I didn’t mean to steal a book! How to buy books to align with your wallet and your values.

I recently ordered the book from my local library but it was taking quite a while to arrive and because I was running out of time to read it before my next book club meeting, I decided to buy it instead. My go-to of Wob was selling a second-hand copy but it was more expensive than I would have liked and so I looked elsewhere – there were none on Vinted so I opted for eBay.

When you put effort into make intentional spending decisions, it’s a real blow when they backfire. So I was gutted when I opened the parcel to find a book of really terrible print quality, and then fairly shocked when, on the second page, I read the words: 

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. 

This isn’t the first time that I’ve been taken for a mug because I’m trying to make better choices when I buy things. More than once I have paid more for something on eBay than it would have been on Amazon and it’s then arrived in Amazon packaging. It’s galling to know someone is skimming off the ethical premium that I’m happy to pay to avoid lining Jeff Bezos’ pockets!

This time, I hadn’t made a terribly good decision. If I’d found a second-hand copy of the book I would have bought that but, as time was against me, I didn’t spend much time looking into the seller. 

What to do when you buy a counterfeit book?

I did my research about what to do in this situation and took these four actions: 

1. I contacted eBay to report the seller. This was fairly convoluted but it was important to inform eBay about a seller breaching their policy on counterfeit goods. 
2. I requested a refund for the book. This was less because I wanted the refund and more as a way to communicate to the seller what the issue was with the book. 
3. I left a zero star review for the seller. It turns out there were a handful of other bad reviews highlighting the sale of fake books so if I had done my research properly I could have avoided this seller. 
4. I contacted the publisher about the copyright infringement. This was really simple to do as they’d included a link in the book below the warning about copyright infringement. 

I don’t expect to hear back from the publisher or from eBay but I did get a response from the seller, asking me to send photos showing why I thought it was a “fake book”. This was the response I received after sending photos: 

dear buyer, I apologize for the inconvenience, it seems to be some printing error or edition difference. please accept the book i will reimburse you 25%

This is a wholly unsatisfactory response – I don’t think you can palm off counterfeit books as a printing error or edition difference! But I’m also not sure there’s much more I can do and I hope that reporting it to eBay and the publisher, alongside a poor review, will prevent others from unknowingly stealing this particular book. 

Why does any of this matter?

Printing an e-book and selling it is a criminal offence – it is theft from both the author and the publisher. It’s already really difficult for writers to make any money from their craft and this is basically a way of taking their work without rewarding them for it. With the advent of AI, creative roles are being destroyed before our eyes and I believe really strongly in supporting artists, writers and other creatives where I can. 

We often overlook the power that we have as individuals in calling out behaviour that we’re not OK with. At least one reason I wanted to share this story is in the hope that it will ripple out and inspire at least one other person to consider flagging something that doesn’t sit comfortably with them.  

Another reason is to prompt you think about how you spend your money. In her excellent book Wallet Activism (2021), Tanja Hester writes about “shopping like you give a shit” which is an excellently pithy way to say harnessing our financial power for the benefit of the collective good.  Essentially, every time we spend money we are making a tiny vote for the world we want to live in.

So how should you buy books?

In general, I try to buy as many things second hand as possible.  Books are one area where I take a few different approaches.

• Borrow books from the library. In the UK, writers get paid when their work (whether physical or digital) is borrowed from a public library through a mechanism called the Public Lending Right.  I believe the rate is not as good as it used to be but it’s a way of rewarding the writer while reducing the environmental impact.
• Buy second-hand books. I often buy books from charity shops or online from places like WOB. I admit that if I was more patient I could read more books from the library, but sometimes I want to read a book at a specific time and waiting doesn’t suit me in those situations – being in two book clubs has this effect! Whether or not a writer gets paid for used books depends on where you buy them – some sellers like Wob (World of books pay a small royalty to the author through a scheme called AuthorSHARE. There are also indirect benefits to the author, such as generally increasing the visibility of a book or author which can lead to people buying or borrowing their next book.
• Buy new books from independent book shops. My family and I love spending time in book shops and we try to support them wherever possible – I feel very strongly that the world would be worse off if they didn’t exist. 

I like the approach of Cait Flanders, a writer herself, who suggests a blended approach – a mix of the first two options and then buying new copies of books (that you’ve either already read or want to read) when you particularly want to support the artist. 

Buying new books is expensive and, when you read a lot, the cost can stack up. But owning a book is also a wonderful thing, particularly when it means you can pass it on to a friend because you know they would love it or when it sparks conversation because a visitor sees it on your bookshelf (we could have a whole other discussion about which books you keep and which you pass on – I’m sure we all try to edit our bookshelves somewhat to make ourselves look better…). My hope is that by being more intentional about how and where we buy our books, we can support writers, curb the impact that books have on our environment and be intentional with our spending. 

In the end, I did read the counterfeit copy of the book and I really enjoyed the story (the book itself was awful and made me feel seasick because of the text not being printed level on the page). However, as I shouldn’t have had this stolen book in the first place, I’ve since bought another (legit!) copy which I will happily pass on to a friend. 

How would you feel if you found out you’d bought a counterfeit book?