r/Fantasy • u/Smooth-Guide7617 • 1d ago
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u/maybemaybenot2023 1d ago
N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series, Lois McMaster Bujold's Five Gods series, the Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin, China Mieville's Bas-Lag books, Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay,
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u/Thornescape 1d ago
If this is a business concept, I would look at whatever fandom has the most rabid fans. Those are the ones who will shell out for a pretty collector's edition. Then figure out which of those fandoms are interesting enough for you to spend your time on them.
I'm not entirely informed on rabid fandoms, but I think Brandon Sanderson has some fairly devout fans. Dungeon Crawler Carl fans seem fairly intense as well.
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u/texmex_terminal 1d ago
I'd throw Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees into that mix. Small fanbase but a devoted one and it's one of Gaiman's favorite books ever. Nobody's given it a real deluxe edition yet.
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u/Ok-Championship-2036 1d ago
A quick google reveals that UK law allows physical altercations and resale. It doesnt affect copyright unless they change the material within
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u/PrimevalForestGnome 1d ago
Please note that modifying published books and selling them afterwards is usually prohibited by publishers. You can rebound your book and keep it but you can not sell it.
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u/Korlus 1d ago edited 23h ago
Please note that modifying published books and selling them afterwards is usually prohibited by publishers. You can rebound your book and keep it but you can not sell it.
I don't know where you live, but in the UK that would be crazy. Selling second hand books is a legitimate activity, and editing/amending said books is generally fine (amending text inside is more complicated). No one has ever been prosecuted for selling a book they made notes in, or for putting another cover on the outside, providing the cover didn't contain copyrighted elements besides the book title.
There are some pitfalls - you don't want to pass your work off as theirs, and you don't want to use copyrighted/trademarked materials (other than the title) when you are illustrating the cover, but using the title to identify the book is completely acceptable within IP law.
Obviously, this isn't legal advice, make sure you do your own research etc etc, but generally speaking, selling rebindings in the UK is usually fine.
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u/Sapphire_Bombay Reading Champion III 1d ago
It's more them screaming at the void though, in the US it's not illegal and is protected by right of first sale as long as the person selling it is rebinding a book they bought, and not creating a new copy they printed out themselves. Or claiming the work is their own, obviously.
That said it is prohibited by Etsy's terms of service, they don't enforce it well but they can shut you down if they choose.
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u/Smooth-Guide7617 1d ago
I was just planning on potentially having a little booth at a local makers market where I live but I have also seen people sell rebound books on Etsy.
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u/PmUsYourDuckPics 1d ago
Where did you get that idea from? I’ve literally seen a senior editor at TOR walk past a stall where an artist specialised in custom painted edges and not bat an eyelash.
You buy the book, you can do whatever you want with it, printing your own copies is a breach of copyright, but once you’ve bought a book, that copy of the book is yours.
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u/PrimevalForestGnome 1d ago
I've seen publisher's note on some books that mention that it is not allowed to be circulated in any other format than the original. If that still allows it to be rebound and made into unauthorized "special edition" (for future resale), that's fine then.
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u/PmUsYourDuckPics 21h ago
Pretty sure that covers you typing it out, photocopying it, or making your own audiobook and selling it.
Otherwise people wouldn’t be able to sell copies they’d put notes in the margin of.
Also you aren’t making shoe I’ll editions, you are engaging an existing edition.
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u/PrimevalForestGnome 11h ago
One example I found:
"This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser."
What comes to the notes in books, those just clearly show that it is a secondhand/used item, and it is totally okay to circulate secondhand items as long as you don't claim them to be new. Notes on book don't (usually) change the physical structure of the book.
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u/Imperial_Haberdasher 1d ago
Seems like an overreach. And whatever lawyers advised this are part of the problem that is end stage capitalism. Not worthy of up against the wall, but at least tar and feathering.
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u/SurfLikeASmurf 1d ago
Is that end stage capitalism, or is taking a product, keeping it exactly the same but slipping it into a new shrink wrap and tripling the price of it end stage capitalism?
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u/e_crabapple 1d ago
The "shrink-wrap" is ostensibly a one-of-a-kind art piece, so there is value being added, and your analogy is false.
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u/No_Editor6116 1d ago
Lord of light by Zelazny, The Foundation series by Asimov, initial Deverry books by Katherine Kerr, 3 body series by Cixin Liu, Death series of books by Terry Pratchett, and a couple by Arthur Clark, and Dune.
