Chen Ying-ching, the head of Owl Publishing House, has written about the publishing industry under the pen name Old Cat for some time now. He points out that books are unlike foodstuffs or other consumables such as toilet paper. A person will not buy the same book twice unless the book has been lost or given away.
貓頭鷹出版社社長、以「老貓」為筆名，長期撰寫出版產業分析的陳穎青指出，書籍並非像食物、衛生紙一樣用後即棄的消耗品，除非遺失或送人，否則沒有人會重複購買同一本書。