As a reader/ As a writer

I fel the same way about music as I do about books. Lend them, share them. if they are good enough that you will tell your friends, "Yeah I found this GREAT author or heard this amazing song" feel free to lend the copy or download the soung. Music and writing are all about sharing your thoughts, emotions, stories, lives, why put a price tag to it?? I think it's wrong to make money of your art. Same as there's this guy I know who is my age and plays in the NHL. He was joking one night that he just signed for 1.7 million yearly. WTF?? to PLAY hockey? That's wrong.
But back to books. I think your writer friend is well...petty, no offence. She/he should be happy that you liked the book and want to recommend it. Who knows, maybe your neighbour will be so impressed they will want to go out and buy the series or buy other books published by this author? That is how we establish our names in the writing world. Word of mouth.

I disagree with your friend, while what she says is true, every time someone buys her book she gets a royalty.

If you give your friend the book, then you are taking her royalty from her....

So what your friend is saying it that thriftshops, goodwill stores and yard sales should not sell used unwanted books, because the authors get no royalty to it.

There is a difference in letting one person read a book verses what one person did when the deathly hallows came out, and published the whole book online via jpgs of each page of the book....that's where it turns wrong.

But to give your friend or neighbor a book to read is not wrong. I don't care what any writer thinks, because not everyone can afford to buy books new....And if a person is interested in reading, one book is not going to make a difference in her royalties.

Mooch

And here I was about to loan a book to a fellow philosophy student on Monday. Hmmm, I never pondered the ethics of loaning books to others before. If it is unethical to loan a person a book (and the ethics here seem to be concerned solely with what is good for the writer's wallet), then there are a couple of other questions that we need to ponder.

For instance, is it ethical for a college student to buy an used textbook? Or should they have to buy a new one no matter how high the prices on them go. (Gee, we wouldn't want to rob the poor publisher of their money--who cares if the student has no grocery money.)

If it is unethical to loan a book to someone, what about all the books that have gone out of print? Should a writer (or their publisher) be allowed to let a book fall out of print? If it is unethical for a person to loan a book to someone (or to buy an used copy for that matter), is it ethical for a publisher to quit printing copies of a book?

For me, the whole idea of it being unethical to loan books, and to borrow them, not alone buy used books is ridiculus. I hear the sound of a cash register as the voice of ethical reason. Business as the guiding light of ethics, it makes me shudder.

To illustrate how silly this is (and I am a writer) lets look at a different product--used cars. Is it unethical to loan someone your car? Is it wrong to buy or sell an used car? If it is allowable for used cars, why not books?

In my experience, people are going to pass books hand to hand, and heavens knows I have brought enough used books in my lifetime to fill a small storage locker. Two of the textbooks I am using this semester are loans, and half of the others were brought used.

And when I did my Lulu project (it was a modified Golden Dawn ritual) I put a six dollar royality on it because I figured that the book was going to meet a photocopier. I figure that one person in a lodge was actually going to pay the book, so I jacked up the price.

(Was that ethical? Maybe. Maybe not. There are some who would argue that I should have PDFed it and gave it away for free--Golden Dawn being considered a spiritual system--just too bad, I like to eat occasionally.)

I think this person has no clue what ethics really are, and no clue about the word of mouth advertising that working writers depend upon. Ignore her opinion, and do what you like with your copy of her book.

Hey Oreo,

The majority of the books I have read have come from someone else or they got them from me! Perhaps there is a code of ethics for writers that we as readers dont really know about. lol Im not sure how they could not know about this long tradition of trading books between friends. My mother and her friends used to swap BOXES of them! lol Not just one at a time. I agree with you, your the purchaser and you can do what you would like. Writers cant expect that their book will be read by being purchased each time. I guess this particular writer is more concerned with profits than someone reading their creativity and enjoying the story that they wrote, or the ideas that they expressed, or whatever the book may be about.

I think if you lend a book to someone, they more and likely wont lend it out to someone else, but in return will tell someone about it and then they of course will have to go buy it if they would like to read it.

