Your Pre-eReader Book Buying Preferences?

[Hatgirl]

I've been thinking about my pre-eReader book buying habits. I am a bargain hunter - the vast majority of paper books I bought were secondhand, liquidated stock or from charity shops. I would buy maybe 1 book in 25 at cover price. Getting an eReader has actually increased the amount of money the author receives from me.

But is this just me? Before they bought their eReaders, did everyone else on the board mainly buy their paperbacks and hardbacks new, as publishers seem to think? Poll time!

Imagine this scenario: you've just received an unexpected windfall of $50/£30/€35. For once all of the bills are paid, the groceries for the week are already bought and you have no reason not to spend that money on yourself. Time to go to the book shop!

(Remember, this is pre-eReader, so ebooks aren't an option. And yes, I know you could read them on your PC or phone, you know what I mean, this is about paper books, stop being so pedantic).

[phenomshel]

Nope, before I got my reader I was a dedicated bargain hunter. Second hand, mainly, which means that the author got no recompense from me whatsoever. There were very few authors I would buy brand new in hardback.

The authors got a real boost from me when I went all ebook, all the time. I now buy probably at least three or four new releases a month (on new release Tuesday, for cozy mysteries), all in ebook, and pick up backlist titles (also ebook) throughout the month when I can.

[ATDrake]

"Other". What I got from where (and still get) depends on what it is and how much I want/am willing to pay for it. So it's kind of a mix of all three.

New releases from favourite authors whose work I trust and want to support: HB or TPB because I like the way they look. A very small number of these, though, because I can count the number of authors I'm willing to buy this way without having to take off my socks.

Special deluxe annotated collectors' editions: I love these things and allocate a relatively high proportion of my book-buying budget to them.

Backlist reprints of "good" authors whose works I'd like to always have available (and have gotten paranoid about the library getting rid of): TPB if it's available, which I prefer to HC or MMPB.

MMPB: Mostly second/third/umpteenth-hand from the used bookshop because I have this tendency towards genre fiction that goes out of print quickly. At least most places have a decent sf/fantasy/mystery stock. Occasionally new from the specialty sf/fantasy/mystery place or the regular bookstore if it's something I really want that's still available.

Things I go specifically hunting for new and used: the other big portion of my purchases. Mainly specialty subject non-fiction, because those can be very difficult to turn up if they're out of print. Which most of the ones I want my own copy of are.

Stuff that looked interesting and cheap: sometimes nice things show up on the bargain table, in the overstock discount shop, or at the library book sale. I spend a fair amount on these, but the intersection of "cheap enough to be tempting" and "interesting enough to check out" is a lot lower than one might think.

All else: the library is my friend. My friend who sometimes goes on random and annoying purging sprees of the last copies of stuff I like, based on puzzling criteria, while keeping multiple on-shelf copies of ancient "bestsellers" people have lost interest in no one bothers to check out any more, but still my friend.

I do wait for sales and try to get things bargain priced with member discounts and coupons and such, though.

[teadonkey]

I've heard this term before, but I don't get it. What is new release Tuesday? I've never noticed Tuesday having MORE books than any other day?

I'd looove to say I was a bargain hunter and bought used books. I'm a bargain hunter for EVERYTHING else and I wait for books to come out on paperback for the exact purpose of them being cheaper. I read books that the library has instead of buying them. But when it comes to used bookstores... I can't do it. Every one I've ever been in makes me want to die from mold inhalation. It's a sad, sad thing. I am sooo allergic to mold AND cigarette smoke AND long-haired cats. Used bookstores seem to reek of these three things. It is so upsetting.

But anyway, I answered 3-4 paperbacks. I used to get them 3-4 at a time from Amazon to get free shipping.

[GA Russell]

I'm confident that a majority of my book purchases over the years have been remainders.

[Hatgirl]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

"Other". What I got from where (and still get) depends on what it is and how much I want/am willing to pay for it. So it's kind of a mix of all three.
(....)
All else: the library is my friend. My friend who sometimes goes on random and annoying purging sprees of the last copies of stuff I like, based on puzzling criteria, while keeping multiple on-shelf copies of ancient "bestsellers" people have lost interest in no one bothers to check out any more, but still my friend.

Aha! The Library! I knew I'd forget something, that's why I stuck in an "Other".

