Book-buying strategy

[DadDude]

Somebody asked me privately: "I just want to tell u that u have very nice collection of books.But wud like to know from where have u purchased this.I mean u purchased altogether or slowly slowly u gathered all books.Even i want to purchase so pls guide me from where have u purchased ? is it from library or second hand books .Pls let me know coz i cannot efford to buy all books together if they r costly."

First--we do use our local libraries, and most sane people who read as much as we do simply make very frequent trips to the library.  Since we can afford it, though, I prefer to own a lot of books.  The great advantage of using the library (either because of not wanting to spend that money, or not having the money) is the great variety, and the child's becoming familiar with the library...

Anyway, all that said, here are some notes on my book-buying strategy.

I did not buy them all at once, of course.  I've made a trip to the bookstore (or order online) at least once a month for the last three years, though.  Usually more than once a month, actually.  I frequently plunk down between $50 and $100--or more--per visit.  To save money, I have used Amazon and the local Half Price Books (used and overstock books) more lately.  But I have become a Barnes & Nobel member and the member price ends up being only a little more than Amazon.

The advantages of a big (not small) new (not used or overstock) book store (not Amazon) are that you get to see and completely preview a very good selection of books before you buy them.  The ones that tend to sell well, often do so for a good reason.  It's just more efficient, at least if you don't already have a big book collection.

The big advantage of used and overstock bookstores is, of course, price.  You can get the best prices (usually better than online, IMO) from these places.  The disadvantage is that the book selection can frequently be idiosyncratic.  But it's really not that bad.  If there's a problem along those lines, it is that, if you go into a used book store looking for a particular volume, you won't find it, unless you're lucky enough to live near a really HUGE used book store.  That's the best of all possible worlds...

The great advantage of Amazon is that it has everything.  If it's in print, and often if it's not, you can buy it at Amazon.  (I don't mention other online bookstores because I don't use 'em...)  The prices are also very cheap, especially if you go with the super saver shipping.  Just remember that it's generally $4 extra per book from any Amazon affiliate.  Also, it's of course really simple & saves gas money.  :-)

It would be a big mistake to buy all the books you plan to buy over the next year in one giant shopping trip.  You get an idea of what your child likes, then you buy more of that.  You also might realize that you want a book on a certain subject, or more of a certain author.  Buying smaller numbers of books more frequently gives you the freedom to tailor your reading that way.

The big thing I didn't realize when I started buying children's books was just what the variety of books are out there.  I strongly recommend sampling different types of books.  Not just picture storybooks and fairy tale collections, but sticker books, concept books, math storybooks (did you know they existed?), Berenstain Bears, the first of the "big" series (some, we've never tried), the many cheap "leveled readers" that teach science and history, the REAL children's classics (most aren't accessible to a child until age 2 or 3 at earliest) as opposed to the prize-winning ones which are frequently duds, the endless written-for-libraries-and-schools nonfiction books (sometimes they're good!), "first encyclopedias" of this and that, other thick encyclopedia-type introductory books, the Oxford Picture Dictionary (a longtime favorite with my boy...regular reading for well over a year, and there are still many pages we haven't seen yet)...it goes on and on.  There is not just one type of book.

Hope this helps.

[MFuego]

What's your opinion about joining a book club? I am thinking about joining the children's book of the month club. They currently have a promotion where you can get 6 books for $2.  The only catch  is that you have to purchase at least 4 books over the next year at regular Club prices. Including to their current promotion is that you can purchase 2 additional books for only $4.95 each and reduce your commitment to only 2 books over the next year. In addition to this, CBOMC is also participant of Upromise, so you can help your child save for college at the same time!

Your can check out their website at:
                           www.cbomc.com

MFuego

[DadDude]

I don't know, I've never joined a book club.  I'd make sure they have a lot of stuff in their catalog I might want to get, and then I'd get out my calculator and see if I'd actually be saving any money.

[wenjonggal]

Like DadDude we use the library a lot. I take out a lot of books, and usually find there are 3-4 we really like enough to read more than once, and every several trips we find a book we love so much we keep renewing it. Then I buy a copy for our home.

