How many books in your library?

[Mr_H_Poirot]

Yes. Libby gives 3 weeks reading time (at least in UK) but I know what you mean. You HAVE to read it within that time once you've taken the book. So you lose a bit of autonomy in choosing a book that suits your mood that week. But I have calculated that my kobo paid for itself within a year of using Libby if one assumes I'd otherwise have bought the books I read

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mr_H_Poirot

Yes. My comment about 'seriously rich' was not very wise. I hadn't appreciated both how cheap some ebooks can be, the time period over which people have acquired them etc. And it could come across as judgemental for which I regret

I just have been surprised by the size of others collections. I do read a lot from standard ebooks. I find their books superbly formatted and have enjoyed reading some classics. I tend not to record the books I borrow from Libby/overdrive

I recommend recording books you've read in calibre, even if it's just a record with no files (as I have for the very occasional paper book I read)

I commend you on the poll. It's a very good question. I wouldn't have guessed there'd be so many with more than 10,000.

As for cost. As I have all my purchases in calibre, and bearing in mind that some are approximate conversions from $ to £ and that for some of them I got credits at Fictionwise that aren't necessarily factored into the prices, I've spent £7,746.97 on 4606 ebooks, at an average price of £1.68. Over 24 years, so about £322 per year. That sounds about right. A bit less in recent years, and a bit more earlier on.

[Mr_H_Poirot]

I do (since about 3 years ago) record all books I've read on storygraph and Goodreads (don't really know why I keep recording on Goodreads as I prefer storygraph). I give a star rating and include a very brief review. So I do keep a record that way which includes the books I've loaned.

I could keep a record in calibre too I guess

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by Mr_H_Poirot

I'm guessing you guys with 5000+ can't buy all your books (unless you're seriously rich); so am assuming there's a lot of standard ebooks and Gutenberg in there.

Not necessarily. If you bought your kindle in 2010 or 2011, the number of books, even by well known authors, offered free or at severe discount was phenomenal from 2012 through 2014. Then again from 2019 to 2021. So much so that I downloaded my freebees into a separate Calibre library and deleted them out of the Amazon cloud because it was just too much to go through (they didn't have collections then). Are all these 5000+ books read? No. But acquired is acquired. I only have about 2 dozen Gutenberg titles (mostly Dickens). Even after removing the freebees (just for Amazon, mind you), I still have 2,600+ ebooks. I'm guessing about 400 were purchased for other family members which I hope to eventually read myself as well.

[theducks]

Some of the now Public domain authors are no longer PC, even if their work manages to hold up in a more modern world.

Some just had so glaring science errors (that were not explained away).

Others are banned because of events (hide history) Ratner than preface them as 'learning from our errors'

[nmrg218]

My Calibre currently counts 488 but I voted for the >500 option as I know I'll get there eventually in a few days so why not.

235 of the 488 are from Standard Ebooks and others are either from Gutenberg or the Kobo store or through other means.

Aside from that, my 20-ish physical books were all obtained prior to me starting to e-read exclusively.

[ekbell]

I have collected nearly 3000 PD and Open Access books (includes short stories) as well as adding nearly all the books off of the Baen CDs.

Add in freebies, bundles and other deeply discounted books and it's no surprise that I have more then 10,000 books after decades of collecting ebooks.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by Mr_H_Poirot

I'm guessing you guys with 5000+ can't buy all your books (unless you're seriously rich); so am assuming there's a lot of standard ebooks and Gutenberg in there

I like standard ebooks. Haven't really explored Gutenberg yet

Depends on how long you've been collecting them as well. I started about... 1995 IIRC.

For newbies...

Also, if you pick them up at Amazon in the US, there are usually, (but not always) a list of 100 free books in a lot of the genres. Not all, but worth it to check.

[Go to your choice of ebook on Amazon US, go down to the page and find "Best Sellers Rank:", then click on one of the ones listed. If you're lucky, it'll take you to an "Amazon Best Sellers" page, and there will be two tabs. One for top 100 paid, and another for top 100 free. Try each genre listed, as the lists can hold different books.]

Also, there's a web sites that will let you search Amazon for freebies and price drops. And you can enter key words in the kindle search at the top of the page, and then sort "low to high". Freebies will then sort to the top (but watch out and keep an eye on prices, because they'll slip a 'sponsored' book in there, and two at the bottom of the page.)

