02-23-2011, 11:40 AM | #1 |
Wizard
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Cheaper electronic books
Does anyone have any strategies for holding down the prices of electronic books that they care to tell of?
For now I have set a price limit of $8 for my electronic novels and will not buy any electronic novels that cost equal to or more then their dead wood counterparts. |
02-23-2011, 11:42 AM | #2 |
eBook Enthusiast
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There is a lifetime (in fact many lifetimes) of reading of entirely free books from the public domain. Take a look at our "Book Upload" forums here.
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02-23-2011, 11:46 AM | #3 |
monkey on the fringe
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02-23-2011, 11:49 AM | #4 |
Wizard
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ebooks from the local library. I have such a long wish list there that I have been on a "no buy" since the beginning of the year.
eP |
02-23-2011, 02:41 PM | #5 |
Wizard
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My local library's slogan should be - What ever you want we don't have it.
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02-23-2011, 02:48 PM | #6 |
monkey on the fringe
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02-23-2011, 03:05 PM | #7 |
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HarryT is right that the public domain has lifetimes worth of books, but whether that does you any good depends on what type of novels you like to read.
What type of books do you like to read, jbcohen? |
02-24-2011, 12:02 AM | #8 |
Curmudgeon
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I will not buy DRM-locked ebooks, and I will not buy ebooks that cost as much as the cheapest pbook of that title. Despite this, I've never had a shortage of things to read. I've only made a dent in the public domain books out there (try here on MR, Project Gutenberg, and ManyBooks for starters). I buy my tech books from O'Reilly. I buy SF and fantasy from Baen. I buy all sorts of things, generally authors' backlist books, from their own websites, Smashwords, BeWrite, author consortia, and so on. I don't have to buy overpriced books from the Cabal, and I haven't missed them.
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02-24-2011, 12:43 AM | #9 |
Sharp Shootin' Grandma
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I used to have limits.
Then, I found out that if it's something I really want, I don't have limits. Just today I bought an ebook for $11.99 when I said I would never go over $10. |
02-24-2011, 06:58 AM | #10 |
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No hard limits here - it depends a lot on the author/book in question.
More than $8 is reserved for my favourite authors only, though. |
02-24-2011, 07:23 AM | #11 |
lost in my e-reader...
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What's the use if you can't break your own rules for yourself
I used the Groupon B&N gift card deal as an excuse to buy two agency titles I've been dying to read. HOWEVER, I still have my "would have bought if it weren't for agency pricing" list with about 100 titles on it, so I guess 2 out of 100 isn't too bad. |
02-24-2011, 01:42 PM | #12 |
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No strategies, no limits. Whether a book has DRM in the file or not I pay what I think something is worth.
That may be $2.99 or $49.99. |
02-24-2011, 04:30 PM | #13 |
Wizard
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Well - its kind of like with anything else you try and negotiate. You have your final line in the sand and if they go over it, you have to be willing to walk away.
If you aren't willing to walk, then you are going to pay what they demand. I have a User Defined Read/Not Read column in Calibre. Whenever I get a really strong urge to overspend on a new release, I sort with all the Unreads at the top, go look at the total and remind myself that I have YEARS worth of unread books stored. |
02-24-2011, 10:48 PM | #14 |
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I try not to go over $7. I use ereaderiq.com to keep track of price drops, and if there is a book that I really want that is in the $10 range, I wait until I get a $5 Amazon gift certificate from swagbucks and use that to purchase.
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02-25-2011, 10:45 PM | #15 |
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I'm with the original poster about not exceeding $8 for purchased books. I just can't see paying more than the paperback cost for an electronic edition that costs them less to distribute. I also refuse to purchase DRM'ed books as well. It's just the principle of the issue to me on both counts.
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