Adding to the Auction Pot
Posted on February 21, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 21 Comments
The auction of the Zoe’s Tale pre-publication edition to benefit the Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust has been pretty quiet for the last couple of days, so I thought I would kick in a little something to give it a boost, to wit: A copy of the now very rare Subterranean Press hardcover edition of Agent to the Stars. Only 1,500 of these were made (plus a couple extra for my personal stash), and they’re going for ridiculous amounts on the resale market.
Right now the bidding is at $2,025.01. Get the bid up to at least $2,500, and whoever wins the Zoe’s Tale is also going to find Agent smiling up at them from the box, signed and (if wished) personalized. It’s a steal, I tell you! A steal! There are only a couple days left to bid, so get on it if you want there. And of course feel free to let the collectors/Scalzi fans/people with waaay too much money of your acquaintance know about it.
Once again, here’s the original post announcing the auction, and here’s the auction page itself. Happy bidding!
Wow… I’d better put my copy of Agent a bag or something. Right now it’s in a stack of books off to the side of my desk. If those numbers are true it’s now the third-most valuable item in my office, behind my laptop and my camera. The mind reels!
… guess i don’t really need my car. The walk to work will do me good…
Here I was thinking AotS was some sort of wild price exaggeration, except that I see it on AbeBooks as well. Freaky.
Be honest now. In your wildest moments of hubris, did you ever think you would see a copy of one of your books selling for a thousand dollars? While you are still alive, even!
The auction got to rich for my blood really fast.
JJS:
It’s not something I spent much time thinking about, actually.
Not that I’m planning to bid, but: if I *bid* $2,500 – or $25,000 – and no-one else raises the ante above $2,025.01, presumably I’d win at $2,050 or so. I don’t think that there’s a mechanism for confirming or refuting that my *bid* was high enough to get AotS included.
[Yes, I know. Bill Schafer will now send in a bid of $5K after extracting a commitment from Our Gentle Host to combine the two universes in a short-short, to be published in a limited edition bound in tanned aardvark intestine. Which will render the whole point moot. But still.]
Wow. And here I thought hand-made marbles going for $75 was expensive.
It goes to show you need money to make money. Unfortunately you need even more money to send sprog to college.
Ewan:
Actually, Bill’s not likely to bid further on this one, since he’s already got a copy of Agent, and I gave him an electronic version of Zoe to read. Plus, he’s got stuff from me under contract.
Bookselling note: Agent to the Stars is being LISTED for ridiculous amounts online. We have empiric verification that they are NOT going for those prices because the books are still listed. 1500 is actually a big print run for the purpose of maintaining scarcity.
Ian M:
I know other booksellers that have sold Agent in the 300-400 range fairly quickly. And you are exactly right about asking price is not the same as what the book will sell for.
Scalzi: Do you know if the cover Gabe drew for Agent will be used on the Tor edition that’s coming out?
Jon R:
It seems unlikely.
Ian is correct that 1500 is a very large print run for a hardcover to be drawing those kind of prices. I suspect there’s a lot of wishful thinking involved by those sellers; as the man in the Jack in the Box commercial says, “All I need is one!”.
On the other hand, I just pulled my copy out from under a pile of books and slapped a Brodart cover on it just in case. So thanks for the heads up.
I’m not suggesting that people trying to sell Agent for $1000 (and actually selling them for $300 – $400) makes any sense. I’m just saying people are selling them for wacky amounts of money.
Also, re: the price, bear in mind that some of that is probably due not to my fandom, but to the fandom of Mike Krahulik (aka Gabe of Penny Arcade), who did the cover, or to a combination of both.
Yep. I’d love to have the two books. But, the price is a smidge steep for my tax bracket.
Great job though, John. It’s nice to see someone using his powers for good.
Wow. Should definitely move my AoTS to the area of my bookshelf reserved for out of prints, collectibles, and hardcover sets.
Wow, I just picked up one of those copies of Agent for free. Of course I have to return it in three weeks or it’ll cost me 10 cents a day.;)
There are a surprising numbers of the hardcover of A2S in libraries. Which I think is awesome.
I liked Agents to the Stars, but $ 449 for a “Former library book with expected stickers/stamps. Moderate wear to outside. “???
Fortunately a trade paperback version is on the way, which will be rather more affordable.