Quote:
Originally Posted by CRussel
So, 2023 was a mixed year. I acquired 267 books (!), but the vast majority of them I didn't pay for -- either KU, or Kickstarter freebies, or other such. In total, I spent $330 on books this year, for an average of $1.15 per book -- an acceptable price. My most expensive book cost a whopping $25.40, but it was a knitting reference book and I don't regret it. What I do regret is the number of books "acquired" just because they were Kickstarter bundles or freebies and that I will probably never read. I'm not even sure why I bothered to download them, though I admit I've been occasionally surprised and found a new author that way. But it's pretty rare.
My overall reading has included a lot of rereads, but in total I've read 159 books this year, with only two I had to abandon. OTOH, 61 of them were re-reads, so only 98 new books. That's not a great ratio of read to acquired (23%). This MUST CHANGE in the coming year. I already know I'm going to do a fair amount of rereads, so I need to scale way, way back on all the junk that comes with Kickstarter bundles. Honestly, they should be paying me to download some of that dreck.
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Oookay, I can't resist commenting.
It seems to me ("to me" being the operative phrase) that a more accurate application of costs would be to amortize them over books you're certain or likely to read. Similarly, beating yourself up over books that never should have hit the tbr anyway, because they're free and you won't read them, is pointless.
That said, I absolutely agree with you that eclutter is still clutter. They just gum up the works. For starters, just as a suggestion, why not only count the Kickstarter books you actually want and amortize the price over them? Ignore the dreck. Certainly don't download it. Not worth the time or distraction.
And... I understand you have to add the cost of your KU subscription into your book costs, even though you don't own them. Would it be possible for you to let KU go, keep a running list of books you really want to read, and binge whenever there's a deal? Sigh. I currently have a free KU subscription (part of a Fire purchase) which I didn't turn down, even though I
know that my reading satisfaction goes down whenever I'm in KU.
Heh. It's so much easier to manage other people's tbrs!
