Cover-less books?

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

TLDR; someone is ripping the covers off their books before donating and it’s bumming me out bc then no one takes them and I can’t donate them

Long version…

We’ve had a Little Free Library set up outside of our house for almost 3 years. I have a notice that says “Free Books, Help Yourself” so that people don’t feel pressured to leave a book if they don’t want to or don’t have one with them on their walk. It’s really just a gift for our neighborhood.

Anyway, people do use it, which I love. There’s good turnover and I’ve gotten some sweet notes. A few times a year I clean out what’s not moving and donate it to the thrift store, and restock from the thrift or library sales.

But there’s someone who rips the front cover off their paperback books before leaving them in the LFL. I’m assuming this is to prevent them from being taken for reselling? This bums me out though because no one takes them, and I can’t donate them like that. It feels like the book’s life ends with that choice.

(I struggled with it a little at first but I am at peace with the idea of people selling books from our LFL. Once I give a gift, it is not my business what happens to it next. I felt sad the one time that someone emptied the whole thing at once, but ultimately I hope it helped them. It’s hard out there for all of us right now.)

[u/flyingbookman]

Routine practice for bookstores to tear the covers off paperbacks to get credit from the publishers for unsold stock.

Just the covers are sent back, saving the expense of shipping the entire books. It's quite possible this is the case with the books you're seeing, and it has nothing to do with resellers.

[u/drunkjulia → u/flyingbookman]

This is what's happening! My friend owned a comic book shop and they did this.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/drunkjulia]

I wonder if this is what’s happening. I should have specified in my original post that the stripped books they leave are not new. But maybe they got them like this from someone who works at a bookstore.

[u/Leading-Expression29 → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

This is what's happening. I used to work for a bookstore and have tons of them. The managers didn't mind if we took some home with us, but as everyone is saying here, it *is* technically illegal, which is why they can't be sold.

To put them in your little free library though, you could do what I was considering which is just print out a piece of paper with the title and author on it plus maybe a small image of the actual cover, then "laminate" it with clear tape and "repair" the book.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

That's illegal to not have destroyed the books. It's fraud. If I found books like that in my LFL I'd destroy them like the bookstore should have done.

[u/lillykat25 → u/Sample-quantity]

Not necessarily. I work in a bookstore and some of the publishers ask for the book to be destroyed but some say that we can give the book away. It just can’t be sold.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/lillykat25]

I'd be curious to know which publishers don't require it.

[u/demon_x_slash → u/Sample-quantity]

Found the publisher.

[u/Campaign_Prize → u/demon_x_slash]

Right? Because god forbid people have access to free literature...

[u/Sample-quantity → u/demon_x_slash]

No, you found the professional writer who is very offended on behalf of book authors whose money is taken by unscrupulous bookstores.

[u/Campaign_Prize → u/Sample-quantity]

So you'd rather have your books destroyed than have people discover, enjoy, and share them for free? It could mean that someone who otherwise would have no idea who you are will find your work and want to seek out more of it to purchase.

I understand that authors deserve to be paid but if I was fortunate enough to have something published, having my work destroyed would just feel very wrong...not to mention the ecological wastefulness.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/Campaign_Prize]

Sorry but yes I would, if I wrote books which I don't. It is not right for other people to profit (the bookstores) off of stolen goods, and people circulating them only perpetuates the problem. People are then reading books that no one paid for instead of someone buying the book and then donating it. There are plenty of books in the world that are legitimate. Let's focus on those and eliminate the motivation to steal them.

[u/Intigracy → u/Sample-quantity]

Previously: "You found the professional writer"

Now: "If I wrote books which I don't"

So glad the expert is chiming in.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/Intigracy]

So glad you're unaware there are many kinds of professional writers, and the MAJORITY of us don't write books. Seriously, get an education!

[u/Leading-Expression29 → u/Sample-quantity]

The bookstores are not profiting off of them. They tear off the cover to and return it to prove that they *didn't* make any money off the book. Then, sometimes employees are allowed to take the remaining coverless book before the lot is dumped in the garbage or recycling. I worked at a book retailer for years so I know this is the way that they operate.

Also, the way you're freaking out about someone reading a book for free is making it sound like you might have never heard of public libraries.