Bay xx

As a writer I would like everyone to get a chance to read my writing whether they bought it or not, and I would feel flattered that someone liked my writing enough to share it with someone else. I may not be making a profit, but name and writing is getting out there.

As a reader, I think books are too expensive as is. If I find a good book I feel it is completely ethical to share the book with someone else. If they like it so much that they want their own copy, then they can go buy it. If not, at least I have shared the gift of reading with someone else.

There have been several times where I have borrowed books from someone else and several times where I have lent out and even gave books to someone else. In fact there is a website online (www.paperbackswap.com) that just does that.

i am a reader only.i often buy books,borrow books,and lend books. i buy books because i need to learn more knowledge,open my eyes.i borrow books,it is a reason i know i have some friends who would like to share their interests with me.so do i,so i lend my books out .in fact,if only we happy,if only we get satisfaction,if only we enhance friend,we should borrow or lend books .

Hi OreoCookie3, and like everyone else said in here - your friend is on the wrong side with her view.

As a reader, I am buying 80% of my books 1st hand, and 10% 2nd hand from Amazon sellers, and other 10% I get as a present. The more the book is read - better for the writer due to the free promotion - advertising. I cannot imagine that a true writer is doing it only for the money, but is doing it mainly to be read, and to be able to share his views, and thoughts and soul with as many people as possible.
I do give a few books to close friends of mine, but prefer not to really as they always forget to give these back to me, and I end up chasing after my beloved and often expensive books. So lately I do not borrow my books anymore. I'd rather give to them a new one as a present if I am able to afford it.

As a writer, even though unpublished one, I'd love to have my books read wherever, the bought once, and the once that are borrowed, and the once in libraries, or the once re-sold as 2nd hands.

When the writer wants to earn more from his/her books what is stopping them to put it online also as a downloadable PDF for a small price like $6? This way much more people will be able to buy it, due to the ever increasing new book prices all around the world. And no one could be blamed for not having enough to buy new books, or be willing to read while not able to afford even 2nd hand's books.

So people should be able to share, to get books wherever, from libraries, and friends, or from charities.
I cannot imagine life without books, and reading these books and can only hope that more people are like this, and will continue to read books;)
TheFortunes

hi as a reader i only read text books related to my profession.i am also the type of person who must read all the content of the book before returning it to the owner.if your asking the number of books that i have readl,ive read a hundreds of bokks that i borrowed since the day iwas able to read. i dont buy much book especially in good will sorry because i always prefer second hand sale of used books. its okay its just a book, after your done with it then anybody can used it after you so its okay for me.

Well first of all I think your writer friend who said it wouldn't be ethical for you to give the book to someone else to read is a bit batty...LOL Why don't you point out the fact to her, that an author doesn't get paid for each time their book is read that belongs to a library. Could you then imagine that if this was the practice to pay an author every time someone took their book to read from a library how much more rich authors like Stephen King or JK Rowling would be?

I'm both reader and writer....As a reader, I HATE the idea of just throwing a book away after I've read it, most books I'll keep as I may actually want to re-read it another time,..but for those I don't want I usually donate them to libraries or give them to a friend who might want it. As a writer...now it would be NICE to think that each and everytime that one book was read that authors would get paid or have some compensation for it..but is this practical? How could one keep track how many times that one book was read? Nope think that writer friend is impractical and off base there.

I think that writer-friend of yours is thinking only of sales because if you pass it on to your neighbors, nobody will be buying the book anymore. But there is such a thing as sharing, recycling, bartering, borrowing, etc. We cannot avoid but let others make use of what we consider as already "done" or "used" because THAT is even more unethical when you would rather have the book rot or gather dust than let others benefit from it. I believe there is more value in sharing and passing the joy on to others. If I were the writer, I'd be glad that the neighbor would want to read my book too. Who knows? She might really like the book enough to make her want to have her own copy. I think there is nothing unethical about being generous and recycling things. Aside from helping your neighbor who may not be able to afford the book, you are also ridding your house of more garbage and thus you are being environment-friendly as well.