How many serious SK collectors are under the age of 30?

[SystemCrashOverRide]

I've been pondering this over the last few days, with all of the hubbub surrounding Revival, and many of the forum members making plans to go to some of the events that correspond with it, I thought to myself - and not for the first time - that this hobby demands a certain amount of disposable income. This is something I've always struggled with, as I'm in my mid-twenties and carry a large chunk of school debt. It also occurs to me that most of the members here have been at it for quite some time, and amassed sizable collections because they've been fans of King since his earlier publications.

So I was curious, how much of an oddity am I as a younger man who *loves* this hobby but struggles to afford it? How many other members out there are "younger" than the majority? I've picked 30 somewhat arbitrarily I suppose, but I would be interested to know the average age of collectors and at what age they started seriously collecting.

[Ricky]

This is something I've always struggled with, as I'm in my mid-twenties and carry a large chunk of school debt.

Hey, me too!

I'm 22 and have a collection I'm happy with (though I don't nearly have enough income/savings to buy 10 copies of every version of every book) and have been collecting since 2007ish, though reading SK longer than I've been collecting.

If I add a few new things to my collection every year, I'm happy.

[racerx45]

According to my wife I act like I am 10, does that count? I am over 30 but I did start in my 20’s.

[herbertwest]

How would you define a "serious" collector?
I will soon be 28, I have no debts but have put my collection on hold (I already have over 400 books by/about Stephen King, on top of which you can add movies + movie press kits + another 160 books by/about another writer) because of lack of space and fundings.

Of my collection, I dont have anything "really" valuable as I have a few proofs but no limited edition (couple of gifts limited edition, nothing signed / lettered)

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

I am well over 30 and have been reading King since the 1st Carrie film.

My current King collection was started in 2005, so it's less than 10 years old.

[coderedx]

Funny you mention this... I picked up my tickets for the King event in Kansas City yesterday, and somebody in the bookstore joked about how young I am.

I don't think there are many under 30. I am 30, and I was kind of surprised to see some other people in this thread that are children of the 80s and 90s.

There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. We weren't even able to read when King's best books (The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot, It, Pet Sematary, etc.) were released.
2. You're right about the disposable income situation. Many younger people just don't have it. Along the same line, many younger people just don't have physical space.
3. Many younger people don't really embrace physical books. I'll admit that I haven't read a physical book since graduate school.

The articles last week about Cemetery Dance also hinted at the fact that there aren't many people into the horror genre.

[Kingfan24]

I'm going to be 26 on the 17th of November

[Roseannebarr]

Funny you mention this... I picked up my tickets for the King event in Kansas City yesterday, and somebody in the bookstore joked about how young I am.

I don't think there are many under 30. I am 30, and I was kind of surprised to see some other people in this thread that are children of the 80s and 90s.

There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. We weren't even able to read when King's best books (The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot, It, Pet Sematary, etc.) were released.
2. You're right about the disposable income situation. Many younger people just don't have it. Along the same line, many younger people just don't have physical space.
3. Many younger people don't really embrace physical books. I'll admit that I haven't read a physical book since graduate school.

The articles last week about Cemetery Dance also hinted at the fact that there aren't many people into the horror genre.

Who is going to buy all of the older peoples books when we die! I see a glut of s/ls for sale in a few years. At 52 my collection could be at my estate sale real soon! Ps some of us older folks don't have the funds to support or problem either. We typically just hide the books from our spouses. Just like they do with shoes purses and clothes.

[Ben Staad]

I'm 39 with limited funds however I love every, single, damn, purchase I make.

[stkmw02]

I'm 28 and have been collecting King since I was 9 years old. I started by just wanting to read all of his books, then switched to replacing my dogeared paperbacks with 1/1 hardcovers. When I hit high school between 2000 and 2004, I was seeking out other collectors online and found Skemers. That gave me enough instruction to start pursuing more serious collection items. For graduation, I requested a family vacation to Bangor, Maine so I could visit Betts. It is still one of my favorite memories... we really played the tourist card and posed for photos, visited odd King locations, etc. And I got to take home some "real" collector's items from Betts. From then on, I tried to purchase at least one new 'expensive' King item a year for my birthday. Expensive was defined by how poor I was at the time, so sometimes a $30 first edition that I had trouble finding was valuable enough. And even with $100,000 in student loan debt, I found ways to justify a new King purchase. Smart? Probably not. But plenty of other people spend their cash on worse things.

tdt.org really REALLY opened new doors for me in terms of collecting. Not only is this a great place to find good deals and fair trades, but I benefit immensely from the experience and guidance of more seasoned collectors. Also, having a financial adviser who understands "fun money" and helps me to build it into my savings/spending plans is a very helpful thing. Especially because NOW my collection has a slightly different direction... I like to look at my shelves and know WHO my books came from. I like to be able to say, "That Green Mile... not only is it a 1/1 copy, it was BILL'S." That to me makes the item more valuable. It's like adopting the book, giving it a new "forever" home and knowing it came from a home that was just as loving and appreciative of King.

