Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread - Page 293

wandalynn · 01-01-2018, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Welcome to the thread. I hope the cumulative wisdom of the thread helps you.

You've reminded me to remove the nice things I wrote in the first post about freebies. I'm more and more coming to the view that if you wouldn't have bought it if it was £1, there's no point in getting it just because it's free....

I deleted 29 items from my 'own/haven't read' list and practically all of them were freebies. That said, I'll probably be picking up one of the Amazon Prime selections this month

.

CRussel · 01-02-2018, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Welcome to the thread. I hope the cumulative wisdom of the thread helps you.

You've reminded me to remove the nice things I wrote in the first post about freebies. I'm more and more coming to the view that if you wouldn't have bought it if it was £1, there's no point in getting it just because it's free....

I think I've reached the point of only being willing to consider free if it's in the public domain, or in my public library. My time is not free, after all.

I've done better with my TBR this year, and with buying in general, but there's still room for improvement and the tail end of December was not good. Need to buckle down in the new year. A bit of a challenge, because new books in some favourite series are shipping in the first couple of weeks of January, but if I can keep it to just that, I'll feel OK about it.

issybird · 01-02-2018, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CRussel

I think I've reached the point of only being willing to consider free if it's in the public domain, or in my public library. My time is not free, after all.

Exactly. Freebies aren't free. And it's not just the expense of time in reading (inferior) free books; the larger the library, the more maintenance it requires. In addition, aesthetically I don't like being distracted by even virtual clutter. A muscular library where everything seems a must read is far more appealing.

astrangerhere · 01-02-2018, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by issybird

<SNIP> In addition, aesthetically I don't like being distracted by even virtual clutter. A muscular library where everything seems a must read is far more appealing.

It also makes shopping in one's own virtual library easier. I think if my Calibre were junked up with freebies that I might've read someday might operate negatively on two levels. First, it makes it harder for me to spot something that I am ready to read. Second, it might send me to an actual store for the newest bestseller/popular book rather than choosing one of my own.

Quake1028 · 01-02-2018, 10:28 AM

To summarize 2017, for me:

Books Bought: 30
Spent: $82.90
Average: $2.76

I read 41 books in 2017, so my TBR decreased by 11

.

So far in 2018:

Books Bought: 3
Spent: $6.97
Average: $2.32

Very happy with all of these numbers.

PurpleStar · 01-02-2018, 10:46 AM

No books bought this year! I hope to keep it that way for awhile.

Richwood · 01-02-2018, 12:33 PM

I have a weakness for free male LGBT ebooks and Smashwords had a huge sale on for about the last 2 weeks of the year. Downloaded about 80 free items so at the price I cannot complain. Also Baen Books has a free library of science fiction books available for download that I have taken advantage of. The old collection is labeled 2017 so there may be a changein thebooks available shortly.

Both Smashwords and Baen list most items in a wide variety of ebook formats as well as RTF format for the Baen books which is importable by almost all word processor programs for reading. Baen books are DRM free.

For ebook addicts, take advantage of the free stuff out there. There is a lot of it available. Feed your addiction without bankrupting yourself and if a freebie turns out to be lousy then you can erase it without a pocketbook hurt.

Tarana · 01-02-2018, 09:40 PM

I bought way too many books in 2017. I accept that is a problem for me and I'm trying to identify the actual issue.

Gotta work on the freebie accumulation.

PurpleStar · 01-06-2018, 07:38 PM

I bought a couple books today. Star Trek books are my weakness and they were on sale for 99 cents. Oh well at least I know I like them!

Jo69 · 01-07-2018, 06:41 AM

I Have 1505 eBooks. Have read 785.
Some were free. Some were 99p.
Some I was given.Some I will never read.
Some are nowhere near as good as the reviews that tempt me to buy.
Though I never buy expensive ones.

I read 3 or 4 Ebooks a week.
Find Calibre very good for sorting out my books, and help from these forums is brilliant for that.

pdurrant · 01-07-2018, 06:54 AM

Welcome!

First bit of advice would be to mark all those you're no longer interested in reading as 'neither read nor unread', i.e. blank in the calibre read column.

