Everyone wants to live as long as they can, and that’s true of books too. A writer sells a book to a publisher and they print up a bunch of copies. As long as the book keeps selling they keep printing. Most books never sell out their original print run and go out of print. Some books are popular enough that they stay in print – that’s a sign of a great book.
I’m in an online science fiction book club called Classic Science Fiction. We have just voted on the 24 books we want to read in 2011 and I thought it would be interesting to see how many are in print, and whether or not they have an ebook edition available, or even an audio edition. Real classics should be available in all formats.
As a rule, if a book isn’t easily available, it doesn’t get read by many members in the book club. Some members won’t read the book unless they already own it, can find a cheap copy at a local used bookstore or get it from the library. Used bookstores and libraries are very important for keeping a book alive. I’m hoping ebooks will catch on as a new form of literary life extension.
The prices I used below are from Amazon, and I used the cheapest edition in each category. As can quickly be seen, some books are out of print in all formats, not a good sign. The book title is linked to the Internet Science Fiction Database to reveal it’s publication history. Finally, I decided to see if the book is at my public library. It’s wonderful to think that libraries are Heaven for books, where they never die and will be protected and preserved for all time. Sadly, that’s not true. Modern public libraries routinely purge uncirculated titles.
| Title | Ebook | Audio | Library | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midnight at the Well of Souls Jack Chalker |
Yes | |||
| Monument Lloyd Biggle, Jr |
$15.00 | Yes | ||
| Brain Wave Poul Anderson |
$3.99 | |||
| Rite of Passage Alexei Panshin |
$12.74 | $4.79 | Yes | |
| Restoree Anne McCaffrey |
$7.99 | $6.29 | Yes | |
| The Mote in God’s Eye Niven and Pournelle |
$7.99 | $17.24 | Yes | |
| The Cosmic Puppets Philip K. Dick |
$11.07 | |||
| Earthlight Arthur C. Clarke |
Yes | |||
| The Man Who Folded Himself David Gerrold |
$11.86 | |||
| Tau Zero Poul Anderson |
$3.99 | Yes | ||
| Galactic Patrol E.E. Smith |
$14.17 | Yes | ||
| Empire Star Samuel R. Delany |
$10.20 | Yes | ||
| Earth David Brin |
$7.99 | $6.29 | Yes | |
| Flashforward Robert J. Sawyer |
$7.79 | $7.99 | $15.73 | Yes |
| Brasyl Ian McDonald |
$12.46 | $9.99 | ||
| Beggars in Spain Nancy Kress |
$11.16 | $9.99 | $9.44 | Yes |
| Primary Inversion Catherine Asaro |
$13.99 | Free | $14.68 | Yes |
| Risen Empire Scott Westerfield |
$10.17 | |||
| Calculating God Robert J. Sawyer |
$5.98 | $9.99 | $18.71 | Yes |
| The Life of Pi Yann Martel |
$8.30 | $7.78 | $19.40 | Yes |
| The Barsoom Project Niven and Barnes |
$10.87 | $9.99 | Yes | |
| Replay Ken Grimwood |
$10.97 | $18.99 | ||
| Spin Robert Charles Wilson |
$7.99 | $7.99 | $30.95 | |
| On Basilisk Station David Weber |
$7.99 | Free | $18.71 | Yes |
JWH – 11/27/10
Auxiliary Memory 