I think this particular comment is worth pulling out from yesterday’s post on cheaply acquired books, because it’s an important point about how we balance being thrifty with being socially conscious consumers. Authors don’t get paid from the sale of used books, but they may gain readers who will support them in the future. We want to support businesses like the Paradox Bookstore, while also supporting writers, editors, and designers by paying full price for books. Why not do both? Support your local secondhand store, or church, or wherever it is you’re going to find secondhand books, but buy new ones from your favorite authors as well.

If you went to college, you probably were required to spend thousands of dollars on books, and as someone who had to take loans out to pay for these books, you probably bought many of these books used, and then sold them back to the bookstore after your courses were completed. This is unfortunate for the authors and publishers of those books because they didn’t see a dime from any of those sales. It’s likely that most college students aren’t aware of this, and they’ve (we’ve) also become conditioned to seek out used books, or get their books at a discount by shopping on Amazon.