Hello, and welcome back! Fall is definitely here in the northeast, and it's officially soup season. I think this weekend, I'm going to fire up the bread machine, and we'll have fresh bread to go with the soup. Yum. Gotta love a season that let's you curl up on the couch with a good book and cup of tea and no one can argue that either are necessary.

As promised some time ago, the survey I opened over in the forum on used book-buying has closed, and though we didn't end up with too many additional comments, we had a fair number participate in the poll itself. The consensus seems to be that most of us do not buy used books, or don't buy many.

What percentage of your book-buying do used books make up?

0 - 10 % - 47%

11 - 20 % - 24%

21 - 30% - 0%

31 - 40% - 6%

41 - 50% - 6%

51 - 60% - 12%

61 - 70% - 6%

71 - 80% - 0%

81 - 90% - 0%

91 - 100% - 0%

Frankly, I was kind of surprised by this. I hear all the time how the rising cost of books is cutting into people's book-buying budgets, so it seemed reasonable to assume that instead of spending the money on new books, people would instead buy them used. Apparently not. Instead, this suggests that people are simply buying less books, or trading with other readers perhaps, like Angela who says her mother-in-law passes on books she's finished.

Michelle says, "The only time I'll buy a book used is when it is out of print and I just have to read it. Otherwise, it's new all the way for me. I don't buy as many books as I used to though. Months can go by before I'll see something I have to read...not like days of old where I was buying up to ten to fifteen books a month."

And Maggie adds, "Most of the time, though there are occasional exceptions, the only shopping for used books that I do are for OOP books and earlier works of an author just discovered. A lot of people know I'm an avid reader (1 or sometimes 2 books a day) and save their books for me. That doesn't qualify as book-buying but contributes to the number of used books I read."

Jenn sums it up this way, "I usually make myself wait until I can afford to buy a new book. Royalties, ya know."

I'm sure authors everywhere thank her for that, since they make nothing at all on used book sales, and, quite frankly, unless you're a superstar, new book advances aren't all that great, so every penny of royalties helps romance authors to make a living.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey. If you didn't get a chance to do so, feel free to email me. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

As a final note, don't forget to pop into the forum. We've done two book giveaways already this month and I have more, plus a bigger goody giveaway in the works for November!

Until next time, happy reading!