Thread

Japanese used bookstores see 5x sales surge as books are being bought by the ton

96 points · 130 comments · speckx

tsylba · 1790265354 · focus · HN ↗
Ah yes, the litteral destruction of culture and physical media for a centralised subscription service. I love the liberal world of techno enclosures of our new overlords, viva el free market economy.
1. Analemma_ · 1790265458 · focus · HN ↗
  What do you think happened to all these used books before the AI companies showed up?
  1. alightsoul · 1790266340 · focus · HN ↗
    They sat in boxes
    ghc · 1790266449 · focus · HN ↗
    Not quite:
    > But what happens when sales numbers don't meet projections? The book is discounted. Then, at the publisher's discretion, the bookstore will receive a directive to rip the covers off the books, recycle the remainder of the book to be "pulped" or turned into other forms of paper, such as notebook paper and toilet paper. The bookstore is expected to mail the book covers to the publisher as evidence that the book has been destroyed.
    <a href="https://www.offthebeatenshelf.com/blog/pulp-fiction-is-real" rel="nofollow">https://www.offthebeatenshelf.com/blog/pulp-fiction-is-real
    sebmellen · 1790267006 · focus · HN ↗
    TIL that's where the term "pulp fiction" comes from!
    alightsoul · 1790267777 · focus · HN ↗
    That's an American take. In Latin America they sit in boxes and you can see it, because the pages will have been discolored after so many years of sitting somewhere waiting to be sold. They're only recycled if they're given away at book exchange events and no one wants them.
    ChickeNES · 1790270763 · focus · HN ↗
    Where in Latin America?
    <a href="https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/09/1818064-se-nao-forem-vendidos-ou-doados-livros-podem-virar-papel-higienico.shtml" rel="nofollow">https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/ilustrada/2016/09/1818064-se-n...
    <a href="https://www.jornada.com.mx/2005/05/25/index.php?article=a04n1cul&section=cultura" rel="nofollow">https://www.jornada.com.mx/2005/05/25/index.php?article=a04n...
    <a href="https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/a-donde-van-libros-no-venden-entre-nid2172443/" rel="nofollow">https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/a-donde-van-libros-no-ve...
    <a href="https://revistadossier.udp.cl/dossier/destruir-con-permiso/" rel="nofollow">https://revistadossier.udp.cl/dossier/destruir-con-permiso/
    Looks to me, going by this reporting, that LATAM treats books identically to the US (The first headline, translated, is literally "If not sold or donated, books can become toilet paper")
    alightsoul · 1790272333 · focus · HN ↗
    In central America for example I went to Panama's book fair and you could see old books for sale. There's a lot of fear among booksellers that a book will not sell, because they purely resell them so any losses fall entirely on booksellers. They do not have any partnerships with publishers
    scottyah · 1790272603 · focus · HN ↗
    That only lasts 10-30yrs. They're cheap paper, they were never made to last.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.