Anyway, the reason I put together the slightly elaborate scenario above was that I'm curious about people's preferred buying method. Of course everyone actually has a mix of sources. I may be a bargain addict, but a Lois McMaster Bujold is bought new (and accompanied by excitied screams that weird-out the shop assistant). But how do the board members mainly shop? If all the books they bought the year before they got their eReader were piled up by PurchasePoint Category, which pile would be higher? Hmph, I thought the poll appeared below the first post when I designed it, so maybe the poll itself isn't clear enough? Drat, unclear surveys make me cross. Designing an unclear survey myself is most embarrasing.

Originally Posted by teadonkey

I'd looove to say I was a bargain hunter and bought used books. I'm a bargain hunter for EVERYTHING else and I wait for books to come out on paperback for the exact purpose of them being cheaper. I read books that the library has instead of buying them. But when it comes to used bookstores... I can't do it. Every one I've ever been in makes me want to die from mold inhalation. It's a sad, sad thing. I am sooo allergic to mold AND cigarette smoke AND long-haired cats. Used bookstores seem to reek of these three things. It is so upsetting.

Aw, poor you! Well, there's always the Liquidated Stock shops. Those books are both Bargains and Shiny&New

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by Hatgirl

But how do the board members mainly shop? If all the books they bought the year before they got their eReader were piled up by PurchasePoint Category, which pile would be higher?

Well, in my personal case…

I'd say roughly half-and-half Special Deluxe Release w/Bonus Features + deliberately sought-out "regular discount" new purchases (french-language books and such which don't exactly show up in the discount bins in my area) & assorted bargain/second-hand priced purchases of both the on-my-list and serendipitous varieties.

The bargain stuff might actually make a higher # per $ pile, but some of those Collector's Editions come in pretty large-size formats.

[captkjaneway]

I used to get 2 paperbacks per fortnight with my main supermarket shopping trip - one per week for the journey to work! The Kindle is a Godsend for storage, and I'm actually spending less on books currently.

[elemenoP]

I'm cheap and I live in a "literary" neighborhood, there are a lot of readers (and authors!) here. When people are done with their books, they often leave them out on their stoop. I have acquired many good (and many bad!) books that way, and I have returned the favor, too.

I also buy a lot of used books. Sometimes new. Rarely do I spend more than $9.00 on a pbook.

eP

[Catlady]

In the past few years I have tended to buy new books. Hardcover or original paperbacks, usually preorders at Amazon for my favorite authors. I bought used books only rarely--something out of print or collectible, not bargain bin stuff. I checked Other in the poll.

[Maggie Leung]

I bought only new books, as I still do with print books -- mostly trade paperbacks. They typically sell for upward of $16.

[Nyssa]

I am or was a series-reading paperback fiend!

[astra]

Only hardback editions.
I was buying second hand books but hardback editions only.

[rhadin]

I'm not sure why the choice was 1-2 hardcovers as opposed to hardcovers without limit. Before I received my Sony 505 3+ years ago as a holiday gift, I bought new hardcovers only (the only exception being if a new release was available in paperback only) or if it was an older book, I would buy it in Fine or better condition (often new) in the antiquarian market. Sometimes I would buy 1 or 2 hardcovers at a time, but more often it was 4-6 every month. Nearly all were nonfiction.

This habit has not changed with the advent of my Sony reading devices. The change the dedicated devices have brought about is that I read more fiction and sample a broader range of fiction authors. However, I continue to buy new release nonfiction in hardcover. Recently, I have begun to buy new-release nonfiction in both hardcover and ebook (that is, of the same title) -- the hardcover goes on my library shelf and the ebook version is what I tend to read.

The consequence is that I am buying fewer new nonfiction titles because the prioce of the ebooks essentially doubles the cost.

In my case, which I recognize is the exceptional case and not the rule, the publishers are wrong insofar as they think ebooks cannibalize hardcover sales and thus they need to price ebooks like the hardcover. For people like me, they would be significantly better off pricing the ebook at 1/4 to 1/3 the price of the hardcover if one buys both versions. With pricing like that, I would resume buying more hardcovers supplemented with ebooks.

[rcuadro]

I used to get all my books from thrift stores for about 25 cents each... I never bought new