What Do You Do When A Book Isn't Available For eReaders?

[Talldog]

Here's what's really annoying. I've been waiting for a long time for Perry Mason books to become available, and they finally are, but only like 9 out of more than 80. I just finished the first, "The Case of the Velvet Claws" and I really enjoyed it, but the next one available is not until #5. What a pain. I just don't understand why it's like that.

[yoho]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Of course. Owning an ebook reader doesn't prevent one from reading paper books.

yes, different experiences.

[SonDan1]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Of course. Owning an ebook reader doesn't prevent one from reading paper books.

I thought that an Ereader would help me cut down on some of the books cluttering my home but I was wrong. The books I want to read *are* usually available in digital format, but *my problem* is that the cost is WAY TO HIGH!

For instance I would love to go digital and finish the Kathy Reichs "Bones" series I began reading, but not when the digital book cost more than the paperback both new and/or used.

I would love to read the rest of the J.A. Jance Detective J.P. Beaumont series on any of my Ereaders as well -- but not when the ebook costs more than a paperback new and/or used.

I would love to read the latest Nora Roberts book in digital format -- but right now even some of her older books I want to read cost 12.99 for the ebook which is absolutely ridiculous!

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by SonDan1

I would love to read the latest Nora Roberts book in digital format -- but right now even some of her older books I want to read cost 12.99 for the ebook which is absolutely ridiculous!

I hear you. Do you have a public library that lends e-books? I've found I can borrow books for 1-3 weeks for free and that helps a lot. I borrowed a few books of Nora Roberts and that has helped.

Aside from the few books I bought when I bought my first e-reader, I don't buy many e-books because the cost is quite unreasonable for my budget for older books.

I am lucky that I happen to like a lot of the books that are for free (public domain plain vanilla books) and use calibre to create custom magazines for me to read, to help keep the overall cost of what I read way down.

I had a chuckle yesterday when I was in the Library and saw the discard sale. Hardcover discards are 50c and soft covers are 25c. Among them was "Smokin Seventeen" for fifty cents. Hard to go to the e-book store and pay $14 for the same thing after buying that!

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I've just plain forgotten a number of books that I wanted to read, that never became ebooks. Their loss.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

Among them was "Smokin Seventeen" for fifty cents. Hard to go to the e-book store and pay $14 for the same thing after buying that!

Is it really that expensive? In the UK Kindle Store it costs £4.99 (about $7).

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is it really that expensive? In the UK Kindle Store it costs £4.99 (about $7).

It recently dropped to $10 something because the MMPB for the next book was released this week. All the other backlist books in the series are $12 (in Canada anyway).

[HarryT]

They all seem to be £4.99 here - probably a different publisher. I notice, though, that eBooks only seems to be available for #7 in the series, onwards. Are the earlier ones available in the US?

[spindlegirl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Is it really that expensive? In the UK Kindle Store it costs £4.99 (about $7).

well, the kobo store here says $8.99 cdn plus tax which would still bring it to above ten dollars. Price has gone down since i last looked at the price. My personal price point is about 7 dollars canadian and I'd have to be really desperate for even that, because I already own lots of books.

Anyway, my policy these days is 'wait'. There are all kinds of titles i've found at library discard sales, and/or yard sales.

[Synamon]

Yes, the whole series is available in the US/Canada. She's switched publishers a few times, the early ones you don't have are Simon & Schuster, 7-16 are MacMillan, and now she's with Random House.

I always (except for books where images/illustrations are important) prefer to read an ebook. That is less important to me then cost though. For a book I want to own, something I will read more than once I will pay a premium for ebook, but not an excessive one. Otherwise my first choice is to find it through my library, and if that mean in paper that's fine with me.

[chamekke]

The most frustrating thing for me is when I love a multi-volume series... and yay, it's available as an e-book! ... EXCEPT FOR ONE VOLUME.

This is true of John Crowley's Aegypt/Endless Things tetralogy and Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy (to name the two that really irk me).

To me, this is insane marketing. Why leave out a volume? I for one refuse to buy any e-books in a series if that series is not available in full... and I can't be alone in this. Why, why, why??? *headdesk*

[rooster3888]

Originally Posted by chamekke

The most frustrating thing for me is when I love a multi-volume series... and yay, it's available as an e-book! ... EXCEPT FOR ONE VOLUME.

I couldn't agree more. And it always seems to be some random volume in the middle of the series, for some reason. I ran into that problem with F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack series on Amazon. Some of his older novels in the series weren't available anyway, which was okay, so I skipped ahead to the newer ones and picked up the series there. But then I read four and suddenly... one was missing! They had like the four books before it, and the four after.

Oddly, I'd given up on it, then found that Apple's ebook store carried it for some reason.

[SonDan1]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

I hear you. Do you have a public library that lends e-books? I've found I can borrow books for 1-3 weeks for free and that helps a lot. I borrowed a few books of Nora Roberts and that has helped.

Aside from the few books I bought when I bought my first e-reader, I don't buy many e-books because the cost is quite unreasonable for my budget for older books.

I am lucky that I happen to like a lot of the books that are for free (public domain plain vanilla books) and use calibre to create custom magazines for me to read, to help keep the overall cost of what I read way down.

Thank you Spindlegirl! You bring up a great alternative I totally forgot about! I need to put my library card to use and start borrowing some of the new books in the series I have on my "to read" list since their ebook prices are just too prohibitive for me.

I guess I was so spoiled in that I always bought my pbooks because it was more convenient than putting up with the traffic to go to my local lending libray.

I too have literally hundred of PD ebooks that I read. I have re-read many of the classics and love some of the freebies by "new" authors at Smashwords.

But, I still have a weak spot and need to keep up with Kathy Reichs, Nora Roberts and J.A. Jance Plus there are new releases that make the NY Times Best seller list that I want to read, but don't want spend $15.99 for the preferable ebook format.

I plan to also start going back tto my local used book store here where paperbacks are all half off the cover price. Guess pbooks will always be a part of my reading life after all even though I own a variety of ereaders.

Que Sera Sera

[applesauce]

with my vision problems now if it is not an ebook then I just can not read it. I need a large font. Large print books are very limited and bulky to handle. Having MS my hands are weak as well so again annoying. Audio books never they drive me insane. I read very fast and I want to strangle those people reading the books hehehe.

I had 2 huge boxes of paper backs I had been drooling over for years wanting to read but just could not. I stopped adding to them 2 years ago. Now I am starting to get them as ebooks.

applesauce