Your Current Book Buying Habits - Return to Agency Pricing

[darryl]

I'm afraid that the worst fears of the Large Publishers have come true. The plethora of books available at the lower price points have, as they so prophetically feared, devastated the perceived value of their product. Where I once though $9.99 was reasonable value for a new release by an established best selling author, alas, I now think twice at anything over $5.99. And this is the upper end of the range! Most of my purchases have been in the $2.99 to $4.99 range. I don't generally take much notice of the publishers, but a quick look reveals that I am purchasing far fewer books published by the large players, and even then only those titles where they are meeting new market prices. The most I have paid for a book in the last 2 years is $9.99. That was for a Baen title and is by an established author I like very much, and is about $2.00 more than my next highest priced purchase in this period.

There are some authors who I like but simply don't purchase their books any more. For instance, I love John Sandford's Prey series, but now borrow new ones from the library rather than pay the outrageous prices demanded. Sometimes this is a nuisance, as I am forced to read a paper copy. One of the reasons I love ereaders is because they are so easy on my slowly deteriorating eyesight. I hadn't read a Stephen King in years until I recently read Mr Mercedes on a friend's device. But even these authors I can do without, and would rather do so than pay the ridiculous prices demanded by their publishers.

Yes, I have fallen for a couple of Indie published titles which were absolutely appalling. Then again, I have come across some that are truly excellent. But highs and lows aside, I find the general standard of books I am purchasing or sometimes “borrowing” on Kindle Unlimited to be comparable to the standard of Big 5 published paperbacks that I once used to buy. So I really see no need to pay double or triple the price for the questionable benefit of the “curatorship” provided by the large publishers.

I am interested in what others are doing? Are you still purchasing new releases from the large publishers at prices up to $16.99 or even more? If not, are you obtaining these books by other means, legitimate or otherwise? How are you finding the quality of the books at the new lower price points of $0.99 to $6.99? What steps are you taking when purchasing to avoid the real dregs?

One final point regarding the apparent attempted return to full agency pricing. I for one will not be validating this appalling behaviour by purchasing these books at the ridiculous prices demanded.

[HarryT]

I'm completely price agnostic. I don't decide what books to buy based on their price. Books are sufficiently low-priced that it's irrelevant to me. I certainly see nothing "ridiculous" about book prices: I'm paying a heck of a lot less for ebooks now than I was for paper books 15 years ago. The typical price I pay on Amazon for an ebook is £4-5, which for something which provides several hours of high-quality entertainment seems good value for money.

[Geralt]

www.luzme.com
I have it connected to my GR account and I buy books when they go on sale.
If it's an author I really like I will buy full price.
I don't usually read books that came out same year I'm reading them. But there are exceptions to that as well.
I use library a lot too. If they buy new books, I will most likely get it from them.

[Lynx-lynx]

I tend to buy only if I have a Kobo code and the book is discountable (somewhere in the Kobo world).

The prices for paper books and ebooks in Aus is dearer than the UK and the US and probably around the Canadian price (for ebooks). The NZ price for ebooks can be way over the top again.

What do I mean by expensive? It's not unusual for Aus books to start around $15 ish for newer titles. And in NZ that same book is probably around $25.

[Ripplinger]

I don't mind paying up to $9.99 for ebooks (although I did pay $15.99 for 2 about our footbal team! ). But anything higher than $9.99 is extremely rare for me. That's for well-known authors though. Self-published or unknowns I expect to pay much less, even grab a few freebies off Amazon when they run the specials to promote an author. I feel ebooks should be a few dollars cheaper than the paperbacks, but as long as they never cost more than the paperbacks, I'm ok with the pricing within reason.

[GeoffR]

Ebook prices are still so much cheaper than paper that it probably wouldn't affect what I buy, just when I buy it. Most of the books I buy are in the range $7-$12 before discount, compared to paper price of $20-$30 which is never discounted ($NZ), so if I can't get a discount on an ebook I want it might wait longer on my wishlist, but eventually I will buy it.

[Geralt]

Originally Posted by Lynx-lynx

The prices for paper books and ebooks in Aus is dearer than the UK and the US and probably around the Canadian price (for ebooks). The NZ price for ebooks can be way over the top again.

What do I mean by expensive? It's not unusual for Aus books to start around $15 ish for newer titles. And in NZ that same book is probably around $25.

At least you guys don't have to deal with this phenomenon.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson for example or any other epic fantasy book. They split the translation into two parts or more.
If I want to order an English copy, I can get if for 15 euros over at bookdepository for example. But if I want to buy a translation I have to cash out 15 euros for each of the tomes they've split it to.
I feel sorry for the people who are fantasy readers here, and who don't know English well enough to read books. They are getting ripped in a major way.
This splitting up of translated books is a common thing for epic fantasy books in particular here.

[cromag]

Most (actually, the vast majority) of the books I've bought have been $5 or less. More than that, and I put it on a wait list while I think about it. I eventually buy some. I don't think I've ever gone above $10.