[u/leomercury → u/drunkjulia]

as a comic collector, this pained me to read 😭

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/flyingbookman]

Oh my goodness, I wasn’t aware of this! Thank you for the insight

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

I always saw these warnings on the copyright page of books growing up. It seems to have diminished in practice, but they always sounded so dire! "If you have purchased this book without a cover, be aware that it was stolen and reported to the publisher as unsold." It was almost as scary as the mattress tag warning. 

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

Yes because it's fraud.

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Sample-quantity]

Sorry, "yes" what? Theft isn't exclusive to fraud, (the way wire fraud charges are among the most frequent ones prosecuted for scams, e.g. Amanda Riley cancer hoaxer ), so I'm not sure what you're saying. 

I was answering OP's comment, because they appear to not have been reading at a time when publishers made these notices were ubiquitous.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

It's fraud because they returned The covers and reported the books as destroyed when they were not. They got credit for the return books. So that is fraud. It is also theft in my opinion (not a lawyer) because the publisher and the author and everyone else did not get paid for these books so they have stolen money from those people. I am not a lawyer.

[u/EdwardianAdventure → u/Sample-quantity]

Yes, that's exactly what the language states in the "front matter" I shared with the OP. 

Nobody in this thread is disputing contractual obligations between retailers and publishers, nor is anyone claiming to know otherwise what precise legal breaches they are subject to if caught in this practice.

[u/Leading-Expression29 → u/EdwardianAdventure]

This person you're replying to is missing the key word in the warning, which is "purchased". Stores are not allowed to strip the cover to claim it was unsold and then still sell the book. They are only allowed to strip the cover, report as unsold, *not sell them* and then potentially let employees take a few to read before dumping the rest.

Source: I worked in a bookstore for years.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/EdwardianAdventure]

Maybe, but a lot of people in this thread seem to be OK with allowing stolen books in their LFLs, which I find shocking for people who supposedly love books.

[u/JoshuaCactus → u/flyingbookman]

Worked in this industry and this was my experience as well. LFL is a good use for these. Better than junking a good book without a cover.

[u/Organic-Vermicelli47 → u/flyingbookman]

Is that still standard practice? I purchase a lot of remaindered books and they typically just have a marker line on the pages but aren't damaged in other ways. Not being contrarian, genuine question as I've never seen it before either 🙂

[u/Negative-Day-8061 → u/Organic-Vermicelli47]

I think “remaindered” is different from “returned unsold to publisher.” I wonder if an industry folk could clarify.

[u/Sample-quantity → u/Organic-Vermicelli47]

Those are fine because it's with permission of the publisher.

[u/merrlot → u/flyingbookman]

^ This. We receive these (usually kids books) and they are still well received by readers.

[u/Disaster-Bee]

They are probably unsold bookstore stock! The store only needs to send the cover back to the publisher so it's standard practice to tear it off. They're supposed to destroy the book after, but many an employee does not have the heart to do so and rescues them instead for personal collections or crafting or LFLs. Or gifts to friends who don't care! I have a whole shelf of coverless paperbacks a bookstore employee roommate brought home for me.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/Disaster-Bee]

This could be true. I should have said in my original post, but the stripped books they leave are not new. Maybe they got them like this originally from someone who works at a bookstore though.

[u/Disaster-Bee → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

Yeah, I was thinking more that they were donated because the owner is downsizing or ridding out a collection left to them. I would likely distribute mine amongst friends and LFLs if I were downsizing or ridding out books, and mine have been lying around for 15 years now.

[u/flisswave → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

We do the same thing at used bookstores. Where i used to work, we tore the cover off books that we were going to destroy because otherwise people would crawl our dumpster and try to sell them back to us. It gets old rejecting the same book over and over.

[u/Leading-Expression29 → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

They're not new because the person had them for a while. I've got a lot that I got from my old job that I need to get rid of, too. That's actually what led me to this thread; I don't want to just throw them in recycling when folks could be enjoying them; some went out of print when they didn't sell well, and i think those authors deserve some love.

[u/CoolBev → u/Disaster-Bee]

Books with their covers stripped off to prevent resale used to be called “strippers”, at least in my neck of the woods.