Rev. Bob · 01-07-2018, 11:32 AM

I've been playing the long game with a few series, and that paid off for me recently. A few authors have listed several of their short stories on Amazon in two ways: separately, usually for $2.99 each, and in collected volumes of around two dozen for $9.99 each. These authors often use freebie promotions to highlight different installments in those series, usually one per series per week.

A few days ago, I completed two such series and manually reconstituted the omnibus editions of them. In doing so, I removed quite a bit of duplicated content and streamlined the formatting, yielding what I personally think are more attractive, user-friendlier, and less bulky compilations.

The best part - zero dollars spent.

(I could finish a third such set by paying a buck for the one missing story, but I haven't convinced myself to pull that trigger yet.)

HLS · 01-07-2018, 07:28 PM

I am becoming an addict. I have around 150 to 180 on my kindle and about 80-90 on my Nook and I barely touched most of the books. I buy them faster than I can read any lol

Most that I do not read is my freebees but I do read most from my top fav authors Neal Stephenson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and now I am a huge John Gresham fan

Tarana · 01-07-2018, 11:30 PM

Sometimes I feel a lot of guilt for having a lot of books I haven't read yet, but on the other hand, at some point, in the next few years, I won't have the income to get more than a few books a year. So, then I'll have plenty of time to catch up. Yes, I do have a public library option, but as you know, unless the book is immediately available, you never know when it will show up in your account!

issybird · 01-08-2018, 09:48 AM

File under Slopes, Slippery:

I made something of a fetish last year of not-buying. It was a good discipline after a years-long binge. Not that I didn't buy anything at all, but I ended up spending a trivial amount of money (almost everything was wishlist + promotion) and my TBR went down.

But I'm considering loosening the restraints a bit. I recently finished a charming book that I bought last year mostly with B&N settlement credit. I'd love to read subsequent books, but Google Play (where I have a lot of promotional credit) doesn't carry them, nor does Kobo. That leaves B&N where I have an insignificant amount of credit left and B&N is no longer worth the nuisance anyway or Amazon, and they're agency-priced and unlikely to go down in price or on sale. The upside to that, such as it is, is that there would be no point in buying until I was on the verge of reading it, so no net addition to the TBR. However, they would up my average price spent per book substantially and it's not as if I don't have other things to read.... But I think when the urge hits, I'll go ahead.

But, I know these are dangerous waters (mixing my metaphors; see Slopes, Slippery above. I do better with none than with some; it's certainly easier for me!

01-07-2018, 06:41 AM	#4390
Jo69 Addict Posts: 204 Karma: 2070566 Join Date: Oct 2016 Device: Kobo. Samsung Galaxy Tab. Kindle 4 2011	I Have 1505 eBooks. Have read 785. Some were free. Some were 99p. Some I was given.Some I will never read. Some are nowhere near as good as the reviews that tempt me to buy. Though I never buy expensive ones. I read 3 or 4 Ebooks a week. Find Calibre very good for sorting out my books, and help from these forums is brilliant for that. Last edited by Jo69; 01-07-2018 at 06:43 AM.

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01-02-2018, 10:28 AM	#4385
Quake1028 Guru Posts: 917 Karma: 9155462 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Tampa, FL Device: See signature	To summarize 2017, for me: Books Bought: 30 Spent: $82.90 Average: $2.76 I read 41 books in 2017, so my TBR decreased by 11 . So far in 2018: Books Bought: 3 Spent: $6.97 Average: $2.32 Very happy with all of these numbers.

01-02-2018, 10:46 AM	#4386
PurpleStar Wizard Posts: 1,625 Karma: 11387182 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Clara BW, Kindle Paperwhite (11th Gen)	No books bought this year! I hope to keep it that way for awhile.

