So, by a tip from Parker (and through some wrangling and such) I managed to buy about a hundred and twenty copies of the Elantris hardback from a discount warehouse. This is way cool because the hardback has sold so well that there is relatively little chance that Tor will ever remainder it. (When a book gets remaindered, the publisher decides to send it to bookstores at a cheap price for the bargain tables. Usually, before a book gets remaindered, the author has a chance to buy any copies he/she wants at the discounted price.)
I was thinking I'd never get to buy a stock of remaindered copies. Fortunately, this warehouse is out of Canada--and someone up there must have decided to remainder a batch of the books rather than send them back for a refund. Either way, I got them. My hope is to sell them through my website as signed and personalized hardbacks for those who would want one.
Here is my question for you folks, then. These DO have a remainder mark on them in the form off a small black dot on the bottom or top edge of the pages. (I.E. if you held the book closed with your thumb on the back cover and your fingers on the front cover and looked at the bottom of the book, you'd find a black dot there.) This makes them of less value to collectors.
I'm wondering what the general opinion on these is. Do regular readers care? I want to find a price for these that would be fair, but that would be worth my time and energy to sell. I was thinking $15+shipping, which makes them about $3.50 cheaper than Amazon, depending on what kind of shipping you get from Amazon. (I'd offer free shipping for someone who buys two copies, I think. I'd have to look at shipping costs.) So, they'd be cheaper than any other place you can buy them, would arrive signed and personalized with whatever note you want inscribed in them, and would probably include a free bookmark or the like. However, they'd have that mark on them.
Thoughts? Opinions?