How is the author compensated for is works, whether acquired by a bunch of librarys, or thru a bunch of personal sales. Which one would compensate better?

Jeff Strand My big disclaimer is that readers should use whatever legal method (buying books, getting them from libraries, borrowing a friend's copy) they want.

But to answer your specific question, I make the most if you buy my book through Amazon. I get paid for library sales, but those are usually through a distributor, who gets a cut. If a sell 100 copies through Amazon, or 100 copies to libraries, I'm making more through Amazon.

Of course, there are other factors. If a library copy is checked out 20 times, that's 20 readers who might go on to buy other stuff. And a huge portion of my Young Adult sales are to libraries--maybe I don't earn as much per copy, but often those are put in the hands of reluctant readers who weren't going to buy a copy anyway, or by avid readers who can't afford to buy every book they want to read.

Ultimately, as long as people aren't downloading pirated copies, they should get my books any way they want.

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