[anamardoll]

(Middle-of-the-night post.)

So I'm planning to put my house on the market and move, and I'm looking at the 6 floor-to-ceiling bookcases that are filled to the brim and thinking: No. Just no. I've lugged those books through a dozen moves already and my back isn't getting any stronger. So it's off to the Kindle Watch at eReader IQ because dear-god-am-I-addicted-to-those-email-alerts.

And I'm actually pleased and surprised to see that probably about 60% of my library is available in Kindle edition. Maybe a little more. It's definitely a MAJOR improvement from earlier in the year when the numbers were closer to 30%.

But I was amused/annoyed to see that most of the non-fiction books are priced in the $10-and-up range and most of the fiction books are priced in the $8-and-up range. And this is for books that are (a) several years old, (b) available for extremely cheap used prices, and (c) most of which I bought used in the first place.

The irony is that I've got enough books now that I actually feel less attached to my paper library. I'll re-buy some of them based on price and how dear the book is to me, and I'll cut and scan a few that aren't available, but all those books that I read once and don't need to read again? No way am I paying $12 a pop for those.

And the funny thing is, if they were between $1-5, I know myself enough to know that I *would* pay. Because I'm definitely a Pokemon person and I've got to catch them all. Once I read a book, I usually develop an irrational fear that I MIGHT WANT TO READ IT AGAIN AND WHAT IF IT'S GONE. (This actually has happened -- there are several books from my childhood that I want to read but can't find or remember the name of. I haunt the book finding sites regularly.)

But between my reviewing-everything-I-read policy (which means I can find the book again by checking through my reviewing records) and the delicious glut of new ebooks in my To Read pile, I'm becoming less attached to my paper books -- enough so that I'm not going to re-buy them if they're more than $6 a pop. My Pokemon addiction has been thwarted by the high prices.

I realize that publishers are still fiddling around trying to find pricing sweet spots, and this is NOT a grumble-agency-publishers post. But it is an open post to point out that when I've already spent money on a book (and money that probably didn't reach you because I've been buying at used book stores for years), then I'll only re-buy the ebook at a reasonably low price. And if your book has been out for a few years and only now making the ebook rounds, you might want to think about snagging repeat buyers.

Ironically, my search tonight seemed to indicate that the NEWER books were priced lower than the OLDER ones. Very odd.