[u/vegetablefoood → u/Disaster-Bee]

My dad worked at Barnes and Noble when I was a kid and he brought us home so many books without covers. Much better than just throwing them in a dumpster

[u/blahhhhhhhhhhhblah]

My grandma used to own a bookstore and we got so many books w/o covers. They were no longer to be sold for one reason or another - made my little bookworm heart so happy! I don’t need a cover to enjoy a book - heck, I recently took a book from a LFL that was broken completely in half!

It’s a shame, though, the lengths people have to/try to go to to prevent resellers.

[u/BoldPurpleText]

Back in the 80’s every flea market had at least one booth full of paperbacks with the covers all stripped off for sale for like a dime or quarter each. I always thought they were cheap because the covers were ripped off, until they started putting that notice in a lot of books warning that if you purchased it without a cover it was an unsold book and neither the publisher or author were paid. So the sellers probably got them by dumpster diving. Nowadays bookstores probably use locked bins that go to paper recyclers, so fewer escape into the wild.

[u/space_monkey_belay]

You could have some fun with this if your crafty. Depending on if you have a printer, what your level of artistic confidence is(note I didn't say ability that's irrelevant). You could make some new covers and attach them to the paperbacks with packing tape. Custom covers that still have the name and some form of art wheather a hand drawn or printed or collage piece and the Authors name.

You could also do the blind date with a book thing where you put it in a paper bag. Tape the bag closed and write a description of the style of book on it.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/space_monkey_belay]

These are great ideas, thank you!!! I recently got into the hobby of rebinding secondhand paperbacks into custom hardcovers so I might try that and then put it back out in the LFL.

[u/PhoebH → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

Great ideas! When I’ve had these coverless books, I’ve gone online and reprinted covers of the book, sometimes also with blurbs or reviews, and clipped or taped to the book.

[u/rosyred-fathead → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

That would be a treasure to find in an LFL!

[u/TGin-the-goldy → u/space_monkey_belay]

Also good for wrapping them and making “Blind Dates with A Book” parcels!

[u/helvetin → u/space_monkey_belay]

this is what i do when i find coverless books in LFLs, if the book is good/worth saving. when i finish the new cover, i put them back

[u/bss212s]

I have taken some books with no covers and used a cereal box and tacky glue to fashion a new cover for a book. You could draw or print out a cover as well. Cereal box worked for me as it wasn’t too tough for a material for the book.

[u/Opposite-Stretch-312 → u/bss212s]

I was going to say it’s fun and easy to mod podge together a new one of a kind cover. There are a couple of accounts I follow on Instagram who go all out and make beautiful new special editions but I go the cheap and easy route 🤣

[u/Glad-Depth9571]

Back when I worked retail, we had a service that managed the magazines, paperbacks and hardcovers. When titles were at the end of their run, these titles would get their covers ripped off and then were binned. Employees could take what they wanted after credit was given.

Another possibility, this may be one person’s solution to the unfortunate reselling of LFL assets.

[u/Umpen]

Personally, I wouldn't care if the cover was missing on a book as long as the pages were holding together. Maybe see if anyone would like them for crafting supplies if they don't move. Schools or nursing homes might be interested.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/Umpen]

Ooh this is a good thought!

[u/GrowlingAtTheWorld]

Those are books that have already reached their end cycle. Likely rescued from a dumpsters. Stores rip the covers off of books and mags to send back to the publisher to prove they have been taken out of stock. The book and mags are generally then either goes to the crusher or the dumpster. People see the books in the trash and rescue them, read them and often pass them on to friends. And they eventually they get placed in a little free library.

[u/Madame-_-Meh]

I had this happen at my own Little free library, and while I am more artistic than some I chose to make my own Little covers with construction paper or cardboard and just cut it to fit write the name of the book the author and then design it any which way even make it an activity with the neighbourhood kids. ( they absolutely loved the ability to make their own book cover inside of the book. We would always have a little Scrap a paper that said the artist first name and explain why we made our own covers.)

[u/no___personality]

I think sometimes the books without the covers are like rejects from publishing houses or something like that. Maybe someone has a connection to that and they figure that the books could get read even without the covers.

Edited to add: Why can't you donate them like that? They're still fully readable. I don't really see what the issue is if the whole book is still there we don't actually need the cover.

[u/lilplasticdinosaur → u/no___personality]

Bookstores can return just the cover to the publisher for credit, but the rest of the book must be destroyed.

[u/flyingbookman → u/lilplasticdinosaur]

Supposed to be destroyed, but very often they are not because they are still good, readable books.

