MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

ATDrake · 09-03-2011, 07:35 PM

I never bothered buying e-books over $10 before the Agency 5 became the Agency 6 and I still don't bother now.

All that Agency pricing really means to me is that with no discounts available I simply buy fewer e-books from those imprints that I previously did and I am increasingly disinclined to buy any more.

In the past I did use to pick up supplementary e-copies of favourite books that I already owned in paper when there was a good Kobo coupon (and I still do it now for discountable titles which are reasonably priced), but I no longer do it for those publishers which won't allow discounts unless they're doing those dirt-cheap promotional gimmicks where that particular book is at $2.99 or less.

I figure that at those prices, I don't need to own a(nother) copy when I could spend my money on something which gives me better value for it.

I think they are kind of losing out. Myself personally, I'm less willing nowadays to take a chance sight unseen on a new author (even a highly recommended award-winning one) with an e-book purchase, and less inclined to pick up e-book versions from authors who are only middling-enjoyable to me, whom I'd previously been willing to splurge upon if I could catch their e-books at a good price when there was a discount sale.

At $10 and up, I just don't feel the need to own an e-book copy and the paper version at the library is good enough for me, whereas at below $5 after coupon code (or over that from DRM-free publishers like Baen), I've cheerfully bought a lot of stuff from authors whom I'd been previously unfamiliar with, enough to repurchase my Kindle at its original $269 selling price at least 2 times over.

09-03-2011, 07:35 PM	#7
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	I never bothered buying e-books over $10 before the Agency 5 became the Agency 6 and I still don't bother now. All that Agency pricing really means to me is that with no discounts available I simply buy fewer e-books from those imprints that I previously did and I am increasingly disinclined to buy any more. In the past I did use to pick up supplementary e-copies of favourite books that I already owned in paper when there was a good Kobo coupon (and I still do it now for discountable titles which are reasonably priced), but I no longer do it for those publishers which won't allow discounts unless they're doing those dirt-cheap promotional gimmicks where that particular book is at $2.99 or less. I figure that at those prices, I don't need to own a(nother) copy when I could spend my money on something which gives me better value for it. I think they are kind of losing out. Myself personally, I'm less willing nowadays to take a chance sight unseen on a new author (even a highly recommended award-winning one) with an e-book purchase, and less inclined to pick up e-book versions from authors who are only middling-enjoyable to me, whom I'd previously been willing to splurge upon if I could catch their e-books at a good price when there was a discount sale. At $10 and up, I just don't feel the need to own an e-book copy and the paper version at the library is good enough for me, whereas at below $5 after coupon code (or over that from DRM-free publishers like Baen), I've cheerfully bought a lot of stuff from authors whom I'd been previously unfamiliar with, enough to repurchase my Kindle at its original $269 selling price at least 2 times over.