Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[PurpleStar]

Well, I bought a whole bunch of new ebooks in the last few days. Got $70 worth of chapters/kobo gift cards for Christmas. One more purchase tonight (new star trek book) and then I'm done for awhile. My new year's resolution will be to buy less. We'll see how long that lasts!!

[burnafterreading]

i got into e-reading early Dec.2014 when i finally got fed up with my iPad mini and bought the Kobo Arc7HD (new) as my next tablet - mostly cuz it was Android and very affordably priced. that sh!t escalated quickly because within 2 weeks i ended up also buying a Kobo Arc 10HD (new) and a Kobo Glo (used).

i've so far acquired around 30 ebooks, about half purchased the other half free (from author, like the first 1-2 of a series). i've only read 4 thus far, but the holiday deals are making it hard to stop buying stuff that i won't get around to reading until the summer! i figure that once the holidays are done, i'll only have enough time to read one book per week (and this would be like a 150pager, not a 700pager or some War-n-Peace verbal diarrhea)

eh, maybe i just like buying stuff, no matter what it is. books, bananas, little baggies of white powder, etc...

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That's a tough challenge. My advice would be to start with no more than one every two weeks, so that when a really good offer comes along you have some slack.

I should discipline myself to look at library before I hit buy; that should help quell the urge. As with BelleZora, given how many excellent reads I already own, I should only be purchasing books to read right away. The crux is what constitutes "a really good offer" now that the game has changed.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Even with my backlog (750 unread at present), I think it would cost me a lot more if I moved to a 'only buy it just before reading model'. My having (a more than) sufficient cushion to keep me in reading material, I'm able to wait for special offers, coupons and other kinds of good deals on books I want to read.

My mean purchase price for 2014 is just $1.61. My mean read book cost for 2014 is $2.55. So the average cost of books in my TBR pile is going steadily down.

If I was buying 'on-demand' at (say) $4.99 per ebook, my read book cost would have doubled for 2014. And that ratio is going to get worse.

And it's not as if I'm filling my TBR with books that are only 'OK' or just 'look interesting', as I must admit I used to do from Fictionwise. Nearly all my purchases in 2014 are from favourite authors or series, with just a few well-recommended new authors/series when they were on really good offer.

There are advantages to a large TBR. Even though I'd still prefer to have mine down to under 200.

It boils down to how much of that TBR gets read, eventually. As my TBR keeps increasing, much of the savings from deals are not realized and have to be subtracted from the money I've saved on the books I have read. During the multiple-use 90% code frenzies, for example, I bought so many books and at least some will never be read. At 90% off, it's still a hefty savings on the books I do read even allowing for the "mistakes". But at 40% off, say, one book I never read uses up the savings on anoher I do read, and then some. If I view my library as a total expenditure and in effect charge off the books I read at the current price, how long until I'm in the black? A very, very long time, I'm afraid. And if I keep buying at recent rates, that day will never come.

Our perspectives are different and both valid, I think. You look at it on a per-item basis while I consider the total outlay. You'll be right in the not-too-long-term while I'm right (for me) in the near-term. A significant contributing factor to our differences in perspective, I think, is that my cost per book is higher than yours (I buy a lot of BPH non-fiction.)

I agree that I like to have a TBR. It means I have a selection of highly appealng books at my literal fingertips and at a price that couldn't be duplicated now. I think the best days of the ebook deals are behind us, although I think there will always be some kind of deal; both are reason to cut back on what I buy now. The bottom line is that I've got the TBR and a hefty one it is, too. it's time to realize some of the savings.

(I know you'll realize that I'm exhorting myself! Really, it was a bad moment when I had to acknowledge my folly. I leap on a potential purchase as if I had nothing at all to read and ebooks were about to leave the planet.)

[peachiekene]

Definitely gone overboard in the last two months. ^^;
I'm hoping to be a lot better next year.

My main issue is I've got 3 series I'm trying to collect that are couponable so I'm buying when I get the appropriate coupons.

I've got to look things over and try to find a good (for me) monthly ebook budget. ^^;

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by issybird

(I know you'll realize that I'm exhorting myself! Really, it was a bad moment when I had to acknowledge my folly. I leap on a potential purchase as if I had nothing at all to read and ebooks were about to leave the planet.)

I think I've behaved like that at times. Of course, in the UK it's possible that ebook prices will be up 16.5% next year, due to VAT changes. That might also help me curb my spending!

Looking back at what I'd read over the past five years (I'm so pleased I started recording what I read), I find that I've read about $2650 worth of ebooks, and spent $2250 on ebooks. Hmm.... not so bad, after all.

Hey - my average spend over five years is exactly $450/£300 - my target for 2015!

So long as we're only spending 'surplus' income on ebooks, I suppose it's not really a problem. At least ebooks only take up hard disk space, not physical space.



[EDIT]The temptation to play with figures from my calibre database is irresistible.

I've just made a spreadsheet of all the ebooks I've bought since January 2002, 2673 of them, and I've read 75% of them (80% by value). They cost me $7669.01 (excess precision, I know), an average of $2.89. The ones I've read have an average price of $3.05, the unread ones of $2.32. So it seems that my more expensive purchases are ones I want to read more, which makes sense, I suppose. My unread bought books have cost me $1545.56. About a third of that is from 2008 - the year that DRM removal tools for Mobipocket ebooks became readily available. It seems I went a bit wild with my spending in 2008.

