Is it Ethical to Use Bookstores as a Showroom?
a stingy book lover’s question
There is nothing quite like the joy of wandering around a bookstore. I love digging through the shelves and finding a hidden gem. I love the smell of the worn paper and the background noise of other customers flipping through pages.
When I’m browsing, it’s easy to be swept away by a gorgeous cover. I read the synopsis and think to myself, ‘wow, this one sounds great!’ I take out my phone and snap a picture. Then, I put the book down and continue wandering.
Like many others, I live on a tight budget. Inflation, housing, and food costs keep my pleasure spending funds at a minimum.
So, I often do not purchase the books I long to read. At least, not in the moment. Instead, I wait months for used copies to pop up on Thriftbooks or Aladin, my favorite used book websites.
I want to support authors and buy new releases and fancy editions, but I find myself taking photo after photo of all the books I hope to one day read, in hopes of finding a cheaper alternative in the future.
In my quest for frugality, bookstores have become showrooms.
Buying from Amazon is NEVER an option for me. I will always defend Indie, chain bookstores, and of course, the library, over Bezos’s immoral monopoly. Because Amazon is actively losing money on book sales by charging the lowest possible prices, many bookstores cannot compete. They have lost revenue, and many have gone out of business.
Amazon does not care about losing money on book sales because it’s a massive corporation that survives on its millions of other goods that are sold each day. Book stores do not have this luxury. Also, it would be unethical and in some places illegal to undercharge for their products.
Depending on where you live, Indie bookstores offer a wide array of services. For example, you can have special books, Large Print and Braille options, ordered to their stores. You can also put in requests for author events if you are an indie or self-published author looking for marketing opportunities.
Because I live in South Korea, my options for English books are often limited. But with Aladin, the largest used bookseller in Korea, I can put in special orders for books published overseas. I choose this option despite it being a tad costly over using Amazon or the Korean equivalent, Coupong, because I care about the future of bookselling. I don’t want 2 massive (and morally bankrupt) CEO’s controlling the publishing landscape.
Bookstores of all sizes have a superpower. The employees curate and organize books just so, in hopes of drawing in curious customers and making a sale. And for me, they are often successful.
Despite my small income, I have a strange guilt when it comes to not purchasing something in a bookstore. Is this deep-seated capitalism wedged within my heart, fear of missing out, or is it just my love for books and emotional need to want to support authors? Maybe it’s all three.
Browsing the shelves of indie bookstores always puts me in a state of awe. Indie bookstores have more freedom to curate their selection into more niche genres and subjects, whereas larger bookstores give the most shelf space to the most popular titles.
Unfortunately for me, my arm and wallet strength cannot handle buying all the books I want. At least, not all at once. So still, I find myself taking pictures and only occasionally purchasing in store.
This morning, I was browsing through the photo gallery on my phone when I realized something interesting. I had over forty pictures of books scattered throughout the gallery. Each picture was of a book I have yet to purchase, but still have a great inkling to buy.
I wonder if my usage of bookstores as a showroom is even working, if I’m finding myself not purchasing the book at all.
If I lived in the States, I would certainly utilize my local library. But, here the English shelves are limited to popular YA and Adult titles that either don’t pique much interest or I’ve already read. So, I’m held in a sort of limbo, waiting for the best and most frugal option to satisfy my book-buying desires.
Despite the limited English selections, I still find myself captivated by bookstores all over the world. Books in any language are such compelling and beautiful objects. On my trip to Europe this Spring, as I was surrounded by English books, I spent large portions of my day browsing the wide selections. I even made a few in-store purchases!
My wish is to continue supporting authors while not supporting corrupt corporations. I will never use Amazon or any other competing monopoly. I will also continue buying used books with the occasional in-the-moment bookstore purchase.
Overconsumption, in general, is a harmful activity. It harms our environment with waste, and many products are sourced unethically using slave or child labor. But, book publishing, despite the obvious, large-scale paper consumption, is relatively clean in terms of fair labor wages. Also, when you buy a book, you are supporting an artist. And that is always a win.
I want some advice. How do ya’ll shop for books? How else can we support authors when we do not have the funds to do so? And what, if anything, stops you from making in-store purchases?
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Comments (10)
Some great ways to support authors without spending on money are posting book reviews and recommending books (whether online or to people you know)!
