Hey everyone! Clara Kensie here. A few times a month at Adventures in YA Publishing, I post a question for you and the Adventures in YA team to answer. The questions cover all topics important to writers and book lovers: craft, career, reading, books, and more. Join the discussion!

Which do you do more often: borrow books from your library or purchase books from the bookstore?

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Clara Kensie: When I hear about a book I want to read, the first thing I do is look for it on my library’s website to see if they have it already or if it’s on order. In fact, I keep my To Be Read list on my library’s website, where I can tell at a glance if the books I want are currently available for immediate download, if they’re on order, or if they’re available for checkout. My library has an phenomenal digital collection of YA, and I always try to get my books as a digital loan first. If it’s not available in digital, I’ll borrow it in print.

While I always prefer to borrow from my library, I purchase lots of books too. I automatically buy books written by my author friends, either in digital or print. If a book I want is digital only and my library doesn’t have it, I’ll buy it. I also cannot resist Kindle Daily Deals and Nook deals or used books stores. I buy dozens of print books at my library’s used book sales.


Jan Lewis: I read ebooks exclusively, so I purchase them from Barnes & Noble. I got used to reading on a Nook before I got my iPad, and I still prefer their reading app.

Lisa Gail Green: I buy far more books than I borrow, but sometimes I can’t afford to support my bad habit and I do go to the library. I’ve always loved libraries and definitely fed my teenage book habit using the library, however. My own mother is a retired librarian. But I try to support authors by purchasing when I can. Plus I love to own my books and use my Kindle.

Martina Boone: I love libraries. I practically lived in them through my teenage years. Until recently, I

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bought a lot of books but I also borrowed a lot. Lately, I read a ton of ARCs, and I read a lot of digital books. I know the library carriers lots of digital books, but so far, I have not figured out the mechanism for reading on them. I should though, because when I love a book I’ve read digitally, I usually end up buying a paper copy as well. That might be my solution for avoiding buying multiple copies of books. On the other hand, I have to admit that one of the reasons I LOVE reading digitally is that all my favorites are there with me instantly. My iPad has become my security blanket, except that instead of being fuzzy and soft, it’s filled with places that offer comfort and adventure. I’m hooked.

Katharyn Sinelli: I usually buy more than I borrow, especially via Kindle since it doesn’t feel like I’m spending real money. Our local library has stepped up it’s digital list of YA titles, so I’ll also get my fix there. I do like to own copies of my friends’ books and titles I’m likely to reference in my writing process. Sometimes I want to know things like how Lani Taylor differentiated Karou’s description of Prague from Akita’s. Yep, literary nerd through and through.

Alyssa Hamilton: Well I work in a bookstore and it is seriously just temptation after temptation for me everyday. And I usually give in very easily. Having a discount has saved me so much money I can’t even believe it. We also get to borrow books from the store, so it’s my own personal library 🙂 I haven’t taken a book out of a library though in a really long time. I have this extremely bad habit of needing to own my books. One day I’ll get back into it!

WHAT ABOUT YOU? Do you borrow most of your books from the library, or do you buy most of your books from the bookstore?