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Price as Criterion for Book Selection?
On this and other forums, I've read a number of posts about boycotting books above a certain price level, or books by the six major publishing houses that are doing agency pricing.
My question: does anyone buy books with price as the ONLY criterion?
I think my major criteria for fiction book selections are story and author (add in subject for non-fiction choices). Price doesn't figure into it, except as an overall budgetary constraint in the back on my mind (max $50 in one month). If, say, Michael Ondaatje comes out with a new book, my thinking is never going to be "I'm not buying that! Vintage is an imprint of Random House, and Random House is evil! I'm going to buy 6 indie books instead!"
My puzzlement is that many people, from their posts, seem to use price as a major/only criterion, and treat books as fungible objects, like interior decorators who buy books by the foot. And I don't get that at all. Isn't one great book worth 10 (or 20 or 50 or 100) average books? Aren't we all reading to find that book that strikes us as great?
Bonus points: what criteria do you apply that you believe helps you find great reading material?
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