Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[PurpleStar]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

How much time do you need to earn one book? If you need to spend hours and hours on surveys and other things to earn $10, it might actually be a very expensive way to buy books, except if you have unlimited time.

Sometimes it takes a lot of time, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, I've been taking a break from it lately to just enjoy the books I bought. I have more than enough to tide me over for a long long time.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You're right - the books I bought in January are still at £0.84 at Amazon.

I must try to learn from that.

They'd have been 8p with the Kobo code.

Edit: Except the low prices were only at Amazon.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The calm returns after the storm. My book buying looks odd this year:

January: 50 books
February: 2 books
March: 54 books, likely to rise to 92 as pre-ordered books come in.

If there are no big sales for the rest of the year, I may still come in under $480 in total. Although I only have $32.15 of discretionary spend left - all the rest is allocated to books for the rest of the year.

That's going to be tough to do, but if you really focus you can do it. Unless there's another ridiculous code, of course. Then all bets are off. I spent about $35 on 26 books, including tax. And now I'm over budget for a bit, and I still have this month's Baen bundle to buy. But then I really need to try to resist better.

[Tarana]

I'm still happy about eliminating all couponable books on my wishlist. I will spend a little time this weekend figuring out what books to read to determine whether I want to get more in the series during the next 90% off sale. I need to stay out of other threads though. I was tempted and caved to buying The Warden by Anthony Trolloppe. The kindle book was free, but the audiobook was $2.99.

[xg4bx]

I went a bit overboard tonight and spent about $50. I needed the new Brandon Sanderson, I needed the new Robert Conroy, there's a new Dune novel next week, etc. It adds up very, very quickly.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

I went a bit overboard tonight and spent about $50. I needed the new Brandon Sanderson, I needed the new Robert Conroy, there's a new Dune novel next week, etc. It adds up very, very quickly.

That sounds bad. But perhaps it's because you don't have ENOUGH of a TBR pile? If you have a TBR pile of books you want to read, you can hold off on some off the new books until they drop in price or there's a special offer. For example, by not buying the new David Weber Safehold series book the instant it appeared, I managed to get it when the Kobo 90% off code was valid last weekend.

Even if it's a book you *must* read now, you should not buy more than one of them at a time if they're not on special offer. You can't read two of threee 'must read' books at a time (well, I can't), so why not just buy one, and see if an offer turns up on the others before you need to buy them?

By careful management of a TBR you can reduce your expenditure considerably.

Which leaves more money for more books.... which is where the plan sort-of fails, of course. Says the man with an 800+ TBR.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Even if it's a book you *must* read now, you should not buy more than one of them at a time if they're not on special offer. You can't read two of threee 'must read' books at a time (well, I can't), so why not just buy one, and see if an offer turns up on the others before you need to buy them?

By careful management of a TBR you can reduce your expenditure considerably.

Which leaves more money for more books.... which is where the plan sort-of fails, of course. Says the man with an 800+ TBR.

Three books on my "must read now/soon" list dropped last Tuesday, and I had two finished by the end of the week.

But then, I also have a TBR stack sitting at about 1250.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Three books on my "must read now/soon" list dropped last Tuesday, and I had two finished by the end of the week.



But then, I also have a TBR stack sitting at about 1250.

I have about 14 books waiting to be read and I thought that was a lot. But it sounds nothing compared to yours. 1250 books?! Whoa. Stop buying and start reading!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Gazella

I have about 14 books waiting to be read and I thought that was a lot. But it sounds nothing compared to yours. 1250 books?! Whoa. Stop buying and start reading!

Depending on how fast you read, 14 may be too few for optimal purchasing.

For me, 14 books is about four weeks worth of reading. That's too short a time to be able to wait for good books to be on offer. Granted, 800 is a few too many for optimal enjoyment too.

I'm hoping to eventually get down to about 50 books on my TBR pile. But that seems a very long way off.

[Gazella]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Depending on how fast you read, 14 may be too few for optimal purchasing.

For me, 14 books is about four weeks worth of reading. That's too short a time to be able to wait for good books to be on offer. Granted, 800 is a few too many for optimal enjoyment too.

I'm hoping to eventually get down to about 50 books on my TBR pile. But that seems a very long way off.

The books on my TBR pile are very long. Almost all of them are over 800 pages long. That's why I didn't buy anything with the 90% Kobo discount code.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Gazella

That's why I didn't buy anything with the 90% Kobo discount code.

Wow. I'm in awe of your will-power.

[cindyvine]

Have enough books to read one a week for the next year but still I download more. Help!

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by cindyvine

Have enough books to read one a week for the next year but still I download more. Help!

Welcome to Mobileread and to the Addicts thread.

Try to follow the rules we worked out, that are listed in the first post.

Post here if you're tempted by an offer - sometimes just the delay of mentioning it here will help.

Pick a book that you'd really like to buy, but you're waiting for a good offer. Then for any other book, consider whether you really want that other book more than you want the book you're waiting to buy.

Fifty books seems like a good TBR to have. Enough so that you are sure to have something good to read next, and so you can afford to wait for the special offers to come along for your next purchase. In this way, your cost per book can go way down. (My cost per book for 2014 is under $1.50!)

[DrNefario]

I wish I only had one a week for the next year.

I do sometimes wonder how many it would be if I "stacked" serieses (ie. only counted the next one) and disregarded all the trash, but my data is not currently in a form where I can manipulate it that easily. Probably still well into three figures, though.

The one book I bought in the 90% kobo incident (probably not fair to call it a sale, I'm not convinced it was voluntary) was Jo Walton's What Makes this Book So Great?, which I anticipate will end up being very bad for my TBR. Incidentally, I was expecting it to be a Tor book, but the UK version looks to be from C&R, and DRMed (temporarily).

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Jo Walton's What Makes this Book So Great?

I got that too. I've loved all her books, and so even thought the essays are probably (mostly) all available at Tor.com, I thought it would be fun to read them in book form.