impulsereader (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
impulsereader) wrote2012-07-25 11:01 am
impulsereader) wrote2012-07-25 11:01 am
Entry tags:
Books! Stories! Yea!
Amazon is finally offering the beginnings of a glimmer of an affordable way to buy used books en masse. Halleluiah! So far I’ve mainly used alibris.com to buy used books because they offer a slight discount on combined shipping if you order from the same seller, and there is always a coupon code available for at least a dollar off your order – a little silly, I know, but even a dollar saved makes me feel better.
The problem is that they can price each book at $.99 or even $.01 – fantastic – but they’re still charging me $4.00 to ship – EACH ONE! So much for pretending the books are cheap. In order to get actual free shipping I have to order $50.00 at a time ($55-ish as I can generally get a coupon code for $5 off an order of $50 or more) and I can only order from a specific selection of books. I’ve done that once, and I will say that it’s pretty cool to receive in the mail a gigantic box of books. :-)!!! But it took a LOT of time and effort to put that order together, and even still, not every book in that box was one I desperately wanted, or have even read yet –a year or two later.
But last night I went online in search of something specific (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pargoletta, it’s cheaper on Amazon.uk despite the shipping, which makes sense as they’d have more copies over there. I can get it for under $20.) and ended up doing a sweep for the most recent round of ‘books I really want to order’. I’d tried to order C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces a month or so ago, but for whatever reason the copy wasn’t available anymore and that portion of my order was cancelled :-(. Well, as you may have gathered from the above blather, orders which involve used books are carefully thought out so I didn’t just shoot off another for just one book to remedy this. But now I’m reading an absolutely fabulous Sherlock fic, Till We Have Cases. I think you see the connection. ETA - currently a WIP, but go read it anyway.
So on Amazon all the stars are beginning to align. They offer free shipping for orders ‘fulfilled by amazon’ which total $25 or more – AND – a growing number of used book sellers are now apparently adjuncts of Amazon – their books qualify for this promotion! This means that I don’t have to limit myself to the offerings of a single independent seller. As long as I order books which are part of this ‘fulfilled by amazon’ promotion I’m golden. The odd thing here is that sometimes it ends up being advantageous to simply order the new copy of whatever book you want because the Amazon price is cheaper or relatively equal to the used copy. But, anyway, last night I was able to order a (new) copy of Till We Have Faces as well as used copies of 3 of Mark Gatiss’s books and (also new) My Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. I spent $26 and change for 5 books. Now, granted, that parses to $5-ish per book which is equal to or worse than the initial scenario I presented with the ridiculous $4 shipping per book – but the key is that two of those books are brand new – and my selection wasn’t (or, rather, didn’t’ feel) limited. I didn’t have to order anything that wasn’t on my immediate ‘desperately want’ list, nor did I have to troll multiple store fronts for two hours trying to find something else to tack on to get to the minimum order amount. Also, granted, part of that was luck. I could easily have come up pennies short rather than a dollar to the good.
Still, despite all my qualifications, I feel good and hopeful about this. I have long been grumbling about the lack of affordable online options for used books, and I feel Amazon is at least working in the right direction. I do hope that the used book sellers who are part of this are benefiting as well.
State of the fic – up to 28k words in this first section. Have thrashed out an acceptable draft of ‘the scene which would not be written’ and have decided to leave it for a little while as that whole ‘not hiding from this scene’ thing may have gone a bit bananas now. I’ve been living within it for longer than a week. I need to poke my head out and survey the rest of what needs to be done to finish this up.
To celebrate – a snippet! In fact, it’s a ‘can you guess what’s really going on here?’ snippet.
----------
Before the first course was served, the gentleman seated at the head of the table rose to offer a toast. He was an elderly man with hair and beard gone completely white, and he gave off a distinct air of amiable joviality. “Welcome everyone! I’ll keep it short and just remind you all to have fun and rock on while you’re visiting!”
There was a rather rousing response of, “Rock on,” from perhaps three quarters of the diners as everyone lifted a glass. John blinked and turned an inquiring gaze upon Sherlock, who looked genuinely amused for the first time since Grandmere’s dressing down.
“That is my Uncle Rocky, our host. He is Father’s elder brother and he is dotty as a loon, as you can easily infer from the fact that he allows Grandmother to inflict this yearly gathering upon his household.”
John was prevented from asking any follow-up questions because the dining partner to his other side reached over and touched her hand to his arm. Politely, John turned to her. Sherlock had introduced her as a distant cousin by the name of Claire when they had seated themselves.
“I read the news today.”
A little uncertainly, John responded, “Did you?”
She nodded. “Oh boy.”
“Erm, right.” He considered this sentiment for a second then admitted, “Yes, actually, I suppose that’s generally my reaction to the news these days. The government are certainly mucking it up, aren’t they?”
“We can work it out.”
“Yes, I suppose it will work itself out in the end; or, at least, Mycroft will do.”
“Will it bring you down?”
John considered this. “Well, he can be an annoying git, but I suppose someone has to be in charge of things.”
She nodded sagely. “Sail the ship.”
“Yeah, though I do wish he’d stop sending cars.” He frowned and decided to change the subject. “Have you come far, Claire, or do you live nearby?”
“Flew in from Miami Beach.”
“Oh, quite far then. Mrs Hudson, our landlady, lived in Miami years ago.”
