Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
If people are still saying that reading e-books is not cheaper than reading paperbacks, then they're not altogether there with regard to the current state of affairs, especially when reading new releases. The National Dutch Book Week drove that home to me in a major way.
I even think reading paper books in Dutch is economically wasteful.
My GF reads only paper if she can help it, and Dutch translations if possible. She's now reading a newly released book.
- In Dutch, it has been split up into two parts (it wasn't in English).
Now compare the pricing:
- Dutch Part 1, paperback: €22.95
- Dutch Part 2, paperback: €24.95
I don't know if there's a Dutch hardcover; haven't been able to find one. The total price of the paperbacks is €47.90.
- The English hardcover (complete) costs €21
- The Dutch e-book costs €12,95 at Kobo
- The English e-book costs €5.49 at Kobo (and $6.75 at Amazon.com)
The price of reading on paper in Dutch is just... overdone. I could imagine buying the Dutch e-book for a premium of €7.46 over the English version if you really want to read in Dutch, but paying an EXTRA €40 on top of that just to read on paper is, IMHO, needlessly expensive.
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I mostly agree but there may be other factors, e.g. Harlequin romance series (English versions at least) have a very robust eBay aftermarket. If you only want to read them once, and finish within 2 weeks of receiving, you can usually recover 70-80% of the subscription price after fees and shipping costs. I've seen $39 sets listed with free shipping (about $4) go for $40+ many times.
Personally I only read library ebook borrows. By using the Overdrive plug-in's "recommend" feature for new releases I get on the hold list near the top and have never had to wait more than a week or two to borrow them...