[anamardoll]

(in reference to ElfWreck's excellent post)

You know, and this is the crux of things.

I didn't initially buy "The Help". I've been burned by bestsellers before. I put it on hold at the library and I waited my turn (a long turn, for that one), and I read it FOR FREE.

And THEN I bought it.

I didn't have to buy it. I could have ripped the DRM off that library copy. Gods know my $10 wouldn't have made much of a difference to the bottom-line on that hugely successful book. But I bought it anyway, as do -- I believe this as a matter of faith -- most people who like a library book and want a legit copy for their own and have the resources to afford it.

I bought a book after I read it for free at the library.

A few weeks later, the publisher for that book announced that they won't provide new releases to libraries anymore. Maybe never again, forever. If they'd made that decision a few years ago, I wouldn't have read the book I ended up buying. And if I couldn't try it first, I wouldn't have bought it.

It's not a loss for ME. There's an effectively infinite amount of good reading material out there for me. I could read from tomorrow until I die and not run out of good stuff.

If there's enough of people like me, these "no library edition, no ebook" publishers are going to feel the pinch eventually. I spend literally thousands of dollars a year on books -- it's my biggest and nearly my only entertainment expense. I'm still going to keep spending that. Don't want a piece of my wallet? Fine by me. There are other authors and publishers who do.

/rant