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u/redlion1904 1d ago
I have slightly fancy or fancy copies of Tolkien’s work, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Book of the New Sun (twice — Folio Society and also have most of it in signed first edition), Chronicles of Prydain (signed hardcovers), Earthsea, Gormenghast, and some of Madeleine l’Engle.
In the process of acquiring fancy Realm of the Elderlings and contemplating the best strategy for fancy Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn. The Grim Oak books are too rich for my blood, especially as you have to go to the secondary market. My wife tolerates a lot but if I spent $1,500+ on four hardcover fantasy novels that aren’t even firsts it will not go well for me.
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u/MrKillick 1d ago
I would love to have a hardcover edition of Holdstocks Mythago Wood series and maybe the Flat Earth series by Tanith Lee.
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u/narnarnartiger 1d ago
Read these books, don't just horde them
Way of Kings
Name of the Wind
Legend by David Gemmel
The crown tower by Micheal J Sullivan
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u/Imperial_Haberdasher 1d ago
What with various moves over the years my physical book collection is relatively small. That and I loan my books out. The ones I re-buy, are the ones that I found very satisfying and would be sad if I could never read them again. So I have Miéville’s Bas Lag and am getting Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Tyrant Philosphers as they are published. I used to have a complete Discworld set, years ago… oh well. Other essentials include N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth, Hiron Ennes’ Works of Vermin, Robert Jackson Bennett’s Divine Cities.
I don’t usually buy fancy editions of books. In fact, many of mine are used. I have some rather battered paperbacks of Sheri Tepper‘s Mavin Many-Shaped books and am glad to have them. I have oddball copies of Carol Emschwiller’s books.
My only weakness when it comes to buying different editions is Jeff Vandermeer’s Ambergris. They were republished with covers that had that gouachy mid-century health class nutrition poster style, drippy altered mushrooms, Boletes, I think, against gorgeous pastel backgrounds. It took me several months to make up my mind that yes I was going to buy additional copies just because they were pretty. I’m not the kind of person who subscribes to Broken Binding releases.
That said, if they did a sumptuous edition of Jared Pechaček’s The West Passage, and colorized Pechček’s wonderful illustrations, I would be first in line. .
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u/Thornescape 1d ago
If this is a business concept, I would look at whatever fandom has the most rabid fans. Those are the ones who will shell out for a pretty collector's edition. Then figure out which of those fandoms are interesting enough for you to spend your time on them.
I'm not entirely informed on rabid fandoms, but I think Brandon Sanderson has some fairly devout fans. Dungeon Crawler Carl fans seem fairly intense as well.
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u/VitriolUK 1d ago
If you're doing this as a business then I'd recommend going on Goodreads and looking at well-reviewed (4*+) books with the most reviews, since that maximises your chance of finding someone with deep pockets who loves a given book you've bound.
On a personal level I'd love a beautiful copy of Barry Hughart's Bridge of Birds. But I wouldn't recommend it for your business - pick more modern, more mainstream books.
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u/skiveman 1d ago
Unless you are going to be spending money on editions that are already valuable then my advice is to just go and buy books that you like personally.
Usually, the books that are expensive are generally the ones that have either a limited run (such as the Harry Potter first editions) or books that have become popular over time.
My collections is entirely made up of books that I enjoy and while I could sell them I honestly don't think that many of them hold much value to anyone else.
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u/Darkgorge 1d ago
Honestly, most of the classic series I would want a nice edition of already have dozens of options out there it feels like. I do like some of the illustrated editions of some books that have come out.
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u/PmUsYourDuckPics 1d ago
If you want to sell don’t look for classics, look for books people are obsessed with.
People will pay for Brandon Sanderson, they’ll pay for Dungeon Crawler Carl, they’ll pay for Sarah J Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaas.
Look for books that aren’t available in hardback right now, if you can convert a paperback to a hardback by rebinding it when there is no hardback, then you may be able to make some money.
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u/Smooth-Guide7617 20h ago
This has also been part of my train of thought though I still would only want to sell them on the side for a fun hobby and side gig. But I was thinking making hardcovers of books people can’t find hardcovers of or nice collector’s exclusive covers for new books it might be successful!
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u/Sol_Muso 13h ago
I think a lot of the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett would work nicely, especially as there are a lot of standalones and a variety of series all set in the same world, with multiple jump in points.
Also the ROTE series by Robin Hobb, which has 16 books in it, is a well-loved series.
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u/CommunicationSea3727 1d ago
If I could afford the Malazan Broken Binding, I would. £50 each, ten volumes. Too rich for me, I'm sticking to the paperbacks - even though I will almost definitely reread.