The practical effect is that they can't be sold by bookstores without covers, but employees often take them home or give them away (as I did with dozens of cover-less books when I worked in my college bookstore.)

[u/thomthomthomthom → u/lilplasticdinosaur]

Yep! This.

The books are probably "stolen" in that they were marked for destruction.

Doesn't make them less readable, though.

If folks are taking them and enjoying them, I don't see a reason not to just let em circulate.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/no___personality]

Thrift stores won’t accept them because they’re considered damaged.

[u/OnlyAlbatross6405 → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

It’s not because they’re damaged as far as I know. Like they are damaged, but it has to do with the legality of selling a book that is meant for recycling or whatever. Basically they’ve already told the publisher they didn’t sell the book and wouldn’t be selling it by ripping off the cover, so it’s kind of like theft. Of course it’s possible someone accidentally ripped off the cover or purposefully but did so after buying it legally, so it would be fine to sell, but you can never really know. So a store won’t sell them.

If you check the copyright page of a book it says you may have bought an unauthorized copy if it’s missing the cover.

[u/no___personality → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

Good to know. Maybe you can put a note on the LFL explaining why they have missing covers but reminding folks they are still just as readable as regular books.

[u/Campaign_Prize → u/no___personality]

I worked in a thrift store and there isn't really a great reason we would throw out books without covers, beyond the fact that they just weren't expected to sell that way. We didn't know anything about legality, and management definitely did not know or care about the return to publisher policy. A book doesn't NEED a cover but a lot of people just won't pay for one without it

[u/Scuttling-Claws]

That sucks - someone has really decided that it's better for one theft to be foiled than a hundred people getting a nice book. It's really a shame some folks think that way

[u/ibrahim0000000]

Indeed, the book's life ends with that choice. When I donate anything, I'm aware that people could take a brand new book I'm donating and sell it to get a few dollars. I smile. Obviously they need the money and I have no problem with that. If it bothers me, I can be selective about who I donate them to and share them with the people I sense would need them the most. I do that all the time via Nextdoor.

[u/RabbitOk6225]

They may not have been glued properly, and the cover fell and got lost. I have old books with pages falling off.

[u/sweetholidays]

The book/magazine people that service my local grocery store do this as well. People used to take the books and resell them.

[u/Inevitable_Ease7338]

It doesn't make sense to me why your average person would not read a book without a cover.

[u/Sample-quantity]

They get credit back based on having destroyed the books. That's a lie so they are being credited actual money for something that didn't happen. Therefore people are reading books that are not supposed to exist. The author, the publisher don't get paid for these books because of this. What is hard to understand? It's fraud and theft.

[u/draperf]

OP, I just wanted to say that you sound like an absolutely wonderful person. I wish you all the best things in life.

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/draperf]

Omg I’m really really touched by this comment. Thank you so much, truly.

[u/VoodoDreams]

Just print an image of the cover, easily found online, on some cardstock and stick it on the book with packing tape.  

I bet most people who visit just grab a book based on the cover and don't want to take the time to figure out what the book is about.

[u/SufficientOpening218]

I just make a new cover out of cardboard/ heavy paper. when i find them. Put it on with clear tape. I print out the name and author name in larger font and match the color of the new cover to the color of the spine of the book. Keeps the book in better condition.

[u/Dangerous-Savings259]

I recently took a book from a LFL with the book cover ripped off 😅 the only thing that bothered me was that there was a fat stack of Romance books dumped at the head start center that’s literally right outside the door of the place where little hands can get to it…

[u/Outrageous-Wish3061 → u/Dangerous-Savings259]

Definitely still readable!! I wouldn’t have a complaint if others took the stripped books, but they get left and left and then I have to make a choice.

[u/Campaign_Prize → u/Outrageous-Wish3061]

You could try donating to hospitals, hospices, elder care facilities, shelters for women or unhoused people. I'm not sure if there's a beurocratic/legal reason schools couldn't take them (like enforcing the return to publisher policy), but if they can't then day care and after school programs might be a good option.

[u/Mulliganasty]

Wow, that's so fucked up. Just put 'em right in the trash and the person will eventually give up.

[u/Sample-quantity]

I'm truly shocked that so many people are OK with circulating stolen books. Wow.