Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by BelleZora

I also have more ebooks that I can realistically ever read, and still I purchase more.

If I would count all public domain, classics collections from Delphi and free stuff I've downloaded in the last two years, then yes: I have way more books than I could ever read, even if I'd become 80 years old.

If I'd only count books I've paid for however, then my entire library is only around 400 books large, of which around 325 are replacements for paperbacks. Many are bought with (huge) Kobo discounts.

However, I intend to read every book I've loaded into Calibre. I don't just load books into Calibre to make the library bigger. If I sort it and fix it, I intend to read it, someday. (The exception are the Delphi Classics; I'll problably never read the entire collection of a single author, but I bought the collection as to have everything in one place at once.)

The rest is all stashed away in a "Dump" folder, through which I'll look if someone mentiones a public domain book or an author that has or used to have free books. (For example, the entire Baen CD library is in there.)

[mcrow]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

If I would count all public domain, classics collections from Delphi and free stuff I've downloaded in the last two years, then yes: I have way more books than I could ever read, even if I'd become 80 years old.

If I'd only count books I've paid for however, then my entire library is only around 400 books large, of which around 325 are replacements for paperbacks. Many are bought with (huge) Kobo discounts.

However, I intend to read every book I've loaded into Calibre. I don't just load books into Calibre to make the library bigger. If I sort it and fix it, I intend to read it, someday. (The exception are the Delphi Classics; I'll problably never read the entire collection of a single author, but I bought the collection as to have everything in one place at once.)

The rest is all stashed away in a "Dump" folder, through which I'll look if someone mentiones a public domain book or an author that has or used to have free books. (For example, the entire Baen CD library is in there.)

I would say it would take about 115 years for me to read my current books, but of those books I've probably only paid for about 250 which I can probably read in about 5-6 years. Proably 75% of those are books I got for less then a buck or two.

So the total sum of my TBR pile is about a $600 worth...

Good news is, if I fall on hard finacial times I will have several years of reading material on hand.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

A good idea. I suppose I should investigate my library options more closely.

Perhaps it's that I don't want the temptation to just keep the book. Not that I would, but it's been shown that people have a limited amount of will-power. Spend it on one thing, and it's more difficult to resist the next temptation! OTOH, exercising will-power regularly does seem to increase one's capacity.

Never put the library book itself into Calibre. That does make it harder to delete. I know I have had to force myself to do so. I finally figured out, I just put the information in, like I do with audibooks, so there is no temptation to keep it. If I don't return a library book, it will expire. No will-power needed.

[bookaho!ic]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

So long as that was "disposable income" and not your food budget, that's fine!

always disposable income although i could do with skipping a few meals

[xg4bx]

After pretty much not buying ebooks for a few months I splurged and bought 6 today; I was letting a few series' that I enjoy get a bit backed up.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by xg4bx

After pretty much not buying ebooks for a few months I splurged and bought 6 today; I was letting a few series' that I enjoy get a bit backed up.

Hopefully at a good discount?

[Victoria]

My shameless confession is that I've purposefully misused this thread for 2 years. It's a great place to get reading recommendations! I've picked up great books that I would never have heard of otherwise. I've discovered that when a book is so good it can defeat the willpower of the regular posters, it's worth checking out

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Victoria

My shameless confession is that I've purposefully misused this thread for 2 years. It's a great place to get reading recommendations!

What!

Go stand in the corner.

Shameless! Hmpfff.

Spoiler:

I'm happy none of the big Kobo codes between 50 and 85 percent are working for me anymore. My total number of books bought these past few days is up to 24. Fortunately I've effectively paid only around €1 per book. And, they're bought using some money that was provided to me to get a "gift card" from a book store, as a present on Christmas Eve.

I must think about creating that card. The person giving it to me does not know anything about computers, or ebooks, or internet, and thinks the (fake ) gift card is for a real book store

[Katsunami]

Spoke too soon... another 3 books using 65% codes...

0.35 * $6.59 = $2.31
3 * $2.31 = $6.93 => €5.05 total price.

That's €1.68 a book. The paperbacks would cost me €7.95 a piece.

I love ereaders and the Kobo store.

This way, I'll someday complete my Forgotten Realms collection (~325 books) at a fraction of the price I'd normally pay for it in paperback. (I've just started buying them starting from the first one, so the entire collection is on my wishlist Pity there are quite a lot of the older ones that Kobo does not have.)

