Here's my letter:

"Yeah! No more used books! And get rid of libraries too while you're at it!"

Bravo to you too, mensagirl! You both make compelling points.

I love used books and used bookstores myself, and still buy new books all the time (it can be problem, actually). But I buy books on half.com and eBay (one and the same now, of course) that I would not have bought otherwise. I try stuff out. I discover new authors. And I go on to buy more by those authors, often new, and to recommend them to other readers.

What makes you think your post is less eloquent, mensagirl? You both wrote well. My thoughts:

First, it's kinda late in the day for the Author's Guild to discover that Amazon sells used books.

Second, I would not advise anyone to buy their used books through Amazon, but that's hardly the Author's Guild's business.

Third, long live the Doctrine of First Sale, and thank you Cory for putting a name on it.

Fourth, I'd say that if there were no used books, the changes in my reading habits would come out as a wash. I'd be more likely - but not much more likely - to buy a given book new because I couldn't get it used. But I'd be rather less likely to buy such a book on spec because I wouldn't be able to sell it if I decided not to keep it. Finances are, as both of you have observed, critical. The AG's fallacy is in thinking they can just squeeze customers without having any other effects.

My guess is, the AG has gotten infected by the "one user only" policy of electronic material. Next, they'll be outraged by the existence of public libraries. (You saw Ruben Bolling's cartoon on that, right?)

Bravo, Cory!

My post about it as an author, not nearly as eloquent as Mr. Doctorow's, resides here.