Perhaps most interesting from a non-financial point of view is that my average books read per year is a bit over 160 books per year. I suspect this reflects a lower average in the first half of that time period, before I moved fully to ebooks (i.e. before so many books were available as ebooks) as I've averaged very nearly 200 books per year over the past five years.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I think I've behaved like that at times. Of course, in the UK it's possible that ebook prices will be up 16.5% next year, due to VAT changes. That might also help me curb my spending!

Looking back at what I'd read over the past five years (I'm so pleased I started recording what I read), I find that I've read about $2650 worth of ebooks, and spent $2250 on ebooks. Hmm.... not so bad, after all.

Hey - my average spend over five years is exactly $450/£300 - my target for 2015!

So long as we're only spending 'surplus' income on ebooks, I suppose it's not really a problem. At least ebooks only take up hard disk space, not physical space.

Congrats on being in the black over the past five years!

I think it's one of those pesky defects of its virtues situations. If the books had a physical presence it would be a brake of sorts on the accumulation or at least a visible reminder. I've got unread pbooks around here, natch, but we're talking scores, not hundreds. But the ebook situation is to be preferred; I have no desire to end up like a Collyer.

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by issybird

But the ebook situation is to be preferred; I have no desire to end up like a Collyer.

The only thing that has saved me from that fate is having moved a few too many times where I had to pay by the pound/kilo. As it is, I've still got way too many pbooks here that I won't ever read now.

The problem with eBooks is that they seem to trigger my "hoarder instinct". I want more.

This thread has helped me immensely. It hasn't always stopped my purchases, but it has certainly slowed them down. And made me actually think before I jump to buy.

[Tarana]

I've still got way too many pbooks here that I won't ever read now.

You can still read them. Just plan on reading a pbook every other book and then giving the book away. You'll eliminate your phoard fairly well over time. That's what my mom has been doing (I loaded her up with pbooks from garage sales 3 years ago - the pile now almost fits entirely in one bookshelf!).

I'll make a couple of last minute checks for whispersync books, but I have to really push the purchasing moratorium until May. I also want to put my Audible account on hold for a year, but to do that, I have to spend the 7 credits I already have and I don't know what to get yet.

[pdurrant]

I have just finished up my list for 2014 and started my 2015 list. I've also converted all the prices in my calibre database from dollars to pounds sterling! It was time. Nearly all the books I buy now are priced in sterling. And no way am I going to track prices in more than one currency!

[issybird]

Originally Posted by CRussel

As it is, I've still got way too many pbooks here that I won't ever read now.

The problem with eBooks is that they seem to trigger my "hoarder instinct". I want more.

And there's the folly of hoarding, in those two sentences.

This thread has helped me immensely. It hasn't always stopped my purchases, but it has certainly slowed them down. And made me actually think before I jump to buy.

Me, too. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I'd be in worse shape without this thread. Just as one example, I never buy Kindle Daily Deals any more. At least now, I have to have the "want" first, before the purchase; I'm no longer sucked in by a cheap price that creates a want. This is pretty huge.

I've just made my last purchase before austerity. I ended up buying eight books in December, as I kept adding just one more. What seems to be the end of good times at Kobo drove a few of them and even at that, the outlay was pretty high. I figure prices are only going to get higher still as options become fewer.

So I'll only be able to buy half as many books per month in 2015. Feeling satiated if not glutted right now, it seems not only doable but a relief. This will no doubt change; I anticipate peckish days in my future. I'll be on more than one diet in the new year.

[pdurrant]

I find myself already putting together a list of books for January

Or later in the year. I must try to pace myself.

[Rev. Bob]

I bought what will probably be my last book of the year a few minutes ago, The Girl in 6E. It's billed somewhere on the line between thriller and erotica, but published by Orbit, so I'm expecting something roughly along the lines of "Basic Instinct." It was 99 cents (as lead-in to next month's sequel, of course), but I've already learned one thing from it: Kobo's "download format" information still has a few bugs. (In this case, it didn't show a download format, but it's got an Adobe DRM EPUB button anyway!)

My purchasing has also dropped off a lot with the tightening of Kobo's coupons, but I don't regret my lavish earlier buying. If anything, I wish I'd spent more money and "converted" more backlist books while I had the chance. Now, more of my purchases are shifting from "day-one buy" to "watch for a deal" or even "wait for the paperback drop." I keep hoping more publishers will follow Baen's lead - no DRM, promo-eligible - but so far, that field's pretty thin.

[Fbone]

My totals for 2014.

Books purchased: 20
Amount spent: $20.47 (avg $1.03)
I am well pleased with this. Even with a budget of $600 I kept purchases under control.

Books read: 25 (12 rated 4 stars; 12 rated 3 stars; 1 rated 2 stars) plus 1 abandoned.
I am happy with these numbers also. Not only surpassed my goal of 18 but chose titles I seemed to enjoy more. More books, better selections.

For 2015 I won't pick a reading challenge other than to be just as selective. My budget will remain $600 although fewer discounts along with price increases are expected. I should be OK financially as I still have 5 years of reading material on my Sony 650 and don't anticipate more than a few "must haves." Plus I have several thousand freebies in Calibre available to read if an apocalypse should occur unless it's the type that causes all electronics to go inert.

[pdurrant]

2014 Summary:

295 books bought, average price of $1.62, total spend $478.44!

Including gifts, freebies, etc, 319 books added to my TBR, but 238 books read and, including other discards, a total of 369 books removed from my TBR, which means it stands at 750 (down from 800) going into 2015.

A very good year!

[Tarana]

I bought way more than I read. 2015 is focused on reading what I own already. It will be tough. Temptation at every turn. But, somehow, I must save for that laptop.