I love this story it’s defo magical 🌺🦋🌺
Congrats on your Top Story! I've often taken pictures of books to purchase later, but like you, I find myself not getting around to buying them. Really enjoyed this.
What a lovely and relatable post about the joy of being in a bookstore! You really captured that feeling of wanting to buy everything but needing to be smart with your budget. It's awesome how committed you are to supporting authors and fighting against monopolies. Congrats on your Top Story!
The piece beautifully captures the magic of browsing shelves whether or not a purchase happens every time. Loving books is not defined by how much we spend, and you expressed that eloquently.
Congratulations on Top Story!! I have loved libraries my whole life … until Covid. When young we had the Bookmobile come through the neighborhood. I like how some communities have the little lending library here in the states. It’s a little enclosed house-like structure on a pole. People put books that other people walking by can take; and in return, put a book that they would like to share with someone else. Some places that I’ve visited, including a physical therapy office, have a lending shelf of books. I have a long list of books that I want to read. Some of them I get from the library. In the past, I would loan books to people telling them I want them back but now I’m getting in a cleanse mood, where I’m going to lend them, and just say pass it on. My daughter and I share books with each other.
Ooooooh, just adored your story! I found such resonance there as a book lover 😍 I carried quite a few books from home after my translocation to the UK, and I never thought I'd buy so many more whilst here. It's a beautiful conundrum. The local libraries often have sales to clear space for more new stock. I've picked up wonderful books for as low as 20p. It was even better (meaning more) when my son was young, as I'd go overboard on children's books (which I also still love to read.) Quite often the libraries and thrift stores would sell 4 or 5 books for £1, thus, I'd be guaranteed to be coming home with big heavy bags. I think one way to support and promote authors on a budget is by conducting spotlight forums or book clubs that are engaging and inclusive. Draw people in on organic curiosity and yearning for the gems inside that book, and let nature do the rest. Your personal photos added a personal touch to this story 😍 I'm truly glad that it was featured. Congratulations 🎉👏🏾 🎉
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
I don't buy anything on Amazon, either, so I find shopping for books very frustrating. The frustration you have in finding books in English - where you find mostly YA, etc. - is what I feel, and I live in America. It's very hard for me to find books that are of interest, because most of the things I see in stores are YA or "chic lit." Even at the bigger bookstores, I can find nonfiction if I wanted to, and maybe a few (but not many) classics, but I have no interest in most of what's out there. When it comes to the classics, most of what I find on the shelf is the stuff you have to read for school. But if I wanted to read more books from say, Ray Bradbury or Mark Twain, I'd have to go to Amazon, and, like you, I don't do that, on principle. If I'm going to spend money, and I rarely do, I want it to be in a real bookstore, on a real book. I can't relate to this taking pictures of books thing, but then I've never been much of a picture person. I might take a picture of something, but I rarely look at them. And on a practical level, if I took a picture of a book on a shelf because I might one day buy it, there's a good chance that when I finally was ready to buy, the book would be gone. However, since it's likely a newer book, the bookstore could just get a copy for me. I'm usually looking for books (and movies) at our local library, where they have a little nook where you can get hardcovers and DVDs for only $2 and paperbacks for $1. These books are typically ones that were donated to the library that they don't want or, they were in the collection and they're not going to be in circulation anymore. Sometimes they're pretty worn, but most of the time they're in very nice shape. Earlier this year they had a hardcover copy of Stephen King's latest book, in perfect shape. $2. I've picked up DVDs (and blu-rays), not only never used, but still wrapped for $2 that would have been $7-15 in a regular store. They restock that area twice a week, and have sales about every 3 months where you can go through all of what they accumulated. I went to one of those last month and walked away with a hardcover copy of "Atlas Shrugged", 5 CDs, and 4 movies, all for under $10. Sure, the authors and artists didn't get any money, but they're mostly dead, my money didn't go to Amazon or any other evil companies, and my local library, which is awesome, did get some cash.
Omgggg, we're soooo the same. I too am not at the liberty to purchase all the books I want so my phone gallery is filled with photos of books I've taken and screenshots that I've made of books that people talk about on Instagram and TikTok! Not only for books, but I'm more of a in store purchases kinda girl. I don't buy anything online, although I'm a Millenial. My friend calls me a Boomer for this, lol