The BookFinder.com ReportMarch 2003

• Introduction
• Featured Titles
• Top 10 Lists

Introduction

There are two book trades. One gets all the attention and glory; the other quietly goes about its business uncommented upon. Celebrity authors, TV book clubs, controversial reviews, bestseller lists, indie presses, movie deals -- the new book trade largely defines the role of books in our culture.

The other book trade continues quietly in thousands of used bookstores across the country. Readers are searching for out-of-print books years, sometimes decades, after the desired titles were last mentioned in a print review or featured at an author signing. In this obscurity, almost entirely ignored by the media and absent from the public consciousness, the out-of-print book business has developed, thrived, stratified.

This activity goes on under the radar, out of the spotlight. We're changing that. The BookFinder.com Report is a different kind of bestseller list: it's a measure of the most sought after out-of-print titles in America. We've been online since 1997, enabling individuals, libraries, and book dealers to track down and purchase books, new or used, in- or out-of-print, rare or readily available. Volume 1 of the BookFinder.com Report is based on our analysis of aggregate trends for out-of-print book searches between July and December of 2002.

Featured Titles

Sex by Madonna

As Madonna embarks on a new career writing children's books, she might be heartened to know that her first bestseller remains in demand. Sex still sells--for between $100 and $1000 a copy.

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

In light of the public frenzy about cloning, is it any wonder that Ira Levin's 1976 thriller The Boys From Brazil is so highly sought after? The canonical "they've cloned an army of Hitlers!" novel grows increasingly relevant in the post-Raelian age.

Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

British novelist Lindsey Davis' Silver Pigs introduces us to Marcus Didius Falco, a Roman detective, circa 70 AD. The book is out of print in the US, even though Falco has a dedicated American fan base. Newcomers to the series are making do with used copies and international shipments from Amazon.co.uk.

Top 10 Lists