Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[issybird]

Originally Posted by kcladyz

I was not arguing with anyone. Just giving my opinion. Or is giving ones opinion not allowed.? Maybe you should ask the poster to reword their post before deleting in case something was misinterpreted

Commenting on moderation action in the open forum is against the Guidelines. Please don't do it again. If you have an issue, take it to PM.

[Tarana]

How is everybody doing with completing old, unread ebooks in their libraries? I have 6 left from 2010, 30 plus from 2011. Oh and lots of magazines. I'm trying to alternate every other book to be from these two years as a sort of catchup. I count only purchased in this effort.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Tarana

How is everybody doing with completing old, unread ebooks in their libraries? I have 6 left from 2010, 30 plus from 2011. Oh and lots of magazines. I'm trying to alternate every other book to be from these two years as a sort of catchup. I count only purchased in this effort.

I've knocked out 21 of my old TBRs and gotten my total down to 567. I don't count library books in any of my TBR stats, and I've read 20 from the library this year.

[cadele]

Originally Posted by Tarana

How is everybody doing with completing old, unread ebooks in their libraries? I have 6 left from 2010, 30 plus from 2011. Oh and lots of magazines. I'm trying to alternate every other book to be from these two years as a sort of catchup. I count only purchased in this effort.

I just looked and have >100 from 2010 still to read. I don't note if they are purchased or freebies, although none would have been expensive. I have probably also read some of them but forgotten to mark that off (I started that column well after 2010 but didn't go back and mark them all).

Oh, dear...

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I still tend to buy when available in case they disappear.

Originally Posted by issybird

And there's the rub when fighting an addiction! We should mostly best be served by buying on demand, but that presupposes that the books will still be available when we get to them.

And that we will have available funds when we want to buy on demand. Personally, I prefer to maintain a large TBR list so that "demand" becomes more negotiable and in case of Times Of No Money. "Well, I caught up with my stock of series X, but the next volume's pretty expensive... I'll switch to series Y for now and keep an eye out for a sale on X." Multiply by a couple of dozen, and there's always something to switch to.

Originally Posted by Tarana

How is everybody doing with completing old, unread ebooks in their libraries?

I don't track date of purchase. Never have, really, except when logging new acquisitions in Goodreads... and lately, I've been noting my purchase price there as well. (The "private notes" field is good for that.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Tarana

How is everybody doing with completing old, unread ebooks in their libraries? I have 6 left from 2010, 30 plus from 2011. Oh and lots of magazines. I'm trying to alternate every other book to be from these two years as a sort of catchup. I count only purchased in this effort.

I managed to finish all my unread books from 2007, but 2008 was when the MobiDeDRM script became available. I still have 102 books left unread from the second half of 2008.

I'm just about managing to keep up with (non-series) 2018 purchases. Or I thought I was. Having just checked I have 20 unread non-series purchases from 2018....

[CRussel]

I'm in trouble here. I've bought or acquired 116 books (actually 137 since many are multiple book volumes), and only read 55. This is NOT improving my TBR one bit, and I'm clearly out of control.

The only good news is that many of them were either library books or public domain, and several others were cheap bundles, so my cost per book is still only ~$2. But I really need to get this under control. Especially since at least two of those bundles turned out to be mostly duds.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm in trouble here. I've bought or acquired 116 books (actually 137 since many are multiple book volumes), and only read 55. This is NOT improving my TBR one bit, and I'm clearly out of control.

The only good news is that many of them were either library books or public domain, and several others were cheap bundles, so my cost per book is still only ~$2. But I really need to get this under control. Especially since at least two of those bundles turned out to be mostly duds.

At least library books disappear after a while

I 'solved' the Public Domain/freebie problem by simply not adding them to my TBR (and occasionally using CC's random book selector to choose my next book so that there's still a chance of reading them) along with the rule 'no books I wouldn't spend a buck on'

I now only buy cheap book bundles if there are enough individual books that I actually want to read to be worth it. Those books go on my TBR list, books that might be worth reading someday are added to the general pool and books that will be never ever read are junked. This way my TBR list isn't full of junk that was bundled in with stuff I actually wanted to read (although I still have to thin out stuff from before) and I'm less likely to buy bundles simply because they were cheap and sounded vaguely interesting.

