People ask from time to time on the board about where they can get Pratchett books online. Amazon is generaly the place they're recommended. But what about other books from other authors? Amazon do have a big range, though their shipping costs can be bad. But do people know any other good websites? In relation to this, I'm currently looking at getting a complete works of Sherlock Holmes book & will probably get it on Amazon unless I hear of something better.
My recommendation for Holmes is either a chronologically ordered set or a twin set of the short stories and then the novels. I have the latter and quite like it. I could also name a few websites for US people, but have not a clue about you guys across the pond.
[quote:a5d633e4c0="TheJackal"]People ask from time to time on the board about where they can get Pratchett books online. Amazon is generaly the place they're recommended. But what about other books from other authors? Amazon do have a big range, though their shipping costs can be bad. But do people know any other good websites? In relation to this, I'm currently looking at getting a complete works of Sherlock Holmes book & will probably get it on Amazon unless I hear of something better.[/quote:a5d633e4c0] I have found http://www.alibris.com/ useful - they deal in used books and yes, if you buy one book at a time the shipping is rather high (like 3 times the cost of the book - but in this case I was willing to pay it) - but in the one case where I have used them, I was able to get an out-of-print book that I had been looking for for about ten years - even my friend at Waterstones couldn't get me a copy - this may not be so significant (though still possible) for the Marthter's books since they are unlikely to be out of print, but for others it is a possible source.
I've bought a few old books at eBay recently, bloody bargain some of them. I bought a book that's nearly 100 years old (in great condition) for less than 5 quid including delivery.
Just echoing Mal really, Ebay can be really quite handy for relatively unheard of books. The big names like Terry get lots of bids I'd imagine but I picked a bunch of out of print stuff on there that I'd looked everywhere else for, for pennies simply because so few people think to search there. Amazons actually one of the most expensive online shops I've used, for books, DVDs or CDs once you've factored in postage too, it's just quite convenient due to it's extensive ranges. But yeah, I avoid where possible.
For regular mainstream popular books, I always use Amazon, they are the most reliable so far, and I don't find them all that expensive compared to shop prices and they have regular postage-free offers, you can pre-order books, which is quite neat sometimes... But I can't say I have tried all that many online book shops so I can't compare...
I would imagine that E-bay's Half.com has an English or European version to it as well. It is not a bidding thing, but has some good deals nonetheless. It's more like a HUGE classifieds section for a paper or magazine. I've gotten some pretty nice deals on there as well.
For current releases, Barnes and Noble and Amazon. For used books, eBay or some of the rare book sites.
Funnily enough I just did some analysis for my PhD of prices for Discworld books on ebay, the variables I used were signed, claim of rarity by seller, Edition (1st or not), and hard v soft cover. I found that price is determined by whether pTerry had signed it and whether the seller had claimed it was rare. So now you know what to expect from ebay. Descriptive Statistics (Total Price (AUD)) N 173 Minimum $4.27 Maximum $892.42 Mean $55.6799 Std. Deviation $107.81178 Yes I am a total geek what can I say. Only I would claim that doing a multiple and logistic regression on ebay prices of Discworld books is how I spend my days... Edit: to make the numbers make more sense. Oh and N is the sample size.
[quote:839b9382ab="Angua_rox"]Wow spiky. I am dumbfounded. Cool. What was this PhD in?[/quote:839b9382ab] My PhD is on the relationship between Discworld fans and Terry Pratchett. The reason I looked at the books because I was looking at how much Terry Pratchett's signature affected the value of the book and its amazing what a little piece of ink, signed by the right person is worth... Theres a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in and theres a few threads here you can look at (if your that interested to search for them) with some other stuff.
[quote:fab88b7924="Ba"]No, that's what Spiky's Thesis is on. Her doctorate should be in something a bit broader.[/quote:fab88b7924] Nah, spiky attends Terry Pratchett University
[quote:5972e2598c="spiky"] My PhD is on the relationship between Discworld fans and Terry Pratchett. The reason I looked at the books because I was looking at how much Terry Pratchett's signature affected the value of the book and its amazing what a little piece of ink, signed by the right person is worth... Theres a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in and theres a few threads here you can look at (if your that interested to search for them) with some other stuff.[/quote:5972e2598c] That. Is. So. Cool. I finally have something I WANT to study! Wow.
[quote:15ea8d35e8="Angua_rox"][quote:15ea8d35e8="spiky"] My PhD is on the relationship between Discworld fans and Terry Pratchett. The reason I looked at the books because I was looking at how much Terry Pratchett's signature affected the value of the book and its amazing what a little piece of ink, signed by the right person is worth... Theres a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in and theres a few threads here you can look at (if your that interested to search for them) with some other stuff.[/quote:15ea8d35e8] That. Is. So. Cool. I finally have something I WANT to study! Wow. [/quote:15ea8d35e8] Its MY topic bugger off and find your own! But yes in the field of marketing they let you study this stuff... Ah the value of the esoteric thesis
[quote:35f38cb44c="spiky"][quote:35f38cb44c="Angua_rox"][quote:35f38cb44c="spiky"] My PhD is on the relationship between Discworld fans and Terry Pratchett. The reason I looked at the books because I was looking at how much Terry Pratchett's signature affected the value of the book and its amazing what a little piece of ink, signed by the right person is worth... Theres a whole bunch of other stuff thrown in and theres a few threads here you can look at (if your that interested to search for them) with some other stuff.[/quote:35f38cb44c] That. Is. So. Cool. I finally have something I WANT to study! Wow. [/quote:35f38cb44c] Its MY topic bugger off and find your own! But yes in the field of marketing they let you study this stuff... Ah the value of the esoteric thesis [/quote:35f38cb44c] Is green with envy not fair Spikey thats the kinda stuff i want to study not polynomial innequalities and the quadratic formula...........
Polynomials are all well and good but won't keep you warm in bed while reading a Pratchett book. Study what you like, say I.
