Puzzling out Fictionwise

[GeoffC]

Halk most of my books have been sourced from Fictionwise;
but I have now reluctantly reduced the frequency of purchases due to "geographical restriction" (see threads elsewhere)....which means that I requested and received a club-wise membership refund.

[Halk]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Halk most of my books have been sourced from Fictionwise;
but I have now reluctantly reduced the frequency of purchases due to "geographical restriction" (see threads elsewhere)....which means that I requested and received a club-wise membership refund.

Yep. I hope now that electronic books are apparently going mainstream then they'll eventually get rid of the geographic restrictions. I have an address in the US, and a credit card registered there, so I can skip the geographic restrictions. UK retail price seems to be the same as US retail price... except at 1.65$ to the pound it's much more economical to buy in dollars.

[kennyc]

It's my opinion that the "system" at fictionwise is way way too complicated and they are driving potential customers away.

I've bought a couple of books there and even considered membership, but it's all like smoke and mirrors and con men in the approach (particularly when the prices/rebates/percentages/typeofpayment change as I watch) which makes me more than a little bit leery of using them.

[Halk]

Originally Posted by kennyc

It's my opinion that the "system" at fictionwise is way way too complicated and they are driving potential customers away.

I've bought a couple of books there and even considered membership, but it's all like smoke and mirrors and con men in the approach (particularly when the prices/rebates/percentages/typeofpayment change as I watch) which makes me more than a little bit leery of using them.

I agree, I'd much rather they put a standard discount on things, rather than the deliberately mysterious system they have. I could live with some kind of loyalty scheme as well. That said, they're the cheapest so that's where to buy.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kennyc

It's my opinion that the "system" at fictionwise is way way too complicated and they are driving potential customers away.

Could be. I suspect regional restrictions are more of a problem.

Personally, I don't find it complicated. But then, I've been buying from them since 2003, so I've had a long time to get used to it.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Could be. I suspect regional restrictions are more of a problem.

Personally, I don't find it complicated. But then, I've been buying from them since 2003, so I've had a long time to get used to it.

You are one. You've been absorbed!

[ficbot]

Interesting! I keep track of dollars spent versus books read to get an average cost per book, but my freebie reads subsidize this cost. I just ran the numbers on dollars spent on books divided number of books bought, and my total was $3.60 per book. Not bad, but I would have pegged it at more like $2.50. My current totals otherwise:

Current cost per book is about $8 but a recent sale nudged that up from about $7
If I read every book before buying anything new is will be $4 per book
If you factor in the free reads still unread in my Calibre library it will be $1.78 per book

[Direct Ebooks]

All these rebates etc have always baffled me a little. Even after reading this really informative thread, I'm still a little confused.
Maybe its a European thing?
Give me straight, cold cash price anytime.

[TheLongshot]

Originally Posted by Halk

I agree, I'd much rather they put a standard discount on things, rather than the deliberately mysterious system they have. I could live with some kind of loyalty scheme as well. That said, they're the cheapest so that's where to buy.

Well, there is a possibility that they are required to charge X amount for certain books by their publisher. If so, they might not be able to give a straight discount for certain books. (i.e. those under secure formats) Such, the current system.

I agree with someone above that it only really was worth it for me when they offer membership with a 100% rebate. This is especially true since they've gotten away from Microsoft Reader as a secure format.

[pdurrant]

If I look back for all the time I've been buying ebooks (about 2002 or so), I've bought 1022 from fictionwise and 640 or so from webscription.net and a handful from other places.

At Fictionwise I've spent (including Memberships) $2670.42
At Webscription.net I've spent $2168.00

Overall average price: $2.91

Mind you, I still have around 380 in my "to be read" pile, so my current "cost per read" is $3.77.

And given that I've been reading ebooks almost exclusively since 2002, I reckon that means I now have just over two year's worth reading material, at around 160 books/year.

Hmm... So I've spent $50/month on ebooks over the past eight years. Wow. Mind you, if you calculate it over the time I'll be spending reading those books, it's only $40/month...

And now I've spent far too much time on book price statistics. The perils of a good email archive :-)

Originally Posted by ficbot

Interesting! I keep track of dollars spent versus books read to get an average cost per book, but my freebie reads subsidize this cost. I just ran the numbers on dollars spent on books divided number of books bought, and my total was $3.60 per book. Not bad, but I would have pegged it at more like $2.50. My current totals otherwise:

Current cost per book is about $8 but a recent sale nudged that up from about $7
If I read every book before buying anything new is will be $4 per book
If you factor in the free reads still unread in my Calibre library it will be $1.78 per book

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...
And now I've spent far too much time on book price statistics. The perils of a good email archive :-)

And think what the cost would have been to purchase those same books as pbooks...

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And think what the cost would have been to purchase those same books as pbooks...

There's no way I'm going to look up 1800+ books on Amazon

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

There's no way I'm going to look up 1800+ books on Amazon

I know, but I'll bet that even used at Amazon you are way-way ahead money-wise and certainly at the standard discount price.

[KarenH]

Originally Posted by Halk

Out of interest, were you buying books that you wanted to have available to read, and you now have a nice big library, or was that books that you've mostly read over the year?

A lot of the books I've purchased are continuations of series or filling in backlists of favorite authors that I know I will read at some point in time, but not necessarily right away. These are the purchases I make when they have a higher percentage off coupon or higher micropay rebate. I use the micropay dollars that I have earned with those purchases when a book comes out that I want NOW and there's no sale going on.

I've never had any trouble understanding Fictionwise's system, and find I get the best deal there over time, but I'd definitely prefer a simpler system if I could get the same overall pricing and selection.

[Elfwreck]

They way they describe the micropay rebates is weird. I just think of it as "buy one, get one free" or "buy one, get a coupon for 50% off the next one." And you don't have to pick the freebie/next one at the same time.

It locks those dollars into Fictionwise purchases, but they are good prices, and there are frequent sales that make the micropay dollars useful.