Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[CRussel]

Wow. Just getting them in there was a monumental task, Paul. Well done. However, as you point out, if you've read 1817 of them, that leaves 2580 of them that haven't been read!

How many of those are of the "I won't ever read" or "Tried, didn't like, might never go back" variety, or did you exclude those from your Calibre library?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Wow. Just getting them in there was a monumental task, Paul. Well done. However, as you point out, if you've read 1817 of them, that leaves 2580 of them that haven't been read!

How many of those are of the "I won't ever read" or "Tried, didn't like, might never go back" variety, or did you exclude those from your Calibre library?

Of the 2559 I haven't read (some entries are for books I intend to buy eventually), 1860 are books that I probably won't read. Various freebies, some duplicates, some authors I've taken a dislike to, some classics from the MobileRead Library that I thought I might get to, but mostly freebies in the SF/Mystery/Romance genres that I got from Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Kobo. It may be that someone will give a rave review to a book I have there that will prompt me to read it.

Basically, I decided that if calibre was going to be my ebook organiser, it should organise everything. Luckily, binary flags in calibre are actually tri-state: Yes, No, and Undefined. So I can distinguish between books I have but have no specific intention of reading (almost all freebies), and books that I do plan on readin in the next five to ten years (mostly paid-for, but with a smattering of freebies).

So far it's working well.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Counting freebies, I've read at least 1817 books over the past eleven years, five months. That's about 160 a year, although I've read a bit more than that average over the past three years. Some of that may be books I've read that I've not remembered that I've read.

But this does mean that I have three to four year's of ebooks bought and unread, not the less than two that I thought I had. Wow.

That's a little higher than my pace; I tend to hit 120-150 per year. All the same, I'm in the same boat in terms of having about four years' worth of reading material on hand...and a good chunk of TV/movie content, too.

I generally adopt a philosophy of stocking up in times of plenty to support my habit in lean times. I don't like being left high and dry when I can help it. All the same, I am starting to pull back from buying new releases, unless I get an excellent deal and/or plan to read them Real Soon Now. Since the ebook's the same either way, there's no other inherent advantage to buying early.

[HomeInMyShoes]

I bought three books in the last two days.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, Small Gods by Terry Pratchett and Player One by Douglas Coupland. Two of my favourite authors (Pratchett and Coupland) and I only had to pay $5 physical money as I used up the rest of a gift card to fund the purchases.

[jersysman]

I bought the Wool Omnibus and had to get tough with myself to not buy the the other series of this author.

For shame!!

But, I did use a 30% off code for Kobo.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I bought the Wool Omnibus and had to get tough with myself to not buy the the other series of this author.

In that case, I'll be sure to keep you in the dark about the Shift Omnibus (sequel to Wool) and Dust (completes the series, due in mid-August).

Oh. Uh, oops.

[pdurrant]

I have to confess to a mini-spree.

I have bought 13 books in July, and it's only the 6th! Two of the books were on-going subscriptions (Grantville Gazette and F&SF). Eight more with the unmissable Baen Monthly Bundle (far too good an offer to pass up).

Two of the others were 50% off, and were both the second volume in series where I'd really liked the first volume.

The only one I feel slightly guilty about is a special offer from Phoenix Publishing, but even that was 50% off, and by a favourite author, with extras by two favourite authors.

I'm doomed...... to a large TBR pile full of books that I shall enjoy reading. I suppose there are worse fates!

[CRussel]

There are worse dooms, Paul. Really, though, you're within your own criteria for buying books. One really can't complain about buying the Baen Monthly Bundles. They're a great deal, assuming there's more than one book in the bundle of real interest, and there almost always is.

I've been doing much better about buying books lately, though I did buy a "3 in 1" omnibus edition of an author I know only from her Vera television series, Ann Cleeves. She has a different series of Shetland mysteries, and the first three books in the series are now combined in an omnibus volume. So, I'm taking a flyer on it, but it really is a violation of my own rules, since she isn't, yet, a favourite author and it really wasn't on sale. But still, it's a good value and she may well prove to be a favourite author. I have hopes.

[PurpleStar]

Oh boy, I have been on a book buying binge again. I bought all the books in the sci-fi story bundle. 8 DRM-Free books for $10. Well, how could I not?? I also bought Spin by Robert Charles Wilson, Zane by Brenda Jackson, When Lightning Strikes by Brenda Novak and today I bought the first 4 Sue Grafton books ($1.99 each!) Oh, plus I bought the first two Odd Thomas books by Dean Koontz at the used book store a few weeks ago. I really must stop buying books for awhile, if that's even possible.

[pdurrant]

I have to report that I've failed in my attempt this year to restrict my ebook buys to less than 120. So far this year I've bought 108 ebooks, and I'll certainly be buying more than 12 ebooks over the rest of the year.

On the plus side, there are only four books in that list that I think that perhaps I shouldn't have bought after all. That's not too bad, especially as none of them cost more than $1.50.

I think I shall try for the same limit next year. I think that next year I will succeed because I will effectively be buying fewer Baen books, now that I'll have caught up with the Monthly bundles again, and some of the books in the bundles will be ones I've already got.

[bookaho!ic]

i bought real ones on friday and have to say its all J Jackson Bentley's fault lol i read his freebie 48hours then had to buy the other three and also his new one. Thank goodness for kobo discount codes i only paid £1.92

friend just got all 5 (48hours not free on kindle lol) and spent about £4

unread book cound up to 778
total book count up to 1048

[jersysman]

Well I did get 12 new Georgette Heyer books this month (I do miss BoB!!!)

I was hoping to fill out my collection on a good sale, but now I'll have to get the rest of them piecemeal during sales and coupons here and there.

[Mivo]

Do you guys manage to read one book at a time or do you jump between novels and leave quite a few half-read e-books in your wake?

This is a "problem" that takes more effort to keep in check than purchasing e-books does (I do buy more than I read, too), for me. I combat this somewhat effectively by only putting one or two novels on my e-reader at a time and trying to complete those before I transfer the next one. (I do keep many more non-fiction books there, but those are typically work and reference works, not novels.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mivo

Do you guys manage to read one book at a time or do you jump between novels and leave quite a few half-read e-books in your wake?

This is a "problem" that takes more effort to keep in check than purchasing e-books does (I do buy more than I read, too), for me. I combat this somewhat effectively by only putting one or two novels on my e-reader at a time and trying to complete those before I transfer the next one. (I do keep many more non-fiction books there, but those are typically work and reference works, not novels.)

I usually read one book at a time, and I almost always finish the book, unless it's really awful or not to my taste. This year so far I've only abandoned 8 out of 127 (& that's higher than usual for me).

[Grace Elliot]

This thread makes me feel good about my book buying habits.
On average I download a book a day (splurges of 3 or 4 at a time, a couple of times a week) but after reading how many books are on your TBR piles, I feel my 'habit' is quite a modest one.
Thanks :-)