I think there are more King fans under 30 out there, but I do agree that less of us are investing our money and interests in building substantial collections. For the most part, I would say student debt takes a large toll there... but also the lack of space (I anxiously await moving into a home with a library so I can really pull out all the stops) and alternate life focus (juggling relationships, pursuing education, job hunting, starting families). I expect to be more settled and comfortable financially within the next five years, allowing me to dive in to collecting. I have a husband and a child and a full-time job, we're looking at houses... pretty soon the only life milestone left will be to add a first edition Carrie to my shelf.

I am more than happy to add your books to my collection, Roseannebarr!! lol

[webstar1000]

I am 38... And have read King since I was in grade 9. There are millions of King readers and a ton of people have his books on their shelfs. As much as I loved his work and wanted to have all his stuff... I was blind to the fact there was all these wonderful presentations of books. So, I collected a few GE's and then realized I could not complete my collection of every book he has done cause there was no GE for the likes of Six Stories or Dolans... So I bought an S/L of Dolans.... And I loved having a signed book by my favourite author... Then it led to here, and then I was learning about all these other even better productions! I needed more and got a partial DT matching set... And it was not enough... It really is like a drug. Now it's the art and Lettered's. Lol I was going to stop at one point but won't. So hard core collecting for a year and a half and haven't done to bad. If more people with a little money knew about these... There would be more collectors! Can I afford what I buy? Sometimes... And the wife has hardly a clue but let's me go ...

[SystemCrashOverRide]

Glad to see this took off so quickly, I'm really enjoying hearing the different ages and how they approach collecting (budget, space, etc).

How would you define a "serious" collector?

Well you're on a niche forum with almost 6'000 posts and you have hundreds of books, I would definitely call you a "serious" collector. Budget not withstanding.

"I don't think there are many under 30. I am 30, and I was kind of surprised to see some other people in this thread that are children of the 80s and 90s.

There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. We weren't even able to read when King's best books (The Stand, The Shining, Salem's Lot, It, Pet Sematary, etc.) were released.
2. You're right about the disposable income situation. Many younger people just don't have it. Along the same line, many younger people just don't have physical space.
3. Many younger people don't really embrace physical books. I'll admit that I haven't read a physical book since graduate school."

You're right on all counts Coderedx, in regards to #3, I've ALWAYS loved traditional mediums. I have a classic video game collection that ranges from pre-Atari right through to current consoles, a large-ish vinyl collection, some killer vintage hi-fidelity stereo equipment, books and comics coming out the wazoo. I joke that what I collect is collections. But ALL and I repeat ALL of my collection has been on a shoe string budget. Absolutely everything was found at thrift stores, garage sales, buy and sells online, traded for (sacrifice the old hobby for the sake of the new one, anyone else do this?) and that's the only way I've ever been able to justify it. Eventually I'll have a massive sell off and pay down a large chunk of my debt, and I have begun to do so with the video games, but I'm not quite there yet.

In my own life I've only found a few other rabid King fans, and I've subsequently thrown spare paperback editions at them until they cry out for help. I guess I just want someone else to be as excited as I am.

[The Library Policeman]

I just turned 46 last month and like others I started collecting in the 80's. Paperbacks at first (which I still collect) and then hardcovers as my interest/obsession grew as I got older. It really kicked off for me S/L wise when I got hooked up to the internet around the early 2000's. All these beautiful, collectable books suddenly became easily available and it was/is fantastic. I spend more than I should on books but I think all of us on the forum probably do.

My love of Stephen King and my support of my football team are the only 2 hobbies I have enjoyed and stuck with since I was a kid and I still enjoy both hobbies immensely. I'm hoping my love of SK is passed on to my daughter - but if not she can sell off the collection when I pass and buy shoes!

[Randall Flagg]

I added a poll. Please take the time to answer the question.

[SystemCrashOverRide]

I added a poll. Please take the time to answer the question.

I had considered doing this, breaking it into different age categories to see where everyone fell. But I didn't really know how to set up a poll. Thank you RF, much appreciated.

[jhanic]

I'm a tad over 30, so I voted that way.

