Booking burning is still happening today but in a totally new light. Since Amazon opened its marketplace to third party sellers of new and used books, competition has been fierce; so fierce, in fact that thousands of books have become collectively known as "penny books". Small bookstores across the country found hope in the internet as new markets were discovered but those new markets also brought new competition. The value of online inventories has been plummeting year after year and the target of the frustration has fallen squarely on the penny books.

This frustration is frequently released through flame; penny books are thrown to the bonfire. Literature is extinguished, motivated by capitalism and the law of supply and demand.

On the surface, this is a bleak picture. Digging deeper, it is not that bad. The type of book that ends up being a penny book is created that way by the publisher. Publishing being a business, a big fear of running a business is running out of inventory in the face of high demand. When a book hits the best seller list, publishing houses invariably pump out copies. Consequently, millions of copies enter the used book market; add to that the perfect market transparency on the internet and, hey presto, the book is worth a penny. This situation affects titles such as The Bridges of Madison County or anything by Tom Clancy. Burning a few hundred of these books as a stress release is not sacrilegious because there are millions more copies out there.

The important books remain in high demand and therefore retain high value, stashed safely and securely away by the local neighborhood bookstore.