The original post: /r/books by /u/Gallantpride on 2024-04-29 21:51:53.

Anyone wanna placate me on this? Anyone else ever deal with similar feelings?

I’ve gotten into visiting libraries more often ever since my local library made it easier to request books from other libraries. It saves so much money now that I can rent books easily. I can focus on only collecting books I really want to own and will probably reread twice.

Even when I buy books, though, I buy used. I don’t visit bookstores as much as I should. It’s just more appealing to spend $5 on a $20 book.

At the same time, I feel a sense of… guilt, I guess? A lot of people insist that you need to support with your dollar. If you like a work, support it by watching it when it airs, buying it new, etc, etc. So many works die because there’s not enough people buying it or its merch (when it comes to shows and movies).

Libraries, as far as I know, don’t contribute much to sales. Publishers don’t get feedback if their books are taken out on libraries often or not. Money is made when books need replacing and some countries do have royalties for book libraries, but it’s not comparable to traditional book sales.

If my favorite book series gets cut short, I wonder if buying it new might have helped.

Or, even if it isn’t cut short, maybe buying this book shows support for the concept behind it. Maybe more books similar to it will be published, licensed, translated, etc, etc. Maybe the writer will decided to write more books because their other books sell well too.

But realistically, one sale isn’t doing anything, right? These sorts of things are larger than the individual. Is it really that big of a deal that I don’t support the writer or publisher?