I recently combined households, and schlepped several boxes of books to Powell’s to sell, which provided some interesting insights into what’s popular.
Not in demand, according to Powell’s: Lord of the Rings. Twilight. Most lit from the ’30s through the ’00s. Most four year old programming texts (covering iOS, Cocoa, Objective-C, .Net, and JavaScript).
In demand, according to Powell’s: The Silmarillion. Harry Potter. Hemingway. WordPress programming texts (even four year old ones!).
Originally published in less than 320 characters on Twitter:
Recently combined households; schlepped several boxes of books to Powell's to sell. Interesting insights into what's popular.
— Matthew Eppelsheimer (@mattepp) January 22, 2014
Not in demand, according to Powell's: Lord of the Rings. Twilight. Most lit from the '30s through the '00s. Four year old programming texts.
— Matthew Eppelsheimer (@mattepp) January 22, 2014
In demand, according to Powell's: The Silmarillion. Harry Potter. Hemingway. WordPress programming texts (even four year old ones!).
— Matthew Eppelsheimer (@mattepp) January 22, 2014
Do yourself a favor and read the Silmarillion! I has the most beautiful creation story in the beginning of the book!
I can vouch for most of those decisions. Nobody buys computer books that are that old. We didn’t even look them up when I worked there. Tolkien they probably over stocked on when the inevitable wave from The Hobbit movie hit. The Silmarillion is likely popular right now because people are seeing parts of it in the Hobbit and wanting to get the source material so it likely sells shortly after they get a copy in. WordPress just rocks. I am very confused by Harry Potter.
Haha! ;)