compensation isn’t usually included with sharing… but not necessarily excluded either.

If my only option to share my stories was in giving them away, I’d do that. But, because it’s not the only option, I decided to try my hand at making a buck or two along the way (like many others have before me). As an independent author/publisher, any money I’ve put into the process is all mine to begin with… just as all the profits that I’ve made (albeit the cut that Amazon takes for ‘hosting’ things) are all mine, too.

The book in question is priced at $10 for a print-on-demand copy (+shipping) that gets sent directly to your mailbox. It’s being offered for $9.99 with $0 shipping costs. Not knowing how much they paid for a completely unknown author’s book, it’s difficult to tell just how much profit they would make by selling that copy… but I’m gonna guess it’ll be more than what I get.

My Sense-o’-Fairness meter shot through the roof and almost exploded… until I really looked at what was going on. I’ve purchased many used books in my lifetime… and I’ve turned around and sold them right back to the same store so I could buy more used books. We see it with books as well as video games. We have a thriving cadre of businesses all across America that do the same with collectibles and even household goods such as furniture and clothes (hello, Goodwill et al.)

So, to realize that this is just ‘business as usual’, I had to look at how someone else selling my hard work benefited me. For one, it’s an opportunity for someone to find me and my work. Word of mouth is one of the very few free methods I have at my disposal as a completely and utterly broke author. Finding some strange and intriguing scifi novel at a used book store introduced me to many authors I’ve now read through most, if not all, of their repertoire.

So, if someone does buy that used book, and they happen to like what I’ve written, it’s now a business card for them to find my other stuff (hopefully enough for them to buy directly from me this time)… or, to even pass on to someone else, fulfilling my idea of ‘sharing’ the story.

Another possible caveat, is that someone stumbles upon the used copy (looking for some good deals), and gets intrigued enough to see just who this Mike Burton is. I’ve done this many times at an actual bookstore (selling new books). When I did find some obscure book at the used book store, the idea that I was missing a great author always cropped up in my mind. Not only because I knew their policy on buying used books, but how often they would refuse to buy books from an author that wasn’t as established as others.

After today’s initial shock and internalizing, I’m still left with a strange feeling about selling used books. Do I think the practice should be ended? No… but I do feel as if there could be a few ‘benefits’ to authors when it happened. Say, for example, a 10% author fee was included in the price of the book. If I knew that even a tiny amount of my purchase would be going to the author, I’d not only buy more used books, but also probably be willing to pay more. Then again, I’m not sure how practical it could be.

The last possible benefit of someone purchasing a used book of mine would be a review. As I’ve said many times before, reviews are like gold to authors (not only on Amazon, but any other place you can leave a review). Understanding that the chances are slim for a review from new and digital copies… I’m sure the same return could be said for used books. BUT… it’s still there… the chances that someone could read and take the little bit of time it takes to post a review are still there.

All of which ends up being an overall plus in my book. While I’m still not too happy about the idea of not getting any compensation for one of my books beyond the initial sale… the benefits definitely outweigh any objections I can come up with. What do you think of used book sellers? Do you think authors (and/or publishers) should see any compensation from those sales? Do you think something like a ‘promise’ to review a used book would be a good thing to start getting people to do? How do you see the future of publishing (especially when we’re also saying that you CAN’T do this with digital versions of ebooks) tackling ‘used’ sales? Let me know in the comments.