My TBR list is still currently over 400 books so obviously these are mitigation strategies rather then a solution to excessive book buying.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by CRussel

I'm in trouble here. I've bought or acquired 116 books (actually 137 since many are multiple book volumes), and only read 55. This is NOT improving my TBR one bit, and I'm clearly out of control.

The only good news is that many of them were either library books or public domain, and several others were cheap bundles, so my cost per book is still only ~$2. But I really need to get this under control. Especially since at least two of those bundles turned out to be mostly duds.

I generally found bundles to be a bad idea. Yes, the cost per book is low, but I don't need low cost books, I need books I really, really want to read.

Unfortunately, even after avoiding bundles and freebies, I still seem to be buying more books than I can read.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by ekbell

At least library books disappear after a while

I 'solved' the Public Domain/freebie problem by simply not adding them to my TBR (and occasionally using CC's random book selector to choose my next book so that there's still a chance of reading them) along with the rule 'no books I wouldn't spend a buck on'

Ah, but these were actually public domain books I'm likely to read and that do get added to Calibre if not to my "immediate TBR". The entire Forsyte Saga, for example. I've read the first (of nine) and started the second. But it needs concentrated time or I lose track of what's happening.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I generally found bundles to be a bad idea. Yes, the cost per book is low, but I don't need low cost books, I need books I really, really want to read.

Unfortunately, even after avoiding bundles and freebies, I still seem to be buying more books than I can read.

Yeah, I agree completely that they're a bad idea. Bought in both cases because of one author, and while the one author's work was good, the bundles as a whole were uninspiring in the extreme. I should have known better. Well, actually, I did know better. But this is all about addiction, after all, and one can always find an excuse.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Ah, but these were actually public domain books I'm likely to read and that do get added to Calibre if not to my "immediate TBR". The entire Forsyte Saga, for example. I've read the first (of nine) and started the second. But it needs concentrated time or I lose track of what's happening.

I can help you out here. Delete the last three books; they're a big disappointment or at least I found them to be so. My pronouncement on the Saga as a whole is that the second trilogy isn't nearly as good as the first although still entertaining, and the third is rather a slog. For supporting evidence I'll point to the great original television series starring Eric Porter and Kenneth Moore, which only covered the first six books.

Here I've got a conundrum. It's something I wish I'd known when I was reading these books as I'd have paced myself better, but it's spoilery in general terms. IMO, it's nothing that would affect a reader's appreciation or if it does, it would in a positive way, but I'll use tags just the same:

Spoiler:

The third trilogy is only tangentially related to the first six books; it's virtually an entire new cast of characters.

[issybird]

I'll use a different post to confess that I came very close to buying a book at Amazon yesterday. At $10, it was half the digital list price and only marginally discounted at Kobo; i.e., I have no idea if the price is permanent or which way it might tend. The book sounds terrific but cold sanity finally stayed my itchy trigger finger when I had to acknowledge I wouldn't read it right away. I don't always think of it in time, but that has to be my acid test.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

I'll use a different post to confess that I came very close to buying a book at Amazon yesterday. At $10, it was half the digital list price and only marginally discounted at Kobo; i.e., I have no idea if the price is permanent or which way it might tend. The book sounds terrific but cold sanity finally stayed my itchy trigger finger when I had to acknowledge I wouldn't read it right away. I don't always think of it in time, but that has to be my acid test.

Congratulations! A test passed.

I haven't bought a book since the 2nd May. Perhaps not quite as impressive.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I haven't bought a book since the 2nd May. Perhaps not quite as impressive.

One day at a time, Paul; one day at a time.

[Apache]

Yesterday I bought the eBook to an old paperback I still have. I did not know it was available as an eBook so I bought it and am almost finished with it. I love Gollancz for publishing old out of print Sci Fi.
Apache