[meeera]

I could put forward a case that a library patron who requests books be purchased, borrows them, puts reviews on Goodreads (etc), and enthuses about them on social media, is "carrying" an author far more than a person who buys their book on release day, reads it, then sits it on their shelf for the rest of their life.

But I don't think attempting to judge people in that way is useful or productive. Enjoy your reading. Spread the word to people who you think will enjoy it too. Pay your taxes. Advocate/vote in a way for your community that has the greatest potential to spread books and literacy and writing and creativity to all, not just to those who can afford a roomful of new hardbacks or giving up their day job to write fulltime (and I won't be any more specific or invite any more specificity than that, because this isn't P&R). Books and stories are for everyone.