Then if you find one in a series, always check the series. A lot of authors I run across will tend to give out more than one in a series. Some authors give out the last book for free if a new book is due out. Stay at it long enough when they do that, and you can get a whole chunk of a series for free.

So, depends on how long you've been ebook surfing, what store, and how many genre's you are interested in. There's also BookFunnel and BookBub, where authors give away free reads, (sometime small novellas as in the first of a series) for signing up to their email lists. And there are usually a lot of Themed freebies given away during Holidays.

And how bored you get waiting for chores to get done, so spend a lot of time doing stuff like that.

[ableal]

One source of cheap books is the Humble Bundle batch sales - I've been a customer since they started out with indie games, and I've bought quite a few bundles, probably averaging less than one buck per book. I've bought some technical bundles, a few more with SF and crime books, and a couple of comics bundles.

Baen Books also sell their own monthly bundles, and have a Free Library. And this site's library has a lot of very nice PD books prepared and generously gifted by a talented crew.

[DuskyRose]

Originally Posted by ableal

One source of cheap books is the Humble Bundle batch sales - I've been a customer since they started out with indie games, and I've bought quite a few bundles, probably averaging less than one buck per book. I've bought some technical bundles, a few more with SF and crime books, and a couple of comics bundles.

Baen Books also sell their own monthly bundles, and have a Free Library. And this site's library has a lot of very nice PD books prepared and generously gifted by a talented crew.

[Mr_H_Poirot]

Interesting

I don't want books in my library just for the sake of it though. I only want books I might want to read at some point. So I don't bother with the Amazon or kobo freebies unless I actually get a recommendation that someone thinks they are a good read. I've increased my library by about 40 books in recent days by adding from standard Ebooks but these are all books I'm hoping I will read at some point

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Mr_H_Poirot

I don't want books in my library just for the sake of it though. I only want books I might want to read at some point.

If you already have a TBR pile, then keeping a watch on other books you might like to read is an excellent way to build your library for little money.

ereaderiq.com is the obvious place for this, if you're in the UK or USA.

Even though it only tracks prices at Amazon, I still find it useful for buying at Kobo, as special offers often appear on more than one site, and if they don't, Kobo offers price matching.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Mr_H_Poirot

Interesting

I don't want books in my library just for the sake of it though. I only want books I might want to read at some point. So I don't bother with the Amazon or kobo freebies unless I actually get a recommendation that someone thinks they are a good read. I've increased my library by about 40 books in recent days by adding from standard Ebooks but these are all books I'm hoping I will read at some point

I do want to read most of my books, but given the maximum possible lifespan of Homo Sapiens, it's just never going to happen. And unfortunately I don't have the genetic gift of extreme speed reading. I could read a lot faster than I usually do, but I don't enjoy reading quickly, so I never do it when reading for pleasure.

As to freebies, I stopped watching/searching for them long ago. Most of them aren't all that good, so I didn't see much point.

[Mr_H_Poirot]

Originally Posted by theducks

Some of the now Public domain authors are no longer PC, even if their work manages to hold up in a more modern world.

Some just had so glaring science errors (that were not explained away).

Others are banned because of events (hide history) Ratner than preface them as 'learning from our errors'

I find this a very interesting point. I have found that there are some historical authors who challenged accepted practices in their time. I find that actually adds to my admiration for the author

There are some historical authors where certain passing references are made that may reflect a view that was common place at the time but which society now condemns. That can be uncomfortable but if it is a passing reference / backdrop then it doesn't prevent me appreciating the book (it sometimes reminds me of the importance of tackling prejudice though)

There are some historical authors where the main character/ hero seems to embody attitudes that we would regard as pretty unpleasant today. I find those a tough read and usually stop reading further books in a series after the first in these instances.

I'm not going to give examples as I don't want to cause arguments about authors. But I think the general point made about how we approach books written in a different time is very interesting

[Sirtel]

It's mostly unreasonable to expect historical authors to have modern values and viewpoints. I'm sure folks in the future will look at our contemporary authors and in many cases say 'Ugh' with horror or disgust.

But that's not the only reason I no longer really enjoy PD works. Another is the style - usually something just grates on me style-wise in older works and I don't feel like wanting to continue. It's hard to explain, as different authors can have very different styles, but it happens regularly enough that I generally stick to books written in the last 60-70 years.