Remainder Rack Chronicles

This is something I have been meaning to add to this blog from the start, and I am now finally getting around to it… Books found on the remainder rack, or bargain bin, (or whatever your preferred term is for those mostly hardcover books you see for cheap at most large bookstores) are awfully fun - they are cheap, they are books, and they sometimes require some digging to find the gems! Seriously, that is, in my mind, pretty damn fun.

For readers, remainders are often great buys - getting a hardcover for cheaper than a paperback… nothing wrong with that! Did you somehow miss buying the latest James Patterson or Stephen King novel when it was being offered at the bestseller 40% off discount? Not to worry, wait a couple more months, and once the paperback has been released, chances are you can find a copy for 5 or 6 bucks on the remainder rack. Many times bestselling authors are either over printed or go into multiple printings, leaving copies unsold when the time comes to switch over to focusing on paperback sales - the publisher’s loss is your gain.

For collectors, the prospects of purchasing remainders is bit more complicated - remainder books are often marked in some fashion (usually a pen slashed mark to the bottom or top edge on the pages) so as not to allow bookstores to return them as new unsold merchandise - thus decreasing their value considerably. Additionally, many books that are remaindered are either best sellers where the publisher printed 20 or 30 thousand copies more than were purchased (not falling into the rare category there) or are by lesser selling writers whose book just didn’t sell - and these books have an uphill battle to climb from remainder rack to being considered collectible. Also, make sure to check the book to see if it is a first edition, when books go into multiple printings they tend to be the ones getting remaindered. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, so I am sure most collectors search the remainder racks from time to time - I know I do.

So, to start off this hopefully semi-regular segment here at Madness Abides, and to tie it into my Project Reread, I figured I would share one of my success stories of shopping off of the remainder rack… a first edition of A Game of Thrones for $5.98! Shortly after A Game of Thrones was released in paperback - it was maybe three months after I purchased the paperback, which I had not even read yet - I came across the hardback for sale on a remainder table in a B&N. Now, since I had not yet read the book, it was something of a gamble, but since the book looked promising (it did have that Robert Jordan blurb, after all) I bought the hardcover in hopes that it would become a shelf worthy addition to my library - and, of course, it ultimately did. Luckily, the copy I purchased was completely unmarked. Now if I would have had a chance to read the book before seeing the stack of maybe ten copies at the store, I may well have purchased a few more copies - although, I am still happy I have this one… it saved me between $75 and $100 (the current going rate), which I would gladly spend to have a copy.

Years later I attended a George R. R. Martin book signing (at the National Book Festival just before A Feast for Crows was released)… getting this prized possession signed by one of my favorite authors (increasing the value by a couple of bucks - though that is of less importance to me, I think it is just very nice to own, with a decent story).
Now this may be a pretty atypical example of buying a bargain book, but there are plenty of good deals and reads to found on the remainder rack, and that keeps me looking for books there. Check back for more remainder rack thoughts and acquisitions sometime in the future.