Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[CWatkinsNash]

I'm taking small steps. Okay, one was a really big step that took a long time - importing 10 years worth of unread ebooks from Amazon to Goodreads. I'm not going to use numbers. I can't think about the number.

Then, I moved some Goodreads shelves around, renamed some other shelves, and THEN moved a subset of the big pile of unread books, so that now my Want To Read shelf on Goodreads actually contains books I already own instead of books I might be tempted to buy.

It's a start.

[pdurrant]

That is a big step!

When I finally moved to calibre (2013), and imported all my books, and marked those I'd read and those I hadn't, my TBR doubled (to around 800). And then when I had a proper search (2015) and finally got every book from every ebook seller into calibre, I found I had more than 1000!

Which is why keeping a tight rein on my buying is important.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I'm taking small steps. Okay, one was a really big step that took a long time - importing 10 years worth of unread ebooks from Amazon to Goodreads. I'm not going to use numbers. I can't think about the number.

I hear you. I only use TBR as a relative number: how much have I reduced it. It wouldn’t be productive or even accurate to put an absolute number on my TBR list; there are books that won’t be read. I did a few big purges early on; as of now, what’s left in Calibre is ranked for appeal. The bottom will never make it onto a reader and that’s good enough.

Then, I moved some Goodreads shelves around, renamed some other shelves, and THEN moved a subset of the big pile of unread books, so that now my Want To Read shelf on Goodreads actually contains books I already own instead of books I might be tempted to buy.

Thank you! It’s a minor but recurrent irritation for me the way people put every passing fancy onto their Want to Read shelves. I have GR friends who have WtRs of literally thousands of unbought books. I don’t see the point myself; like having thousands of freebies, it’s useless without a lot of additional effort. Why not be choosier? People can do as they please, of course, but it affects me when I try to do a book comparison and the other person’s books are mostly WtRs of the unbought. That tells me nothing; I want to see how they’ve rated books we’ve both read or at least know that they’re committed to the extent of actually owning it.

I have a limit for myself of 50 owned books for my GR WtR; right now it’s 48 but that’s because I merged another shelf of false starts into it. Still, it should be lower and you’ve inspired me to take a hard look at it and delete those I’m less likely to get to any time soonish. Then the list would be more of a motivation at that, instead of a lot of books I continue to reject.

[pdurrant]

I started using calibre's random book feature to choose my next read a few months ago. I thought it throw up books I no longer wanted to read and could be removed from my TBR list. So far (25+) it hasn't thrown up a book I didn't want to read.

Which makes me think that I really do have around 750 bought books that I want to read, and 150 freebies...

This is, of course, a good thing. But it does mean I must be very selective about buying new ebooks.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I'm taking small steps. Okay, one was a really big step that took a long time - importing 10 years worth of unread ebooks from Amazon to Goodreads. I'm not going to use numbers. I can't think about the number.

Then, I moved some Goodreads shelves around, renamed some other shelves, and THEN moved a subset of the big pile of unread books, so that now my Want To Read shelf on Goodreads actually contains books I already own instead of books I might be tempted to buy.

It's a start.

Oooh, I still have occasional flashbacks of doing an Ent-corpse inventory back in August 2011 to get my physical tomes into Goodreads. Ebooks were generally a lot smoother, as I was able to tackle those in real-time as they came along, but I still run into the occasional old purchase that I didn't properly log as owned.

One thing I've done, which I mention in case you want to copy, is to create a non-exclusive "borrowed/do not own" shelf in GR. This is not only useful for library reads, but for sweepstakes which place the book on your Want to Read shelf when you enter. Tagging them into this shelf makes removing them considerably easier once the drawing takes place.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by issybird

I have a limit for myself of 50 owned books for my GR WtR; right now it’s 48 but that’s because I merged another shelf of false starts into it. Still, it should be lower and you’ve inspired me to take a hard look at it and delete those I’m less likely to get to any time soonish. Then the list would be more of a motivation at that, instead of a lot of books I continue to reject.

I use sort of a tiered system to achieve this, although it works more loosely in practice than in the theory I'll describe.

Any new ebook purchase that is not a comic book or graphic novel goes into either limbo-read or limbo-unread, indicating that I need to at least check the formatting before putting it onto my Kobo. That's my big slush pile, which I sometimes subdivide on my hard drive to indicate which ones I want to handle first. Graphic novels are different because there's no such formatting needed; they go straight to Want to Read.

Once a book is processed and loaded onto the Kobo, I tag it according to urgency. Anything I could theoretically read right away either goes into Shortlist or Now-list, the latter being the most urgent category. Everything else (usually meaning later books in a series) goes into the general Want to Read category.