“Caught the early plane back to London.”
He winced in sympathy. “Those morning flights can be murder.”
“Didn’t get to bed last night,” she agreed with a sigh.
John was starting to get an odd sort of feeling about this conversation, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.
The problem is that they can price each book at $.99 or even $.01 – fantastic – but they’re still charging me $4.00 to ship – EACH ONE! So much for pretending the books are cheap. In order to get actual free shipping I have to order $50.00 at a time ($55-ish as I can generally get a coupon code for $5 off an order of $50 or more) and I can only order from a specific selection of books. I’ve done that once, and I will say that it’s pretty cool to receive in the mail a gigantic box of books. :-)!!! But it took a LOT of time and effort to put that order together, and even still, not every book in that box was one I desperately wanted, or have even read yet –a year or two later.
But last night I went online in search of something specific (
pargoletta, it’s cheaper on Amazon.uk despite the shipping, which makes sense as they’d have more copies over there. I can get it for under $20.) and ended up doing a sweep for the most recent round of ‘books I really want to order’. I’d tried to order C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces a month or so ago, but for whatever reason the copy wasn’t available anymore and that portion of my order was cancelled :-(. Well, as you may have gathered from the above blather, orders which involve used books are carefully thought out so I didn’t just shoot off another for just one book to remedy this. But now I’m reading an absolutely fabulous Sherlock fic, Till We Have Cases. I think you see the connection. ETA - currently a WIP, but go read it anyway.So on Amazon all the stars are beginning to align. They offer free shipping for orders ‘fulfilled by amazon’ which total $25 or more – AND – a growing number of used book sellers are now apparently adjuncts of Amazon – their books qualify for this promotion! This means that I don’t have to limit myself to the offerings of a single independent seller. As long as I order books which are part of this ‘fulfilled by amazon’ promotion I’m golden. The odd thing here is that sometimes it ends up being advantageous to simply order the new copy of whatever book you want because the Amazon price is cheaper or relatively equal to the used copy. But, anyway, last night I was able to order a (new) copy of Till We Have Faces as well as used copies of 3 of Mark Gatiss’s books and (also new) My Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. I spent $26 and change for 5 books. Now, granted, that parses to $5-ish per book which is equal to or worse than the initial scenario I presented with the ridiculous $4 shipping per book – but the key is that two of those books are brand new – and my selection wasn’t (or, rather, didn’t’ feel) limited. I didn’t have to order anything that wasn’t on my immediate ‘desperately want’ list, nor did I have to troll multiple store fronts for two hours trying to find something else to tack on to get to the minimum order amount. Also, granted, part of that was luck. I could easily have come up pennies short rather than a dollar to the good.
Still, despite all my qualifications, I feel good and hopeful about this. I have long been grumbling about the lack of affordable online options for used books, and I feel Amazon is at least working in the right direction. I do hope that the used book sellers who are part of this are benefiting as well.
State of the fic – up to 28k words in this first section. Have thrashed out an acceptable draft of ‘the scene which would not be written’ and have decided to leave it for a little while as that whole ‘not hiding from this scene’ thing may have gone a bit bananas now. I’ve been living within it for longer than a week. I need to poke my head out and survey the rest of what needs to be done to finish this up.
To celebrate – a snippet! In fact, it’s a ‘can you guess what’s really going on here?’ snippet.
----------
Before the first course was served, the gentleman seated at the head of the table rose to offer a toast. He was an elderly man with hair and beard gone completely white, and he gave off a distinct air of amiable joviality. “Welcome everyone! I’ll keep it short and just remind you all to have fun and rock on while you’re visiting!”
There was a rather rousing response of, “Rock on,” from perhaps three quarters of the diners as everyone lifted a glass. John blinked and turned an inquiring gaze upon Sherlock, who looked genuinely amused for the first time since Grandmere’s dressing down.
“That is my Uncle Rocky, our host. He is Father’s elder brother and he is dotty as a loon, as you can easily infer from the fact that he allows Grandmother to inflict this yearly gathering upon his household.”
John was prevented from asking any follow-up questions because the dining partner to his other side reached over and touched her hand to his arm. Politely, John turned to her. Sherlock had introduced her as a distant cousin by the name of Claire when they had seated themselves.
“I read the news today.”
A little uncertainly, John responded, “Did you?”
She nodded. “Oh boy.”
“Erm, right.” He considered this sentiment for a second then admitted, “Yes, actually, I suppose that’s generally my reaction to the news these days. The government are certainly mucking it up, aren’t they?”
“We can work it out.”
“Yes, I suppose it will work itself out in the end; or, at least, Mycroft will do.”
“Will it bring you down?”
John considered this. “Well, he can be an annoying git, but I suppose someone has to be in charge of things.”
She nodded sagely. “Sail the ship.”
“Yeah, though I do wish he’d stop sending cars.” He frowned and decided to change the subject. “Have you come far, Claire, or do you live nearby?”
“Flew in from Miami Beach.”
“Oh, quite far then. Mrs Hudson, our landlady, lived in Miami years ago.”
“Caught the early plane back to London.”
He winced in sympathy. “Those morning flights can be murder.”
“Didn’t get to bed last night,” she agreed with a sigh.
John was starting to get an odd sort of feeling about this conversation, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why.