01-02-2018, 12:33 PM	#4387
Richwood Astronomy Nut Posts: 519 Karma: 3700000 Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Reno, NV Device: Kindle (All), Kobo (Multiple), Sony (most) and Nook Glowlight Plus	I have a weakness for free male LGBT ebooks and Smashwords had a huge sale on for about the last 2 weeks of the year. Downloaded about 80 free items so at the price I cannot complain. Also Baen Books has a free library of science fiction books available for download that I have taken advantage of. The old collection is labeled 2017 so there may be a changein thebooks available shortly. Both Smashwords and Baen list most items in a wide variety of ebook formats as well as RTF format for the Baen books which is importable by almost all word processor programs for reading. Baen books are DRM free. For ebook addicts, take advantage of the free stuff out there. There is a lot of it available. Feed your addiction without bankrupting yourself and if a freebie turns out to be lousy then you can erase it without a pocketbook hurt.

01-02-2018, 09:40 PM	#4388
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,042 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	I bought way too many books in 2017. I accept that is a problem for me and I'm trying to identify the actual issue. Gotta work on the freebie accumulation.

01-06-2018, 07:38 PM	#4389
PurpleStar Wizard Posts: 1,625 Karma: 11387182 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Clara BW, Kindle Paperwhite (11th Gen)	I bought a couple books today. Star Trek books are my weakness and they were on sale for 99 cents. Oh well at least I know I like them!

01-07-2018, 06:54 AM	#4391
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,102 Karma: 315558332 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	Welcome! First bit of advice would be to mark all those you're no longer interested in reading as 'neither read nor unread', i.e. blank in the calibre read column.

01-07-2018, 11:32 AM	#4392
Rev. Bob Wizard Posts: 1,760 Karma: 9918418 Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Here on the perimeter, there are no stars Device: Kobo H2O, iPad mini 3, Kindle Touch	I've been playing the long game with a few series, and that paid off for me recently. A few authors have listed several of their short stories on Amazon in two ways: separately, usually for $2.99 each, and in collected volumes of around two dozen for $9.99 each. These authors often use freebie promotions to highlight different installments in those series, usually one per series per week. A few days ago, I completed two such series and manually reconstituted the omnibus editions of them. In doing so, I removed quite a bit of duplicated content and streamlined the formatting, yielding what I personally think are more attractive, user-friendlier, and less bulky compilations. The best part - zero dollars spent. (I could finish a third such set by paying a buck for the one missing story, but I haven't convinced myself to pull that trigger yet.)

01-07-2018, 07:28 PM	#4393
HLS Wizard Posts: 2,133 Karma: 16342480 Join Date: May 2017 Device: Sage, Scribe, Boox Note 2 Plus, iPad Pros and Samsungs S6,S7,S8	I am becoming an addict. I have around 150 to 180 on my kindle and about 80-90 on my Nook and I barely touched most of the books. I buy them faster than I can read any lol Most that I do not read is my freebees but I do read most from my top fav authors Neal Stephenson, Stephen King, Dean Koontz and now I am a huge John Gresham fan

01-07-2018, 11:30 PM	#4394
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,042 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	Sometimes I feel a lot of guilt for having a lot of books I haven't read yet, but on the other hand, at some point, in the next few years, I won't have the income to get more than a few books a year. So, then I'll have plenty of time to catch up. Yes, I do have a public library option, but as you know, unless the book is immediately available, you never know when it will show up in your account!

01-08-2018, 09:48 AM	#4395
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,367 Karma: 235205657 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	File under Slopes, Slippery: I made something of a fetish last year of not-buying. It was a good discipline after a years-long binge. Not that I didn't buy anything at all, but I ended up spending a trivial amount of money (almost everything was wishlist + promotion) and my TBR went down. But I'm considering loosening the restraints a bit. I recently finished a charming book that I bought last year mostly with B&N settlement credit. I'd love to read subsequent books, but Google Play (where I have a lot of promotional credit) doesn't carry them, nor does Kobo. That leaves B&N where I have an insignificant amount of credit left and B&N is no longer worth the nuisance anyway or Amazon, and they're agency-priced and unlikely to go down in price or on sale. The upside to that, such as it is, is that there would be no point in buying until I was on the verge of reading it, so no net addition to the TBR. However, they would up my average price spent per book substantially and it's not as if I don't have other things to read.... But I think when the urge hits, I'll go ahead. But, I know these are dangerous waters (mixing my metaphors; see Slopes, Slippery above. I do better with none than with some; it's certainly easier for me!