Oh, and adore Alf and calibre. Because of those, I don't have to worry that I'll only read some of the books two or three years from now, even if my device changes. Best is that they don't take up any space. If I was still reading paper books, I would never have had buying sprees like this because of cost and space.

Spoiler:

I'm eyeing another series... of 7 books... if I can get another 70%+ multi-use code....
Grrrr.... one... more... code...

I feel addicted.

[pdurrant]

A combination of an unexpected windfall, an excellent Amazon UK daily deal, and HarryT's recommendation have resulted in nine new books bought today, and one freebie moved onto my TBR pile. It's hard to resist a complete well-regarded detective series for under $15. (I had the first as a freebie in 2010, and the other nine were £0.99 each today.)

I'm still pondering what to make my New Year's Ebook Buying Resolution. I think I might aim for a monetary target next year, as I've failed miserably at book count targets.

[DrNefario]

11 new books for me today. I had 7 of the Martin Beck books still to get - and I'm still pondering getting an e-edition of the second one, which I read in paper - and I noticed a price drop on a couple of omnibuses in my wishlist. It hasn't been a good month for my TBR, and we're still a long way from January.

[WashWest]

Discovering that Kobo's generous coupons work on the Very Short Introduction series could be very dangerous for my finances. Then again, at under $3 each, maybe it won't be so bad. :-)

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

So long as that was "disposable income" and not your food budget, that's fine!

I tried the 'let's make a budget for book purchases' last year to reduce the amount of ebook I buy. I discussed it with my wife, who also thought a budget was a good idea for her, to limit her purchases (shoes, bag & whatever girls buy). She decided that 500CHF a person should do.

Since that was the monthly budget, it actually did very, very little to reduce my TBR pile (and no, I did not finish the budget, by a long stretch.)

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Soldim

I tried the 'let's make a budget for book purchases' last year to reduce the amount of ebook I buy. I discussed it with my wife, who also thought a budget was a good idea for her, to limit her purchases (shoes, bag & whatever girls buy). She decided that 500CHF a person should do.

Since that was the monthly budget, it actually did very, very little to reduce my TBR pile (and no, I did not finish the budget, by a long stretch.)

Umm... 500CHF is about £350 or US$550. That's only a little less than I've spent on ebooks all year - about $640 so far.

I was thinking of a monthly ebook budget of $40 or so!

Hmm... $18 on the Baen Bundle, $2.25 on Grantville Gazette, $1.50 on F&SF, $3 each on Analog and Asimovs - that's $27.75 without any extras, which would leave me $12.25 for any ebooks that caught my fancy. My average ebook purchase price this year has been under $3, so that's an extra four ebooks per month.

Now, I read about 15 books a month, and four from the Baen Bundle + 1/2 from GG and F&SF + Analog+Asimov's+4 more = 11 books a month, meaning that I'd be reducing my TBR by four books a month, or 48, perhaps 50 a year.

Now, my current TBR is actually around 700 purchased books (I found I'd missed some previously, which is why my 2013 list only shows 300 odd), which would take 14 years to reduce to zero at 50 books per year.

So - four extras per month, costing no more (on average) than $12.25. I think I could do that. At least, I think I could reduce spending to just an extra $12.25 a month.

OK, that's my 2014 challenge decided. To spend no more than $40/month on ebooks. Wish me luck!

[Soldim]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Umm... 500CHF is about £350 or US$550. That's only a little less than I've spent on ebooks all year - about $640 so far.

Yep, can't reduce your TBR list with that approach.

I was thinking of a monthly ebook budget of $40 or so!

I wa just calculating how much I spend on books this year (leaving out teh very expensive Modernist Cuisine set I bought). I buy quite a bit non-fiction, which easily run at $15 a book, OTOH I do borrow quite a bit from the library. I spend last year between $50 and $70 a month, except in January (son in hospital, I spend lots of time there reading) and July (holidays).

So, overall $850 spend on ebooks this year (including gift cards).

I'll try to keep it at less than $750 next year.

OK, that's my 2014 challenge decided. To spend no more than $40/month on ebooks. Wish me luck!

Best of luck to you -- hope for some x-mass gift cards, like that January should be easy