John

[Mattrick]

What consititutes a serious collector? I'm 28 and have had my own Stephen King books since I was 9. I don't really care if I have a first edition or not and I haven't bought a different version of a book I already own. Am I serious because I own 90% of his works? Or am I not as serious because I don't care what edition I have? Without knowing if I'm serious or not I can't answer this poll.

[SystemCrashOverRide]

What consititutes a serious collector? I'm 28 and have had my own Stephen King books since I was 9. I don't really care if I have a first edition or not and I haven't bought a different version of a book I already own. Am I serious because I own 90% of his works? Or am I not as serious because I don't care what edition I have? Without knowing if I'm serious or not I can't answer this poll.

I didn't mean for the "serious" to really be a qualifier, I think that if you're an active part of this website then you're exactly who I'm asking about. As I said with Herbertwest, you're an active member of a niche collectors website and you (Mattrick) have 4500 posts, I definitely consider you serious.

Also! You're in Oshawa? I'm out in Pickering! I don't know if it's weird or not, but if you ever want to meet another collector, I'd be game.

[zelig]

I started collecting in 1987 when I was about 20. Oh man, where do the years go.... My initial focus was 1st editions. Due to some major life changes, I stopped collecting seriously for many years, then kicked things back up again just over a year ago. I'm paying the price for that now because I missed out on many key books at issue price, so I've had to pick them up at current rates on the secondary market. I feel that if you want to build a solid King collection today, it could be a daunting task and will cost many many thousands of dollars.

I've learned that collecting Stephen King is like peeling an onion. There are many layers which you keep discovering. Just when you thought you were on top of things, you discover some other avenue or item that you want to pursue. That's one of the things that make this hobby/obsession so interesting.

[Patrick]

Very interesting discussion.

Like John, I am a bit over 30. 49 to be specific.

Mattrick, I consider you a serious collector. It's about intent and obsession, not budget!

I began reading King back in the early '80's. I started collecting King about a decade ago. While searching the Internet for info on the Dark Tower series a year or two earlier, I found TDT.net and ran across a thread there discussing collectible King books. (Later it developed into a dedicated sub-forum.) These guys were knowledgeable, intelligent, and I enjoyed learning. Finally I decided to collect the S/L's of the Dark Tower books that had been released to date at the time, but that would be it. Once hooked, I decided to collect other King S/L's, but ONLY the S/L's, not GE's, not flatsigned 1sts, not even 1st editions. And certainly not proofs nor promo items.

Since then, I've let go of all self-imposed rules and just make it up as I go along based on interest and budget at the time, so I have what feels like a little bit of everything, and have expanded to other authors I enjoy.

[Mattrick]

I consider myself more of a serious book collector than just a King collector. Paid 50 bucks for my rare, leather-bound Gatsby and a fair amount of pennies for my Tolstoi's printed in the late 1880's in London. And then there is this set...

[Mattrick]

I didn't mean for the "serious" to really be a qualifier, I think that if you're an active part of this website then you're exactly who I'm asking about. As I said with Herbertwest, you're an active member of a niche collectors website and you (Mattrick) have 4500 posts, I definitely consider you serious.

Also! You're in Oshawa? I'm out in Pickering! I don't know if it's weird or not, but if you ever want to meet another collector, I'd be game.

To be fair, I can't have more than a couple hundred posts in the Collecting forum lol. There are a couple others from this site not to far from us either. I think WeDealInLead is a Londoner (ontario)

[Merlin1958]

Just for informational purposes. I'm 56 (Duh) and while I started reading King around 1976, my serious collection began around 1998 and went into high gear after he completed (or perhaps while he was completing the last three books) TDT series.

[stroppygoblin]

I am currently 48 (49 on NYE). I've been collecting for a good many years, but only really got 'serious' in the last 4 years at which point I decided that my collection needed to be at least as complete as my budget would allow (1sts and GE's). This year marked a step beyond that with my acquisition of a Stand Coffin edition and I'm already starting to lust after certain other S/L's.

[becca69]

Well my screen name is Becca69 so you decided what that means but I started collecting when I was 11... now this was what my mother would buy me and she started me with the SK book club in the early 80s. At that young age I already knew I wanted to acquire the already rare Carrie 1st edition which was upwards of $100. Completely unobtainable in my mind I only got the first few Doubleday editions and then my mother decided to cancel my subscription and just purchase the books as they were released. It wasn't until then that I realized the book club editions were not the same as the trades.

I was in college when I was able to add my first Grant Dark Tower books starting with book 3. That one book fueled my obsession with finding as many limited, GE and 1st edition books I could afford.

Anne Rice 1sts factored into my purchasing soon after. Now I'm hard pressed to find a good fiction book/author out there that I don't want to add to my constantly growing hoard.