It's Lit: What Star Wars Book Collectors Won't Tell You
A Star Wars book collection isn't always what it seems.
Sometimes, random strangers on the internet ask me how much money I make. Not because they’re actually curious, but instead because they see photos or videos of my book collection and assume I, a journalist barely surviving on a freelancer’s income, could somehow afford a series of shelves full of shiny new books.
First of all, don’t ask people how they afford things — it’s none of your business. Second of all, if you took the time to really look at my books, you’d notice that only a fraction of them are new.
This is what many Star Wars book collectors won’t tell you: They didn’t pay full price for many of the items you see on their shelves.
The truth is that for many of us, new books are gifts from loved ones, sent to us in exchange for reviews, or items we purchased in times of celebration or good fortune. Many of our books are old or were never ours to begin with — thrifted, or otherwise rescued. There are very few of us whose collections are made up entirely of books we bought ourselves.
That doesn’t make you any less of a collector. A book collection is, at its heart, a series of stories that mean something to you. How you came about them, whether you funded your entire collection personally or not, shouldn’t matter.
Many who are sent books for free have worked hard to earn that privilege, and some consider thrifting (or “book hunting” as I like to call it) a completely separate yet just as enjoyable pastime from book buying or reading. And if you’re lucky enough to be given a Star Wars book as a gift, that book becomes a special piece of your collection.
These are the things social media often does not reveal.
The price you pay for becoming an influencer is that strangers’ jealousy and judgment become front-and-center in your mentions, day after day. Eventually you learn to ignore it. But I, personally, still don’t really understand the point of it.
Book collecting is a hobby I chose for myself. I don’t show off the result of said hobby because I want to make someone else feel bad for not having what I have. I put it on display because that’s literally the point. For me, these books exist for two reasons: to be read and to be seen. My collection brings me a kind of joy unlike anything else can.
Don’t steal my joy by telling me you want what I have, or implying I don’t deserve to have it. I don’t know what you have to gain from that. But I suppose that’s not really my business either. So I’m just going to keep doing what makes me happy, and I’ll keep showing it off because it makes some other people happy too.
That’s really all I’m here to do. To feel joy, and to pass it along to someone else because everyone deserves to feel happy for small, seemingly insignificant reasons sometimes.
Now This Is Lit is a podcast (and newsletter!) about Star Wars books, the people who make them, and the readers who just can’t get enough of them. You can find the show wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe to the Substack for more deep dives, guides, interview transcripts, and book love.