Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread - Page 408

Cactus Chef · 07-23-2025, 02:07 PM

Mmm, nope, disaster for last month. A certain book overseas was on sale for a dollar, and I had to have it. But that meant buying myself a gift card so that I'd have account balance, and then at that point it was "Well as long as I'm traveling to the UK, I might as well grab some others on my list that I can't get in the US shop."

So in addition to the usual $2-3 sale impulse buys, there was an additional $20 worth of books I purchased. So that I could save on that $1 book, of course!

DrNefario · 07-29-2025, 05:43 AM

At the weekend, I was in a comic shop, and I saw a big hardback coffee table book that looked interesting. I decided not to buy it there and then, because it was pretty heavy and I didn't want to carry it around all day. On Sunday I decided to look it up online, and ended up ordering it via Hive (www.hive.co.uk), which was a fair bit cheaper but still allowed me to support the store where I saw it. A nice bonus feature.

Not an ebook - and in fact my second big expensive hardback coffee-table book of the year (the other one did at least come with a PDF; this one has much cheaper kindle and epub versions, but I didn't really trust them to do the artwork justice) - but I almost forgot to account for it in my records. I just realised this morning that I should have added it to my spreadsheets and my Reading Challenge post. Almost like I don't count physical books as books any more. And I can't even remember whether I usually count them when I receive them or when I order them, since it's such a rare thing now.

ownedbycats · 08-10-2025, 11:50 AM

Bought 6 books in six days. One full-price, others discounted. Sigh.

Good news was only 3 were impulse (others wishlisted).

Tarana · Yesterday, 04:14 PM

I can say that my purchasing of ebooks went WAY DOWN since Amazon pulled the plug on the easy downloads. 6 or fewer books in the last 3 months. All were either fill ins from series or on wishlist. So that's a big improvement. Better would be to stop trying to haunt the deals. I don't need any more ebooks. I don't need to get more books in pretty much any series. I'm 65 and probably have more unread books than I can finish by my estimated year of demise. Yet this conviction hasn't stopped me from looking.

Similar issue with my audiobooks. I don't need any more. I have once again cancelled Audible, but I know temptation will be there to start again for the next members sale. I'm trying to distract myself by just reminding myself that I can add to my wishlist and rejoin in 2 years which gives me time to convince myself that...naw, don't want to continue that series... So hard.

DNSB · Today, 12:50 AM

My ebook purchases were down for August with only 78 purchases and 4 library loans. I've been spending time with the grandkids instead of reading. My TBR pile currently stands at 2!

DrNefario · Today, 06:01 AM

8 ebooks, 1 used paperback, 1 hardback, 1 bundle (of 11 books, ignoring the ones I already had). Not a great month, for me, and yet still less than I'm going to pay for a dental check-up this month, which I don't even want to do. And the real problem was probably the 79 freebies.

pdurrant · Today, 06:42 AM

I've done quite well this year... except for February, March and July, which account for over 60% of my purchases this year.

February/March was a splurge on BookBale. I've cancelled my membership.
July was mainly a whole series from Simon Brett.

I do need to stop buying in bulk. It's not really the individual purchases that are putting my TBR number up (although they, of course, don't help), but the whole series/bundle offers are the major cause. I must resist buying bundles!

issybird · Today, 11:27 AM

I bought one book at the end of August after three clean months. It was my eighth book on the year, or an average of one book per month, a little over last year's average. I've spent $25 so far which is more than I spent in all of last year, but doesn't seem unreasonable. It includes two books bought with promotional credit which I count as bought, unlike true freebies.

If all this sounds like bragging about nothing much, it's a dramatic change from the excesses of the teen years and even up through a couple of years ago, although it had started to drift down by then. I attribute it in part to external factors such as higher prices overall, wishlist books rarely going on sale any more and the paucity of discounts/coupons, but also to internal ones such as a sense of surfeit with my existing library of unread books and finally assimilating the reality that I'll never be able to read everything I'd like to read anyway. It's as if a switch has gone off; I don't "want" the way I used to. It might be different if I didn't have access to a couple of good libraries; I hope I don't have to find out.

What I'm happiest about this year is that I've already read five of my eight purchases and started two others, leaving only my purchase of a few days ago uncracked. My goal is to finish the year with all purchases read, although I might give myself a dispensation for one lengthy tome which is more of textbook type and hence for dipping into.

08-10-2025, 11:50 AM	#6108
ownedbycats Custom User Title Posts: 11,118 Karma: 77213683 Join Date: Oct 2018 Location: Canada Device: Kobo Libra H2O, formerly Aura HD	Bought 6 books in six days. One full-price, others discounted. Sigh. Good news was only 3 were impulse (others wishlisted). Last edited by ownedbycats; 08-10-2025 at 11:52 AM.

Today, 06:01 AM	#6111
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,215 Karma: 12029046 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	8 ebooks, 1 used paperback, 1 hardback, 1 bundle (of 11 books, ignoring the ones I already had). Not a great month, for me, and yet still less than I'm going to pay for a dental check-up this month, which I don't even want to do. And the real problem was probably the 79 freebies. Last edited by DrNefario; Today at 06:04 AM.

