I’m been shopping on Amazon and continue to come across books with CLV appended to their titles. I can’t find any consistent thing between all of them that would make them cheaper (hard and soft cover CLVs are offered, as well as new and used CLVs), but there it is, they’re cheaper. I was urged to read Your Engineered House and assured that because it’s out of print, it would be bloody expensive. Not so! Amazon has a softcover for $17.50, and a softcover CLV for $3.05.
“You idiot!” you might reply, “Just buy the expensive one that you know is the real deal.” But the prospect of saving fourteen dollars (that could be as many as five more books!) is making my incoherent with booklust. You know how it is.
I am curious, but equally clueless on this one. With the price difference, I would think it would be a digital format. It would make sense to have the e-book be four bucks. But the listings don’t support the theory.
Ok. I can partially explain the acronym and price difference now. Ready?
Look at the two book listings. There are several differences.
First the titles. The expensive one is Rex Roberts Your Engineered . . .
The Cheap one is Your Engineered.
This induces further inquiry. Upon which we discover that the “author” of the expensive one is Charles Wing.
A reviewer notes that this is an update of Roberts’ work.
Other opinions notwithstanding, Charlie Wing has done a much needed update on a classic, innovative reconsideration of housebuilding. Wing had the benefit of 20 years of hindsight on what worked and what did not work among Rex Roberts many sugggestions for fundamentally changing the basic American house. Wing, educated in physics and experienced in the building trades, helped found an owner-builder school prompted by Mr. Roberts’ original book. His buildings and Mr. Roberts are the basis for his update. The tin-foil insulation is not mentioned because it was a disaster – it did not insulate but it did cause condensate and rotting, even on Mr. Roberts own house. Enough said. If you insist on reading the original, take no action based on it until you determine whether it’s included in Mr. Wing’s update. Otherwise, enjoyable and thoughtful reading all round. I’ve built a house based on these principles and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Third the publication dates differ:
Roberts’ work was published in 1964; the update in 1987.
So you are paying more for a much updated and revised edition. So what does CLV stand for?
Something List Version, I bet. I am still working on the something part.
Haha. Me too. Also called the local library and asked a friend who works in publishing. Nada, but Amazon has yet to respond. I’m betting it’s an Amazon-invented term.
I asked a friend who does cataloging for a major educational library and she didn’t have a clue either. Googling, I came across a some things on something like page 30 of the search results that indicated other bookselling sites listing books that way, too. . .but of course a lot of places just link to Amazon or affiliate with them anyway, so it might still just be an Amazon thing. Most searches bring up CLV/CAV movies and laserdiscs.
Yes. CLV is a laserdisc term; and also a marketing term. Neither of these work in this context. And Amazon is pretty much the show when it comes to online book sales.
Judging from Q.E.D.'s reply that it is an auction term, and the fact that all of the examples that I have seen with CLV in the title are out of print, I would say that it refers to the fact that these items are not available from Amazon themselves, but from the individual sellers who use Amazon to sell their stuff (“Amazon Marketplace”). Exactly what it stands for, I’m not sure - current listed value? current lowest value?
This seems unlikely, judging by where it appears–immediately after the text of the title, rather than anywhere having to do with the price (the other, non-CLV editions are also available from the Marketplace). Look at those links I posted, and you’ll see.
You’re right, the “CLV” is not listed near the price. It seems all the examples with CLV in the title are only available through the Marketplace, but there are also examples without the CLV that are only available that way. Perhaps we’ll never know unless Amazon replies to the email.
I, too, emailed Amazon. Twice. The first time, they said they found nothing with CLV in my shopping cart. Aha, I said in reply, I’m not referring to anything in my shopping cart. Then I provided an example.
Well, they got back to me this morning. They have no idea what it means.
I don’t know what’s more amazing: that they have posted dozens of “CLV” titles without knowing what the abbreviation stands for, or that they have (presumably!) sold some of these titles to people, who may or may not have known what it stood for.
If I offered you a “Steak Dinner” for $19.95, or a “Steak Dinner (TMI)” for $1.50, would any of you actually eat the latter, or would you be purchasing it just to find out what kind of Steak Dinner (TMI) I’d sell you for a buck and a half?
I was going to buy the CLV because it was cheaper; now I might buy both to find out what the difference is.
p.s. TMI is “Tiny Maggots Included”. You’re lucky I’m not charging extra.
Remember the MOC skit from Saturday Night Live? A classic, truly.
You are neglecting the significant possibility that you will get both books and not be able to see the “CLV” for the trees. But for four extra bucks, why not order both?
CLV stands for Customer Lifetime Value, or so it seems from this site which offers a CLV calculation software and a little explanation on what it means. Not that I understood why that should make the CLV version any cheaper…:
Not that I understood why that should make the CLV version of a book any cheaper, or what relevance it has to the pricing of a book.