In theory, this means that upon finishing one book, I can either look in WTR for the sequel (if applicable), Now-list for something I've marked as wanting to read Real Soon Now, or Shortlist for anything else that tickles my fancy.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

I am lucky that our store also has an ebooks arm, so I can purchase ebooks through them as well.

Originally Posted by CRussel

This is something I'd like to see a lot more of, and I don't understand why Kobo or other non-Amazon platform hasn't tapped that market.

Uhm, Kobo does exactly that. They even have a page about it on their website.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by CRussel

This is something I'd like to see a lot more of, and I don't understand why Kobo or other non-Amazon platform hasn't tapped that market. I won't read a dead tree book any more -- just not comfortable with them (old man's eyes). But I'd be happy to support a local independent bookstore that would sell me an eBook of the DT book I'd been browsing in their store.

Yeah, it's best of both worlds for me. I am surprised more indie booksellers don't jump on board.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...I found I had more than 1000!

Which is why keeping a tight rein on my buying is important.

More than 1000? Well, I hope I can get down to that eventually. LOL Yeah, it's that bad.

Originally Posted by issybird

I hear you. I only use TBR as a relative number: how much have I reduced it. It wouldn’t be productive or even accurate to put an absolute number on my TBR list; there are books that won’t be read. I did a few big purges early on; as of now, what’s left in Calibre is ranked for appeal. The bottom will never make it onto a reader and that’s good enough.

Yeah, the total number is huge but I can't even guess how many of them will actually be worth a read. One of the first things I did after the big import was sort by average rating and then delete any that were under 3 stars. Not a perfect system, but it knocked about 150 off the list immediately which helped me start to feel like I had some control over this mess.

Originally Posted by issybird

Thank you! It’s a minor but recurrent irritation for me the way people put every passing fancy onto their Want to Read shelves. ... I have a limit for myself of 50 owned books for my GR WtR; right now it’s 48 but that’s because I merged another shelf of false starts into it. Still, it should be lower and you’ve inspired me to take a hard look at it and delete those I’m less likely to get to any time soonish. Then the list would be more of a motivation at that, instead of a lot of books I continue to reject.

When my WTR was unowned, it was usually kept somewhat under control, partly because I have a separate to-read-library-ku shelf. I've always been trying to somewhat minimize unnecessary purchases so I've been good about keeping on top of which books I could get at the library or on KU. (KU is on hold right now.)

The end result after last night's shuffling is that the WTR contains the owned books that I'm prioritizing, and it's a bit big (102, I think?) because it's varied. Series I want to get back to, non-fiction that I'm truly interested in, and standalone novels I really want to read in several genres. One of the biggest advantages of using the default WTR shelf for books I already own on Amazon is that I can access that list quickly right from my Kindle.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

One thing I've done, which I mention in case you want to copy, is to create a non-exclusive "borrowed/do not own" shelf in GR. This is not only useful for library reads, but for sweepstakes which place the book on your Want to Read shelf when you enter. Tagging them into this shelf makes removing them considerably easier once the drawing takes place.

I used to have both out-from-library and library-holds shelf for my current library activity. I only deleted them in the past few days because I'm not allowing myself to use the library till sometime next year. I have exactly one hold still active - #2 in Murderbot, because I've been waiting on that hold for literally months and that's one I will not deprive myself of.

---------------------------

Thanks for the support and conversation, y'all. I know I make jokes and get silly but this latest face-off with the book pile has been both sobering and revealing. I mean, it's not a tragedy, too many books isn't the worst problem to have. But there have been so many things this year affecting my life that I have absolutely no control over, and this book situation is one of the few things I DO have control over and I think it could actually be emotionally beneficial to me to channel some of my chaotic energy into this.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by issybird

Thank you! It’s a minor but recurrent irritation for me the way people put every passing fancy onto their Want to Read shelves. I have GR friends who have WtRs of literally thousands of unbought books. I don’t see the point myself; like having thousands of freebies, it’s useless without a lot of additional effort. Why not be choosier? People can do as they please, of course, but it affects me when I try to do a book comparison and the other person’s books are mostly WtRs of the unbought. That tells me nothing; I want to see how they’ve rated books we’ve both read or at least know that they’re committed to the extent of actually owning it.

I have a limit for myself of 50 owned books for my GR WtR; right now it’s 48 but that’s because I merged another shelf of false starts into it. Still, it should be lower and you’ve inspired me to take a hard look at it and delete those I’m less likely to get to any time soonish. Then the list would be more of a motivation at that, instead of a lot of books I continue to reject.

