<<< Continued from previous page

The next titles are all part of the Star Wars franchise - specifically, the Young Jedi Knights and the New Jedi Order series. Even though the movie franchise has apparently stumbled with the release of Episodes 1 through 3, the shared universe is still very popular in book format.

Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: The Rise of the Shadow Academy
ISBN: 1568652119
Anderson, Kevin J. & Moesta, Rebecca
1996
$20

Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: The Fall of the Diversity Alliance
ISBN: 1568656513
Anderson, Kevin J. & Moesta, Rebecca
1998
$35

Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: Under Black Sun
ISBN: 0739401939
Anderson, Kevin J. & Moesta, Rebecca
1999
$50

Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory - Conquest / Rebirth
ISBN: 0739420305
Keyes, Greg
2001
$60

Star Wars The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos - Hero's Trial / Jedi Eclipse
ISBN: 0739412981
Luceno, James
2000
$30

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Enemy Lines - Rebel Dream / Rebel Stand
ISBN: 0739427776
Allston, Aaron
2002
$40v

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide - Onslaught / Ruin
ISBN: 073941111X
Stackpole, Michael A.
2000
$25

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order - Force Heretic - Remnant / Refugee / Reunion
ISBN: 0739436015
Williams, Sean and Dix, Shane
2003
$75

Finally, when I first started researching this article, this was what I wrote about Scott Westerfield's Succession: "Extremely ambitious copies listed at $144 and up, but several copies available starting at $23 - not bad for a BCE!"

Well, one week later I'm double checking prices, and those low cost copies are GONE! This one is a real mystery: The two trade hardcover first editions collected in this omnibus are available for a combined price less than $40 to $50. I suspect that the omnibus SFBC edition will sell quickly for $30 or so, and the copies listed at $100+ will just sit. Still, this is a good title to watch for.

Succession (The Risen Empire, The Killing of Worlds)
ISBN: 0739438018
Westerfeld, Scott
2003
$30 - $100 (?)

The Glen Cook and the Star Wars titles indicate that readers place value on convenience. They are both popular series made up of lots of titles. Instead of buying a number of individual titles, sometimes in mixed hardback and paperback formats, readers seem to be willing to pay for the convenience of having all of the titles collected in a small number of uniform hardback editions. I also think that in the modern world of book collecting, the old rule of book club editions never having collector value simply doesn't apply any more.

Of course, it is worth noting that many of these SFBC titles were published in the last 10 years. It is possible that the resale values will decrease in the future as copies in personal libraries hit the market.

In the final installment of this series, I will use the flashpoints I've identified in the first two articles to predict more book club editions with resale value, and I will research the titles to see how good I am at fortune telling.

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