Book Guilt

Now that I am an aspiring professional in the publishing industry, I receive several newsletters discussing the state and future of the business. The recent issue of one of them contained a link to this story, in which Bethanne Patrick discusses her recent guilt over vulturing the sale tables at Borders liquidation sales. I know that I'm guilty of this as well, as I've been wandering past those stores much too often looking to see if they've offered any new discounts since I was there two days ago. (Usually not.)

Patrick questions how much we can possibly value books, if we are willing to do so much to avoid paying for them. I know I am also guilty of this little problem, choosing to purchase books online or in used condition rather than pay full-price for them. I have shelves and shelves of books that I bought a library book sale (3/$1) that I've never read, nor never plan to read. And so reading this article made me think about my own book-buying habits. Maybe I can take her advice and give up the latte to buy a trade paperback. I know I'll make the sacrifice necessary to pick up some comic books in September, so I'm sure magazines and new books are worth my money too. Once I have the income to spread around, I'm looking forward to using that money to support the things I enjoy. The hosts of the very entertaining movie podcast "Better in the Dark" always encourage people to vote with their dollars, and I will do the same. As soon as I have some dollars.