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07-23-2025, 02:07 PM	#6106
Cactus Chef Guru Posts: 618 Karma: 7527698 Join Date: Apr 2019 Location: East Coast, United States Device: Kobo Sage, Kobo Clara HD, Galaxy Tab S5e, Kindle 4th Gen	Mmm, nope, disaster for last month. A certain book overseas was on sale for a dollar, and I had to have it. But that meant buying myself a gift card so that I'd have account balance, and then at that point it was "Well as long as I'm traveling to the UK, I might as well grab some others on my list that I can't get in the US shop." So in addition to the usual $2-3 sale impulse buys, there was an additional $20 worth of books I purchased. So that I could save on that $1 book, of course!

07-29-2025, 05:43 AM	#6107
DrNefario Wizard Posts: 2,215 Karma: 12029046 Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: UK Device: Kindle, Kobo Touch, Nook SimpleTouch	At the weekend, I was in a comic shop, and I saw a big hardback coffee table book that looked interesting. I decided not to buy it there and then, because it was pretty heavy and I didn't want to carry it around all day. On Sunday I decided to look it up online, and ended up ordering it via Hive (www.hive.co.uk), which was a fair bit cheaper but still allowed me to support the store where I saw it. A nice bonus feature. Not an ebook - and in fact my second big expensive hardback coffee-table book of the year (the other one did at least come with a PDF; this one has much cheaper kindle and epub versions, but I didn't really trust them to do the artwork justice) - but I almost forgot to account for it in my records. I just realised this morning that I should have added it to my spreadsheets and my Reading Challenge post. Almost like I don't count physical books as books any more. And I can't even remember whether I usually count them when I receive them or when I order them, since it's such a rare thing now.

Yesterday, 04:14 PM	#6109
Tarana Wizard Posts: 4,046 Karma: 38840460 Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Minneapolis Device: PWSE, Voyage, K3, HDX, KBasic 7 & 8, Nook Glo3, Echos, Nanos	I can say that my purchasing of ebooks went WAY DOWN since Amazon pulled the plug on the easy downloads. 6 or fewer books in the last 3 months. All were either fill ins from series or on wishlist. So that's a big improvement. Better would be to stop trying to haunt the deals. I don't need any more ebooks. I don't need to get more books in pretty much any series. I'm 65 and probably have more unread books than I can finish by my estimated year of demise. Yet this conviction hasn't stopped me from looking. Similar issue with my audiobooks. I don't need any more. I have once again cancelled Audible, but I know temptation will be there to start again for the next members sale. I'm trying to distract myself by just reminding myself that I can add to my wishlist and rejoin in 2 years which gives me time to convince myself that...naw, don't want to continue that series... So hard.

Today, 12:50 AM	#6110
DNSB Bibliophagist Posts: 47,125 Karma: 169815798 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Vancouver Device: Kobo Sage, Libra Colour, Lenovo M8 FHD, Paperwhite 4, Tolino epos	My ebook purchases were down for August with only 78 purchases and 4 library loans. I've been spending time with the grandkids instead of reading. My TBR pile currently stands at 2!

Today, 06:42 AM	#6112
pdurrant The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠 Posts: 74,133 Karma: 315558334 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Norfolk, England Device: Kindle Oasis	I've done quite well this year... except for February, March and July, which account for over 60% of my purchases this year. February/March was a splurge on BookBale. I've cancelled my membership. July was mainly a whole series from Simon Brett. I do need to stop buying in bulk. It's not really the individual purchases that are putting my TBR number up (although they, of course, don't help), but the whole series/bundle offers are the major cause. I must resist buying bundles!

Today, 11:27 AM	#6113
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 21,374 Karma: 235205657 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: Mini, H2O, Glo HD, Aura One, PW4, PW5	I bought one book at the end of August after three clean months. It was my eighth book on the year, or an average of one book per month, a little over last year's average. I've spent $25 so far which is more than I spent in all of last year, but doesn't seem unreasonable. It includes two books bought with promotional credit which I count as bought, unlike true freebies. If all this sounds like bragging about nothing much, it's a dramatic change from the excesses of the teen years and even up through a couple of years ago, although it had started to drift down by then. I attribute it in part to external factors such as higher prices overall, wishlist books rarely going on sale any more and the paucity of discounts/coupons, but also to internal ones such as a sense of surfeit with my existing library of unread books and finally assimilating the reality that I'll never be able to read everything I'd like to read anyway. It's as if a switch has gone off; I don't "want" the way I used to. It might be different if I didn't have access to a couple of good libraries; I hope I don't have to find out. What I'm happiest about this year is that I've already read five of my eight purchases and started two others, leaving only my purchase of a few days ago uncracked. My goal is to finish the year with all purchases read, although I might give myself a dispensation for one lengthy tome which is more of textbook type and hence for dipping into.

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