Why do you pay for books?

Answer 1

Authors do the work of writing books, editors do the work of editing them, printers do the work of printing them unless the books are ebooks, publishers go to the expense of advertising books, and everybody has to be paid for their work. People do not do these things for free. Hence, the consumer, who wants to read a book, has to pay for it. Or borrow it from the library. (Libraries also pay for the books that they have in their collections.)