As for what you said about authors, there’s nothing to suggest that book swapping affects book sales. The fact is, the more people read your books, the bigger your readership base is for future (and previous) books. Who’s to say a swapper might not like your book so much they go out and immediately buy every book you’ve ever written? Or that they recommend your book to so many people that in the end you sell far more copies by giving away one free book. The fact is, readers feel able to experiment a lot more when the book is free, and might try books they’d never have dreamed of reading if they’d had to buy it. This can only be a good thing for authors and readers alike.

After all, isn’t this what second hand bookshops have been doing for centuries? And isn’t it a good thing that people who can’t afford to buy lots of new books now have access to thousands of titles? Authors need to look beyond the depths of their own pockets and think about how wonderful it is that these initiatives encourage people to read their books.

The problem I see is that a percentage of the people on these lists aren’t buying any of the books. They are just continuously swapping. Like you mentioned above, the author never sees a dime, while their book is passed from person to person repeatedly. Without those sales, the author may not get a chance to put out another book.:neutral:

I do appreciate that authors only get royalties from new books, but your comment made me wonder what authors (in an ideal world) would like readers to do with those books they aren’t keeping. (My local library doesn’t take donations – I asked after reading that some US libraries did. Don’t know whether other UK libraries are the same.)