It's worth noting that we have an excellent county library system with a very nice branch in my town. I have no problems at all with reading "hard copy."

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm completely price agnostic. I don't decide what books to buy based on their price. Books are sufficiently low-priced that it's irrelevant to me. I certainly see nothing "ridiculous" about book prices: I'm paying a heck of a lot less for ebooks now than I was for paper books 15 years ago. The typical price I pay on Amazon for an ebook is £4-5, which for something which provides several hours of high-quality entertainment seems good value for money.

Ditto that !

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Geralt

At least you guys don't have to deal with this phenomenon.
The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson for example or any other epic fantasy book. They split the translation into two parts or more.
If I want to order an English copy, I can get if for 15 euros over at bookdepository for example. But if I want to buy a translation I have to cash out 15 euros for each of the tomes they've split it to.
I feel sorry for the people who are fantasy readers here, and who don't know English well enough to read books. They are getting ripped in a major way.
This splitting up of translated books is a common thing for epic fantasy books in particular here.

Gollancz have done that with the paperback versions of the Stormlight Archive books here, which means they keep the ebook price quite high - still in the hardback range. I did manage to get the first one cheaply some time ago, but the second one languishes on my "Continued" wishlist. Of course, I haven't actually read the first one, yet, so there's no great rush.

I've also seen that done, in pb, with the longer GRRM books. In fact, looking on Amazon right now, I see they have both the split and non-split versions of Storm of Swords and Dance with Dragons at moderately insane prices.

To get back to the original point: the cost of a book is not really a big deal to me. I could pay out for a shiny hardback if I wanted, but it's fairly rare for me to want something that badly. I have a vast and unwieldy TBR, so I'm perfectly happy to wait for a bargain.

[darryl]

Many of us seem to be in that fortunate position where buying a book or two, even at relatively high prices, is not a big deal. For me, and for some but not all others, it appears that the question is more about the value that we get for our money. By way of example, the Kindle edition of John Sandford's recent book, Field of Prey, is available for Australian $18 (actually $17.99) from Amazon Australia, a price which was of course set by the Publisher. At current exchange rates this amounts to $13.65 US Dollars. Can I afford to pay this. Fortunately, yes. Is it good value? Is it a fair and reasonable price for an ebook in todays market? In my opinion, the price is about double what it should be. If I bought at this price I would feel that I was being well and truly ripped-off.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by darryl

Many of us seem to be in that fortunate position where buying a book or two, even at relatively high prices, is not a big deal. For me, and for some but not all others, it appears that the question is more about the value that we get for our money. By way of example, the Kindle edition of John Sandford's recent book, Field of Prey, is available for Australian $18 (actually $17.99) from Amazon Australia, a price which was of course set by the Publisher. At current exchange rates this amounts to $13.65 US Dollars. Can I afford to pay this. Fortunately, yes. Is it good value? Is it a fair and reasonable price for an ebook in todays market? In my opinion, the price is about double what it should be. If I bought at this price I would feel that I was being well and truly ripped-off.

You've given the reason for it yourself: John Sandford's recent book. The ebook price will fall when the paperback is released, which (in the UK at least) is scheduled for 7th May. Check the eBook price after that and see what it costs then.

[Barcey]

We're creatures of habit. I used to buy ebooks the same way I had learned to buy paper books. I'd browse the new releases, top seller lists and pickup books that were recommended from friends or family. When agency happened I changed my habits. I deleted all the books off my wishlist and deleted my bookmarks to the vendor websites. I started reading the books I'd already bought but cycled in some Indie authors and classics I always wanted to read. If I find an Indie author I like I'll buy a bunch of their books but I don't read them right away. I also cycle in library books and I've realized that most of the books I read, it doesn't matter when they were published. I used to buy the latest books because there was a relatively short window when they were stocked in my local book stores, if I missed that window I might not find the book again. That's no longer the case.

If you don't like the high prices you don't have to quit cold turkey. Cycle in some free classics, indie books and library books. Filter your library searches for books that are available now rather than waiting in long queues. You'll soon realize that the free/cheap ebooks are as good or better then that new $16.99 release.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Barcey

We're creatures of habit. I used to buy ebooks the same way I had learned to buy paper books. I'd browse the new releases, top seller lists and pickup books that were recommended from friends or family.

New releases will always be more expensive. Always have been, for both paper and ebooks. Wait a year and the price of both paper and ebook will generally have fallen dramatically.

[pdurrant]

I have such a large TBR pile of previously purchased ebooks that I find it hard to justify spending more than £2 on another one. It would be a very rare case indeed where I spent more than £5 on an ebook.

(My average price for the 37 ebooks I've bought this year is £1.45. For the 57 purchased ebooks I've read this year it's £1.72.)

I generally find that a book I'm interested in will become available via a special offer well before I would have got around to reading it anyway, so I just pop them on a 'to be bought' list and wait for them. Luzme.com is excellent for this.