(2022) Related: "No one buys books" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40119958 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40119958 > Sales to libraries, for exam

(2022) Related: "No one buys books" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40119958 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40119958 > Sales to libraries, for example, can be a significant portion of a book’s sales. This is one reason why I was skeptical of some of the stats getting promulgated recently. My local library, not a particularly large library, has many shelves full of "obscure" novels that you and I have probably never heard of. This is repeated in libraries across the country and the world. I like to browse the stacks and select books somewhat randomly, an admittedly hit-or-miss procedure, but I've found some diamonds in the rough. I suspect that public libraries are not actually "stealing" from retail book sales. For a currently best-selling book, a library may have multiple copies but never enough to satisfy patron demand, and there's typically a long backlog on holds. Whereas for lesser-selling books, the library sales are a bonus and may expose readers to the writer in a way they wouldn't otherwise.