Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[Cactus Chef]

I got a Kobo Gift card for Christmas, so I used it to grab a few books on my wishlist.

The US prices on most of my books remained stubbornly high throughout the holidays, but on a whim I checked Kobo UK and saw that the Legend of the Condor Heroes books were both much cheaper and on sale, to boot, so traveling overseas let me complete my collection.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: US buyers really get shafted on book prices.

[DrNefario]

I made it to day 30 of 2026 before I bought my first ebook. Not too bad. Just grabbing a monthly deal before the month runs out.

It's still not a brilliant purchase since I haven't yet read the preceding book, and it will likely be on sale again before I do.

[wandalynn]

Originally Posted by wandalynn

Started the year out with 185 and ended with 174. I managed to pare down my owned books by 11, but that includes a duplicate and a book I can't locate, so actually 9. I bought 8 newbies and of my owned books I read 17.

Boring numbers:

Spoiler:

Overall, I read 78 books of which 34 were borrowed, 17 were owned, 10 were audiobooks either borrowed or owned, and 17 were advance reader copies.

I'm sticking with my goal of only buying books I plan to read right away, even if they’re not on sale. So far I've not met it but at least it's kept my impulse buying down

01/06 - added one book not previously counted

01/31 - 175

[bdub]

My biggest problem is eBook sales.

To remedy this problem, I switched to only buying books I can't get from the library or Project Gutenberg. This has reduced my purchasing by a lot. And I never spend more than $2.99 for an eBook. If I have to pay more than that, I'll buy a physical book that I can later get money for at a local used bookstore.

[Tarana]

Originally Posted by bdub

My biggest problem is eBook sales.

Mine too. Bought 5 in January, none of which were on my wish list. All were $2.99 or less.

[DNSB]

I feel as though I am slowing down. I only added 50 books to my collection in January.

[pdurrant]

Only seven bought in January.

I'm going to avoid any big offers this year, and I'm even going to resist offers on much later volumes of series I'm not up-to-date on.

Just this morning, I saw an offer on book 13 in a series, where I've only read 1-3, and the only other book in the series I have is book 10. I have decided to pass. By the time I have managed to buy and read 4-12, I'm sure it'll have gone on offer again.

[issybird]

I had a pretty good month in January. I did buy two books for a buck apiece where the sale created the want, but I've started both (they're longer reads). A third book was wishlist and had a colossal price reduction and I paid for it with promotional credit of the use it or lose it variety, which I don't count as outlay. So, $2 for three books either wishlist or already in process, that seems fine.

Just the same, I don't want to be buying three books a month. Last year I averaged under 1.5 books/month and the year before under one book/month. The issue with a sale creating a want is that even when they're read and they're good enough, they still take up precious reading time from books I really want to read.

[pdurrant]

I've been off work for the past couple of weeks, and I've been going through about a book a day. It means that my TBR would only last two years of retirement. Perhaps I shouldn't worry about it so much.

[bluepeter]

My spending on books seems to have been pretty constant over the last few years - a bit under £1,000/year. But I am definitely a sucker for a bargain. Anything that's offered at a low price and either is already on my wishlist or looks as if it'll be enjoyable or interesting, and it gets added to the Unread collection. I've been getting quite a few from Kobo at £0.99. OTOH, there are about half a dozen authors whose books I'll buy and read immediately on publication. They're the expensive ones.

The TBR "pile" now has 540 books in it. For context, I am retired, and get through about 150 - 200 books/year. (Estimated; I don't keep any record of my reading.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

My spending on books seems to have been pretty constant over the last few years - a bit under £1,000/year. But I am definitely a sucker for a bargain. Anything that's offered at a low price and either is already on my wishlist or looks as if it'll be enjoyable or interesting, and it gets added to the Unread collection. I've been getting quite a few from Kobo at £0.99. OTOH, there are about half a dozen authors whose books I'll buy and read immediately on publication. They're the expensive ones.

The TBR "pile" now has 540 books in it. For context, I am retired, and get through about 150 - 200 books/year. (Estimated; I don't keep any record of my reading.)

I'm still willing to wait for new releases to drop in price - either when the paperback releases or more often when there's a special offer. There's only one author I currently buy immediately, and that's because her latest stuff is self-published and doesn't go on offer.

My average (2016-2025) spend per year is £230 for 166 books, averaging about £1.40 per book.

It has been interesting looking back at my records. While I feel I've had little success at reducing my TBR, the figures say otherwise. It looks like I started 2016 with an (adjusted) 1126 books on my TBR pile, and I started 2026 with only 726 books, a reduction of 400, or 40 per year.

Although it does look like most of that reduction in TBR happened before 2021. I shall have to do a bit better if I'm to get it down to a year's supply, which is sort-of my aim. Under 300 would be good.

[bluepeter]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I'm still willing to wait for new releases to drop in price - either when the paperback releases or more often when there's a special offer.

I wish that I had even that much self-control!

[DrNefario]

My unread books list is over 2000, now. I'm reasonably good at controlling my purchases these days, but there's always a big Humble Bundle and/or a load of freebies that keep the total heading north.

My spending is way below £1000 a year even if I include the coffee-table bardbacks. Last year was £260, 2024 was £180, and 2023 was only £75. I guess that does show a worrying upwards trend.

But £260 is less than I spent on most of my other hobbies, and reading is probably the one I get the most out of. I had a quiet year for video games and it still came out slightly higher. And I don't think I should look at what I spent on board games. (Later: I shouldn't have looked.) So it's still hard to say no to a 99p book, even if I might never get to it.

[bluepeter]

So it appears that my spending on books is high - even amongst the folk here. Oh, well. So be it. Fortunately, I can afford it, and it's pretty much my only recreational activity. I don't have any other hobbies.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by bluepeter

So it appears that my spending on books is high - even amongst the folk here. Oh, well. So be it. Fortunately, I can afford it, and it's pretty much my only recreational activity. I don't have any other hobbies.

My wife doesn't complain about me spending money on eBooks. She never complained about what I spent on hard cover and paperbacks either. She just says at least I don't drink or smoke.
Apache