Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Pomtroll

My [...] goal is to get no more than 10 books a month & I reached my limit yesterday.....What am I going to do?

I've found that adding the ebooks to my Amazon wish list instead of buying them helps. Let's get to the end of June with no more purchases* together!



* Free ebooks don't count. At least, that's what I tell myself.

[AlexBell]

Could you bind yourself to confess here, in public, within 24 hours, if you break down and get another ebook before the end of June?

That might just be enough if you are wavering.

Regards, Alex

[Terisa de morgan]

Hello, I'm Terisa and I'm an ebook addict too (yes, free books don't count). I have over 2200 ebooks without reading (around 400 paid ebooks). But I keep on buying them (last time on Thursday) and I have a loooong buying list.

I'm an addict and I don't want a cure

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Could you bind yourself to confess here, in public, within 24 hours, if you break down and get another ebook before the end of June?

That might just be enough if you are wavering.

I will, of course, report back on my success or otherwise. Thanks.

[Sweetpea]

Hello, I'm Sweetpea, and I've been cured from my ebook buying addiction.

I must say, I quit cold-turkey. Or rather, the publishers made me quit cold-turkey. I have bought a total of 3 books the entire 2010 year. And so far, this year, I've bought 1 book.

[wyndslash]

Hi, I'm Wynd, and I am a semi-ebook buying addict semi because i used to be really addicted (when i first got my reader), but now it's waning as i get more and more used to borrowing

after also almost spending $100 on romance stuff, i feel ashamed of myself

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Hello, I'm Sweetpea, and I've been cured from my ebook buying addiction.

I must say, I quit cold-turkey. Or rather, the publishers made me quit cold-turkey. I have bought a total of 3 books the entire 2010 year. And so far, this year, I've bought 1 book.

I'm astonished and impressed. I bought around 246 in 2010 (and read 160), and I've bought 157 already this year (and read 94).

But no more! No more ebook purchases this month!

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm astonished and impressed. I bought around 246 in 2010 (and read 160), and I've bought 157 already this year (and read 94).

But no more! No more ebook purchases this month!

It's sad! All those lovely books that want to be bought, but me not being allowed to buy them!

[mikaelalind]

Hello!
My name is Mikaela and I have 500 e-books, and counting. I try to stop myself, but then a Kobo Coupon comes, or publishers offers cheap books. I have been good, and not bought any new books for the last two days. . For the rest of the summer I plan on reading the 50 or so books that I haven't read yet.

[Panda Rose]

Phew, I am not alone.

[jersysman]

Hello, my name is Jerry and I am an ebook addict. I can trace this addiction to the day that I purchased my Nook Color a scant 3 months ago. Previous to that, I may have purchased maybe 10-20 books a year (I'm not counting my ebay book addiction when I purchased books by the case... okay I'll add it!). In the 3 months since I have had the NC, I have fallen victim to 3 Fictionwise sales of greater than 40%. I couldn't stop myself when they had a 60% off sale. I purchased over 150 books during that time. I do need help because I am too weak to accomplish this on my own. I have over 650 books on my TBR list at Goodreads and am afraid that the next Fictionwise sale will do me in.

I have just purchased the new Nook reader and am getting that itch again. Please help!!

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My ebook library is currently around 2,000 items. I've bought the vast majority of those (1392 at fictionwise, 700 or so at webscription.net, a few elsewhere). I've read about 1600 of them.

4 out of 5 is a very good ratio, considering the sheer volume of your paid purchases. You're reading almost as much as you buy and certainly seem to be getting your money's worth; keep it up!

I just crunched the numbers and I've deliberately gone and paid for* (own pocket or using gift certificate funds I could have bought paper books with) 283 individual e-book titles thus far (I fully expect there will be more before the end of the month).

Out of these, 31 are magazines, 49 are anthologies or short story/essay collections, and 28 are "pre-read" books for which I bought a discounted e-book copy of something I already own/enjoyed from the library.

That leaves me with 175 new-to-me self-contained books or standalone short stories to finish (since I skip uninteresting stories in compilations thus can't be said to have completely read the contents).

Of that number (discounting re-reads of the pre-reads), I've thus far fully read 56 out of them, which works out exactly 32%.

Probably the best scenario to improve this is pray for rain, since I can't read paper books inside a ziplock baggie while waiting for the bus.

Because I'm certainly not likely to stop buying any time soon.

* This is not counting "free-with-purchase", such as the nearly-complete Vorkosigan Saga CD that came bundled with my Cryoburn hardcover or "felicitous giveaway/promo I would have bought anyway" as when I received a complimentary copy of an e-book by way of apology after a direct-from-publisher sale I'd been fully intending to purchase it from expired early†.

† For those who want to know how this story ends, I then went and bought a further 11 books from the publisher's next sale at a cost that was roughly 8 times what I would have paid for the initial sale book which was generously given to me free.

[Pomtroll]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Could you bind yourself to confess here, in public, within 24 hours, if you break down and get another ebook before the end of June?

That might just be enough if you are wavering.

Regards, Alex

I will be honest.

[crossi]

As bad as BUYING the ebooks is my addiction for scouring the internet looking for new releases and price drops. I'm so afraid of possibly missing a book I just have to buy that I find myself going through the "Coming Soon" and the "Last 30 Days" lists several times a day looking for finds, checking ereaderiq, dailycheapreads, Amazon Kindle Forums, Mobileread forums, kindleboards, ect. This seriously cuts into my reading time but I find things often enough that I can't stop myself.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by jersysman

In the 3 months since I have had the NC, I have fallen victim to 3 Fictionwise sales of greater than 40%. I couldn't stop myself when they had a 60% off sale. I purchased over 150 books during that time. I do need help because I am too weak to accomplish this on my own. I have over 650 books on my TBR list at Goodreads and am afraid that the next Fictionwise sale will do me in.

I have just purchased the new Nook reader and am getting that itch again. Please help!!

Okay, relax, take a deep breath and chant to yourself: "Fictionwise will have another sale after this*. It will be a better sale, with a better coupon. I can hold out for another 60% off. The books will still be there†. Another sale with a better coupon. At least 55% off. The books will still be there."

This, incidentally, is how I've managed to stave off splurging at FW with every deep-discount coupon and only get new releases because of the extra 15% off if their first week coincides with said coupon, or stuff I absolutely want to read Real Soon Now after having finished the 1st book in the series which I picked up during a previous sale.

* Unless they go out of business first, but gauging from how many of us are splurging there, we might be able to stave off their collapse for some time.

† Unless they get arbitrarily removed from FW's catalogue, which happen sometimes even with longtime MultiFormat author/small press-republished releases which are not getting rereleased elsewhere as far as I can tell, which is surprising (and upsetting).