Is it Ethical to Use Bookstores as a Showroom?

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?