On Buying Books
I'm presuming that anyone who takes the time to visit this site is a reader, and most readers own books. Many of us also take advantages of libraries; a small number of us (you know who you are) are collectors. Collectors definitely own books. I'd like to take a moment to get you to think about what readers mean to writers (our man Silverberg for example).
Writers sell their works to publishers, who print them in the hopes that somebody will buy them. The writer usually gets an advance, which is almost always deducted from the book's hoped-for earnings, and once the advance is paid off, the writer receives a portion of the proceeds from the further sales of the book (the royalties). Once a book is sold to a consumer, it passes out of the system, and if that consumer then passes it on to someone else, or even sells it, the author gets nothing. Note that: books sold second-hand produce no royalties for the writer and no income for the publisher, only a small amount for the seller.
I know that new books, especially hardcover editions, are expensive, but the only way we can really support the authors we love is to buy the books new. No number of rare titles discovered on dusty shelves and purchased at collectors' prices will bring a dime to the author, and our substantial collections of old editions may flatter the author but represent no practical value to him or her. In an ideal world, perhaps there would be a way to track such sales and compensate them, but I don''t see it happening any time soon.
That being said, I realize that many of Silverberg's books (like many of the other classics of science fiction) are not currently in print, so anyone wishing to read them will have to do so in a way which produces no income for Mr Silverberg. We can only hope they will be reissued someday so we can buy pretty new copies of them to sit beside the old editions. Until then, please do your part. Along with your trips to used book stores, visit places which sell new volumes, and whenever they are available, buy them.
To purchase new books on the web, you can visit the omnipresent amazon.com. To purchase new and used books on the web, I recommend Powell's. The last time I checked, they listed well over 200 titles by Robert Silverberg.
But please, if it's available new and your budget can at all handle it, buy it new.
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The opinions expressed on this page are my own, and I won't claim to speak for anyone aside from myself, though I believe most professional writers would agree with me.