And as Dave had enlightened me about, in many countries (but not here in the US, strangely enough), borrowing a book from the library can put some tiny bit of money in the author's pocket as well as being free to the reader (except for the taxes they pay that go into the library system ;-p ), not to mention being an honest, paper copy that actually makes it feel like I'm reading a book, not just some fanfiction.

As for the US, I recommend to everyone, if they like a book or an author, even if they've bought a copy for themselves, should look into their library to see if they have copies.  If they don't, a lot of libraries will take requests, often online, for books the district should purchase.  I know around where I live, and I think its standard procedure for libraries in the US, to purchase copies at full price, so royalties are full, the publisher makes full margin, and everyone involved can be a little happier.

I mean I just recently read Antiphon, the latest from Ken Scholes, and I'm totally digging the series, so I thought to go check my library district's online catalog, and they've got the first two volumes, but not Antiphon, which is not all that new of a release by this point, so if they were going to get it on their own recognizance, they would have already.  So I filled out the online request form, and about a week later, they had bought 4 copies for the district's collection.  Now, I know that doesn't sound like much, but think, how many county library districts are there in the US.  Wikipedia suggests the number is 3,143, and if you have a small, loyal fanbase who could cause the libraries here purchase an "average" of 1 per county, that could do alot of good for a new writer's career.  If its a hardback release, that would come very close to earning out a fairly average advance for a first novel.  It would also be a big chunk helping to sell out the fairly standard first print run of 10k, and that seems to be a big hurdle for alot of new authors in the traditional publishing pipeline.

I know I digress, but ej was entirely correct in reminding people of the libraries.  Sure we're paying for it, but we would whether we used the libraries or not, and there is conveniently no payment at the point of consumption.  If used properly, readers can turn the library systems into a bit of a safety net for their favorite authors with no real cost in time or money.