I find a lot of books we love are out of print, so we buy a lot on abebooks.com We have favorite sellers like betterworldbooks I think it is, who give a deal on shipping more than 1 book at a time, and who give some of the $ for literacy. I also like them as they have a lot of children's chinese/english books. Many books we get from abebooks are used library copies, so the binding is really strong and they are hardcover. Very nice if you don't mind the library labelling on them.

I use Amazon a lot, but mostly as research... I read the reviews, take advantage of the "look inside this book" feature and can see what different editions of the same title are available. I also keep a "wishlist" at Amazon, which is a good way of bookmarking books you would like to collect in the future. Since I am in the publishing industry I do know that creators get less of a cut from Amazon because of their low low prices, so I try to buy elsewhere. But they do have low prices, free shipping and fast delivery.

We also belong to http://bookmooch.com and get a lot of children's books from there. People list books they want to give away (often as their kids have outgrown them). When you give away books to others, you get points, which then can be "spent" on books you want to "mooch" from others. You can put up a wishlist there too and they will email you if a copy becomes available.

I also buy too many books (for our limited bookshelf space and budget) in shops, and esp chinese books online at http://childbook.com and several ebay stores that offer chinese kids' books. I try to find out as much as possible, using google search, before buying a book online, looking for reviews, inside page views, pricing, shipment options etc.

Add in garage sales and friends... and you will have a great collection in no time!

[wenjonggal]

ps, we belonged to a book of the month club for those Dr. Seuss Beginner Books in the 70's when I was a kid... We got all the classic Dr. Seuss, PD Eastman, Berensten Bears etc when they first came out. I still remember to this day the excitement of a new book coming in the mail and opening the box (we mostly had library books as a kid)... so I can attest to how wonderful a book club is for kids... but DadDude is very right: check their inventory, check the financial obligation etc and see if it is the right club for you.

My son gets the same excitement from books arriving in the mail through my online book shopping, without me being obliged to order them all to someone else's schedule, pricing or choices. But he just totally LOVES when a new book arrives... mail addressed to him.

But if you stick with the library... my son also thinks library books (which are kept up on a shelf separate from the rest so they don't get lost or broken) are the bees knees... and they are free and almost infinite in variety.

[nhockaday]

What's your opinion about joining a book club? I am thinking about joining the children's book of the month club. They currently have a promotion where you can get 6 books for $2.  The only catch  is that you have to purchase at least 4 books over the next year at regular Club prices. Including to their current promotion is that you can purchase 2 additional books for only $4.95 each and reduce your commitment to only 2 books over the next year. In addition to this, CBOMC is also participant of Upromise, so you can help your child save for college at the same time!

Your can check out their website at:
                           www.cbomc.com

MFuego

Join the club, keep your commitment, and then cancel your membership. You're getting a good deal at first, but then you will be paying way more than you need to for the books and shipping. You will be paying almost full price when you can find the same books on Amazon for much, much less, normally with free shipping. There are a few children's book clubs out there with good deals to start. You can join them all, buy your required books, and then quit and find them cheaper elsewhere.

[MFuego]

As far as I know there is no charge for being a member. But thanks for the tip nhockaday! That's probably what Im going to do. I am so gullible, I easily fall for those promotions  I love the idea of borrowing from the library, but maybe for some books that I really want to keep, I would probably go with the Amazon,com idea.

[carpe vestri vita]

As far as I know there is no charge for being a member.

 I'm not familiar with this particular company, so I can't say anything about them, but how book clubs (as well as CD, DVD, etc. clubs) keep you buying is they send you an unassuming letter telling you about this great new book and written in tiny print somewhere it tells you they'll be sending it to you unless you say otherwise. Suddenly the book shows up, and a couple weeks later the bill. There's also some clubs that have automatic shipments before they even tell you about the books, expecting that once the books are in the house the kids will want them. They do make it very easy to send them back (free shipping label, resealable box etc), but your kids will make it very hard for you to do.

It's much less hassle in the long run just to cancel the membership.

[MFuego]

Check out their website: www.cbomc.com. They say they no longer have the automatic shipment. I am assuming they used to do that and got a lot of complaints, so they stopped doing it.

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