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What exactly does it mean for a book to be out of print? The short answer is straightforward: no more copies of the book are being manufactured. It used to be cut and dried: For whatever reason, usually a perceived lack of demand, a book's publisher would decide not to print any more copies and whatever was already in storage or bookshops or on our bookshelves would be all that remained. It doesn’t always mean a book has become scarce as there could still be plenty of unsold copies if supply out-stripped demand.

These days, the lines are a bit more blurred. With technology increasing our access to information and the speed with which we can obtain it, publishers have their fingers on the pulse of customer demand, and find out quickly when there is a resurgence in public interest in a book, allowing them to order a new print run. As well, with the prevalence of e-books, there is some debate as to the definition of out-of-print in general, and whether electronic copies should be counted. We think not. There are also now print-on-demand books, where publishers have the ability to create a high-quality print copy of a book, at the moment a customer requests it, eliminating over supply.


So. Clear as mud? For our part, we stick to the traditional definition: If a book has had a traditionally-published print run at some point in time, and no more have been printed for at least five years, we call it out of print.

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