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Fifteen or sixteen years ago, I offered to act as “Guest Editor” for an issue of the Pacific County Historical Society’s magazine, the Sou’wester . I wanted to gather stories by “kids” (like then 80-year-old Bud Goulter) who had grown up in Oysterville in the 1939s, ’40s, and ’50s. PCHS liked my idea and “Growing Up In Oysterville” was published in 2006. It’s one of several Sou’westers I have written or edited over the years, and it’s one of my favorites. All of them are a labor of love — no remuneration involved.
Sou’westers are one of the perks of PCHS membership. For the modest sum of $25 a year you, too, can become a member and receive two copies of the magazine each year along with periodic newsletters and other bonuses. Extra copies of the magazines, including back-issues, are for sale in the Society’s Museum Gift Store in South Bend as well as at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in Ilwaco. I’m not sure of the price for individual copies. It used to be nine or ten dollars — certainly not in the triple-almost-quadruple digits!
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So, imagine my surprise when I came across an Amazon.com page offering a copy of that very Sou’wester for $955.67! Not only that, but according to the “seller” (who is based in Texas and is apparently approved by Amazon.com) four or five happy purchasers have written positive “endorsements” about the magazine.
That’s some markup for a 52-page magazine, even considering that it was a double issue! I have a gazillion questions, of course, the first being where did the Texas outfit get their copies? Wouldn’t it be nice to think that the bulk of their profits were going back to South Bend, WA as a donation to PCHS? I know… I know. I have a rich fantasy life. But even so, I could never in a gazillion years dreamed up this bizarre scenario. It certainly has moved right up to the top of my “Buyer Beware” list!
Sydney, that is nothing new. It’s been going on at Amazon for several years. I had some old obscure research report that I did at the Naval Research Lab many years ago that showed up at some equally outrageous price—all you had to do was contact NRL and they’d send it for free. Also online ticket sellers play the same game. Here is someone else’s perspective on this problem: https://justpublishingadvice.com/why-are-they-selling-used-books-on-amazon-at-crazy-prices/
Cuzz,
Yeah. I know there’s no recourse but at least it’s an excuse to get the attention of my blog readers and remind them that my books are available (even at reasonable prices) on Amazon. I really dislike them. On the other hand, they have saved our bacon in a number of ways during this Sheltering Time. I guess it’s a LOVE/HATE relationship.