Galleys to be offlimits for online buyers

With profits down across the publishing industry, it's no surprise that the Independent Book Publishers Assn. has come out against the online sale of book galleys.

Normally, no one really cares about what happens with galley copies which, in case you're unclear about this, refers to pre-publication books used for various promotional reasons. Booksellers look at these advance reading copies to decide what to buy for their stores and book sections like ours use them to assign reviews and plan schedules.

Even though most galleys come with some sort of warning — something like "any sale or distribution to the public is a violation of the law" — some invariably land in the hands of the reading public. Stores or such online marketplaces as AbeBooks (which is mentioned by the publisher’s group) make it possible for book lovers to buy a cheap advance copy — with the added thrill of having a favorite author weeks, even months, ahead of the superstore down the block.

But there's also a lucrative market for them among collectors who can turn a buck on these advance copies. You see some of these people at the annual BookExpo America  walking away from booths with multiple copies of a galley that are likely to find their way onto EBay. (C'mon, they're not really taking them for a reading club!) These folks aren’t interested in galleys as literature, they're just collectibles — and the book association's resolution seems directed mostly at them.

It's a shame, though, if superb online book resources like AbeBooks — and some readers with precious few dollars to spare — are hurt by this.

Nick Owchar