How much do you pay for fiction ebooks?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by tompe

The idea behind a promotion is not that people should use it systematically. So I really do not see any category difference with respect to money to the author between systematically using a thin in an unintended way or just download the thing (legally in some countries and illegally in other countries).

I disagree. But this isn't the thread for this discussion.

Perhaps you should create a thread for the discussion of the ethical use of special offers and promotions in ebook purchases, since I've noticed you raising the issue in more than one thread.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Whilst I will pay say £9.99 for book X in theory, I don't want to pay that, not read it for a year and in the mean time it turns up in a deal for £1.99 say.

Spot on. While not at those price points, that's certianly happened to me more than once.

[derangedhermit]

Originally Posted by piperclassique

I use Luzme to signal price drops. lets you set the countries you want to buy from, authors of interest, etc

Thank you for the pointer to Luzme. It will be very helpful.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I often toss an extra ten dollars into the transaction when I buy an ebook. Just in case the author had a really bad week or something. Just like any industry, the only possible way the book industry will survive is if we artificially prop it up by paying more than the advertised price.

So remember this: every time you buy a book for less than list price, a baby author gets drowned in a bucket of water.

[MikeB1972]

There are so many deals nowadays and so much backlist stuff that I want to read that I haven't paid more than £5 for anything for a few years now (And sainsburys £0.99 month long sale and what appears to be daily £1.99 deals have just dropped the average price even lower), my TBR list is long enough that I just buy stuff on offer now (Or if it's a new book in a series I want then I just wait for the MMPB price drop).

I was never very price sensitive before ebooks, but I was used to waiting for MMPB release because I preferred the form factor so, now there is no problems with shelf space, I just stack up the TBR list when a deal hits.

[crossi]

I have a big backlog of bought but not read ebooks ( ~100 books). I also re-read my favorites a lot (~900 ebooks in my kindle). That takes the pressure off of finding something to read. I also have about 300 in my wish lists that I eventually want to buy.

If I see one on my wish list at $3.00 or less I might buy it immediately even though I know I might not get to it for quite a while. If it's over $7.00 it will be relevated to my wish list and I'll buy other books while waiting for the price to drop. Between $3.00 and $7.00 it depends on how much I want to read it NOW and how many others are in line to be read.

There's just so much choice I feel little pressure to buy one particular book.
So little time, so many to read.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by crossi

There's just so much choice I feel little pressure to buy one particular book.
So little time, so many to read.

If I keep reading at this pace, I'll only be able to read another 1400 books during the rest of my life, assuming that I'll die at exactly the age of current life expectancy in the Netherlands.

I really have to look into increasing my reading speed to double what it is now AND increase the time per day I'm able to read. Now it's often only 1-2 hours. If I can do both, I'd be able to read another 5600 books before the doom that rests upon all men sets in.

I could also quit buying and reading reading simple books like the Forgotten Realms fantasy and read something more meaningful. (Although THAT can be a discussion all on its own.)

[DiapDealer]

The only time I worry about the books I'm NOT reading (or might not ever read) is when I'm not enjoying the book I AM reading.

[corroonb]

€5 is my upper limit for impulse purchases. Anything higher than that and I'll use a Kobo discount code if possible. For certain books I will go higher because they aren't eligible for discounts but over 90% of the books I buy are discounted.

[simplyparticular]

I rely pretty heavily on the public library ebook selection, particularly for non fiction books that I'll read only once. Luckily I have access to 3 e-libraries in my state.

A good chunk of the book budget goes to kids books now - paper and digital. I tend to spend around $4 for a chapter e-book, and $5-6 for a picture e-book. I spend more on paper, as they are more useful for us.

For my own reading, it looks like I'm averaging about $4 per fiction ebook, but I'll spend around $7-12 for known authors, less than $5 for unknowns, and grab the $2-3 deals when it isn't a book I can borrow.

I'm trying to be more careful with building my TBR pile - now that the kids are big readers (yay!), I've got to stretch the budget a bit. I've been targeting to read unread books in Calibre so I don't feel as bad about money that could have spent on other books. This also keeps me from re-buying authors that I was not impressed by, just because there is a deal.

[wawasteele]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

My median price was $2.97, and my mean price around $2.80.

But perhaps I'm just cheap. How much do you pay for your fiction reading?

I've bought 51 fiction ebooks this year. My average price is $1.97 and the mean is $1.26. The most I paid for a book was $5.38 and it was for one I really wanted. Does that mean I am cheaper than you?

I put the books I want on Luzme and wait for a sale. I also read e Library books. There are so many books I want to read that only with rare exception will I pay over $3.

[AlbertaCowboy]

I'm in the "If I want it now, I'll pay what it costs" camp.
I'll usually flit on over to the Kobo discount coupon thread when I'm in a buyin' mood, and make sure that I'm getting the maximum discount on anything I can though.
I don't really have an upper limit on what I'll spend per book, mostly just a vague "what I can get away with without the wife getting mad at me" overall book budget. If three books fills that limit, great. If it's only one book, well, there's always next month.

[Istvan diVega]

I never really look at the price. Regular books are so horrendously expensive in Norway (somewhat understandably, since the market is so small) that whatever the price I will in any case never pay more than a fraction of what I'd have to fork over in a bookshop.

Before I converted to e-reading I used to buy all my books from Amazon, Waterstones or Foyle's and with shipping included I probably never paid less than $12 or so for any fiction paperback and usually rather more. Hence I'm perfectly happy to pay $10+ for my e-books. That's not to say I'm entirely price-insensitive, but relatively recently $5 books would have seemed an unattainable dream.

The downside is that I now buy more books than I have time to read, but I guess there are worse things to waste money on. After all, it must be preferable to gambling, cocaine or...ladies of the night.

Well, probably anyway. I wouldn't really know.

[sharphamster]

Ebooks get treated like any other books by my budget. I buy a book if I think I'll want to read it again. If I'm willing to pay the current PB price for a title, I'll generally grab an epub up to say $8. If I'm willing to shell out $10 for a hour and a half movie at the theater, $8 is well worth it for the hours of entertainment I get from a novel.

Mostly I make use of my out-of-state Library card (Thank you, Brooklyn Public Library) for unknown authors, newer titles, or bestsellers. My Holds list is always full too. I have (very rarely) spent Hardcover bucks for a digital title, because Tolkien epubs weigh a whole lot less than my hardcovers.

[Blossom]

• $7.99 is my max price but it has to be a book I will read right then and there for me to splurge that much or an author who is in my top 5 list.
• $4.99 is my max price for books by published authors newest works.
• $2.99-$3.99 or less for backlist titles by published authors
• New Indies authors prefer price is Free or 99 cents.
• Better known Indie authors $1.99-$2.99

Now during the Holidays I will splurge on a couple of books as high as $10!

There is just too many books out there to read for Free or Library or from on my price points for authors who think they can price something self published at $6 or higher because I'd wont buy it. If it's mainstream published it's goes on my wishlist and I wait for it to go on sale.

It's a tough market out there Authors get use to it.