I have a custom column in my Calibre labeled "jar." This is a throwback to the days of making a jar with tiny slips of paper to draw a random thing out of. I've never had the physical jar, but if something is tagged "jar," I want to get to it sooner rather than later. I usually revisit my catalog every 6 months or so and mark and unmark things. But if it is a "jar" book, then it is on my Kobo to be randomly selected.

[Tarana]

I like to read about the new and unique ways folks use Goodreads' shelves. My WTR list just lists books recommended by someone else. There's only 63 books on it, so I feel I'm handling that part pretty well. They don't get taken off until read. I keep this separate as I cull my regular wishlists. Some of the books stay on there for awhile because I'm waiting for book to be published as ebook. My oldest are from 2014.

I have all my books and audiobooks that are as yet unread on spreadsheets. It's much easier to separate out the ones I paid for vs. the free. Slowly incorporating all purchases into a single library on Calibre, but I only do that when on hold as I hate to waste time when I could be reading/listening. A lot of progress this year. Because of COVID, I am on hold endlessly. I started my libraries before Calibre had virtual libraries and it took me a long time to understand how those worked.

[issybird]

I’m taking stock for October, since I need to do much better. I bought four books, which was way above my mean through September of under three; the outlay was in line with the established mean. The worst of it is that I do regret one purchase, the most expensive; Amazon sucked me in with one of those $5 off a specific Random House book on your wishlist, but even with $5 off, the appeal/price ratio wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t going to get it more cheaply, but that’s not sufficient justification.

I need to be more stringent about my wishlist in terms of books whose interest level is most likely never going to match the price, especially since I do fall for some Amazon-specific deals because of the “now or never” aspect. In addition, once it’s no longer possible to download and strip Amazon books which seems as if it’s coming, I really don’t want books I can’t put on my Kobo.

I’m hoping that typing all this out is reinforcement!

One final note: I had a goal of reading everything I bought this year and I was going gangbusters into April when I lost it. Right now, I’m at half. This was a very good resolution, however, so I’d like to pick it up for going forward. I’ll work on it for the rest of the year and see how well I can do by year’s end.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by issybird

One final note: I had a goal of reading everything I bought this year and I was going gangbusters into April when I lost it. Right now, I’m at half. This was a very good resolution, however, so I’d like to pick it up for going forward. I’ll work on it for the rest of the year and see how well I can do by year’s end.

Half is still progress! And it sounds like you've got a good grasp on it going forward! And honestly, I think many of us (not just on MR but globally) lost track of our goals and paths around April.

I'm trying to wrangle mine into some sort of goal other than merely, "read this stuff I've accumulated" since that's just overwhelming on its own. I've already decided that next year will be the "2021 Read Down" though I'm starting as soon as I get the last library book returned sometime this week. But I'm still not entirely sure what that looks like.

Last week, I exported my Goodreads to a CSV, edited it down to the relevant shelves, then imported that into Calibre as empty books in the hopes of clearing up the picture, but getting the metadata downloaded and checked is taking a very long time because I have to review them all. I've only got about 10% of them done so far. I guess there's no rush, it's not like reading a chunk of these books is going to happen in a day, and I already have the "priority list" on the WTR shelf (which I just noticed also contains a significant amount of Ray Garton - might want to break his stuff out into smaller doses).

Anyway (I'm rambly today, after-effects of last night's virtual Halloween party, maybe...) the benefit of me going through the Calibre process is the ability to weed out more stuff and also prioritize the "Hey! I really wanted to read that!" books, so I'm going to try to stick with it till it's done. Statistically, there must be a large amount of absolutely awful romance and erotica in that mess, and I stopped reading romance a few years ago. I'm not opposed to reading some of the decent romances, but I don't want this read-down to feel like punishment. Reading should not feel like flogging.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by issybird

In addition, once it’s no longer possible to download and strip Amazon books which seems as if it’s coming, I really don’t want books I can’t put on my Kobo..

This is my concern as well. Pretty much all buying will stop when I can no longer strip DRM as there is no way to organize series using a plugboard. That and my disposable income coming to an end will really put a plug in the works. On the other hand, I do have over 1,000 ebooks yet unread, so it's not like I will run out, but I am trying to complete some series. Other series, while good, weren't 5 star, so I'm letting them go.

Before anybody freaks out, at least 200 of those ebooks are Whispersync and others replaced paper books that I have since disposed of as I can't read them.

[pdurrant]

I think it unlikely that the ability to remove DRM from Amazon ebooks will disappear.

My TBR is now at 903, as I've spent £0.99 on an old Dick Francis novel. I read Proof ages ago, but I'd like to read it again sometime, and my Dick Francis paperbacks (& hardbacks) are long gone.