Ebook Buying Addicts' Support Thread

[issybird]

Originally Posted by corroonb

I also bought a Kindle Voyage (refurbished) in March so I can read my Kindle books in comfort.

I thought the refurbished Voyage price last month was very, very appealing here, also.

[Rev. Bob]

My resolve, such as it is, has now been attacked on a new front: review copies. I picked up my mail yesterday to find three new physical books, two of which almost certainly wouldn't have come to my attention otherwise. (The third is an ARC of a new novella by someone I've previously read and enjoyed.)

On the one hand, they're free non-indie books. On the other, the "for review" aspect pushes them to the front of the queue (right when I'd lined up several other books that I've been meaning to get to for a few years) and means more work afterward. And on the gripping hand, being physical, they take up space when I'm finished and are more awkward to bring along when going to the store.

Perhaps I shall begin on the morrow, with the Morrow.

[Fbone]

April wasn't my best month.

1 purchased $2.20
2 read (1 bought & 1 library)

[TuxGirl]

Hello, my name is TuxGirl, and I have a problem with freebies.

How do you convince yourself to pare down your freebies?

[issybird]

Originally Posted by TuxGirl

Hello, my name is TuxGirl, and I have a problem with freebies.

How do you convince yourself to pare down your freebies?

For each title, ask yourself if you'd have paid a dollar for it. If the answer's no, then delete it. If too many titles still get through the sieve, raise the benchmark to $2.

Always remember that freebies aren't free. They take time (to sort, to tag, to scroll through, etc.) and the more freebies you have, the more time they take. The aim is to get your freebies down to a lean collection of books you'd actually like to read.

[TuxGirl]

Originally Posted by issybird

For each title, ask yourself if you'd have paid a dollar for it. If the answer's no, then delete it. If too many titles still get through the sieve, raise the benchmark to $2.

Always remember that freebies aren't free. They take time (to sort, to tag, to scroll through, etc.) and the more freebies you have, the more time they take. The aim is to get your freebies down to a lean collection of books you'd actually like to read.

I'm definitely going to have to sit down and go through things like that. I think my kindle library has over 6000 books in it currently, and at least 90% of them were freebies (probably closer to 95%). There's no way I will read those all!

Some, were definitely worthwhile, like 2/3 of the series of unfortunate events books... but I'm sure I have a lot of junk in there...

[CRussel]

I look at it this way, TuxGirl -- all those "freebies" have to either be read, or filtered so that can find the books you actually want to read. And yes, I've occasionally found a good book in the freebie list, but almost always because it's the first book in a long established series.

I would suggest as issybird says, only I'd set the bar a lot higher -- would I buy this book at $4.99? If not, I won't take it for free. Really, my time is worth more than the cost of the book, at whatever price I pay.

[pdurrant]

I agree with issybird and CRussel. But I just have trouble remembering it sometimes.

I have cleared my calibre library of most of my freebies, but I see I still have 321 on my TBR pile.

I still need to go through my Amazon library and clear out the junk freebies.

And if I do spend some time on my library, I might continue splitting up the omnibuses on my TBR into the individual books.

All of which, of course, takes time away from reading! But sometimes it's nice to do something 'mechanical' at the end of a satisfying read.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by TuxGirl

I'm definitely going to have to sit down and go through things like that. I think my kindle library has over 6000 books in it currently, and at least 90% of them were freebies (probably closer to 95%). There's no way I will read those all!

Some, were definitely worthwhile, like 2/3 of the series of unfortunate events books... but I'm sure I have a lot of junk in there...

That's a lot of freebies.

There may not be an ideal solution. Amazon lets you delete only ten at a time, so at best it would be a work in progress. My suggestion would be draconian; get rid of anything you've never heard of. It will never be worth your time to click through each title to remind yourself why you got it on the first place. Keep the window open and chip away at it while you do other things, but it's not going to be a quick fix.

Or, since I see you're coming over to Kobo, go through the your Amazon library ONCE, send the absolute cream (again, only those titles you know already and know you'd like to read someday) to Kindle for PC (and seriously, we may be talking about only 1% of the freebies and realistically not much more than that), convert those books to ePub and move on. Do NOT stop to research titles. Draw a line under your Amazon library and learn your lesson.

I loved The Series of Unfortunate Events books, too.

[DrNefario]

It looks like I have made it through April with only one purchase. Which was a fairly dog-eared used paperback, but a book I needed for a challenge and have been on the lookout for for months. There were five freebies/loans, which is a bit more than usual, but on the whole things have started moving in the right direction.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

It looks like I have made it through April with only one purchase.

...and I've already tripled that in May, just two days in. Just as I've started an 1100-page book, so there won't be too much coming off for a while, either.

[Rev. Bob]

I have a more forgiving view of freebies, and I've accordingly acquired a bunch of 'em by now. What I've started doing is using them as extended previews. If a paid work catches my eye, I'll see if I have a freebie by that author. If I do, that'll give me a taste of what their style is like before I commit cash money to the cause.

I was offline over the weekend - the power went out Saturday evening, came back Sunday afternoon, and my cable was out until a few minutes ago - which gave me the chance to read such a freebie. It was generally decent, and I have some more free stuff from that author, so I'll read some of those soon. OTOH, I've gotten some freebies that were positively atrocious - I'm talking about writing quality that makes a distracted second-grader seem coherent - and I can flush those without remorse.

The really frustrating part, to me, is when there's a mixture. I finished Some Kind of Hero on my Aura H2O while the power was out, and the guy tells a good story... but he needs someone to proofread his work before publication. He's certainly not the worst I've seen in that respect, not by a long shot, but it's distracting just the same.

[TuxGirl]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

I have a more forgiving view of freebies, and I've accordingly acquired a bunch of 'em by now. What I've started doing is using them as extended previews. If a paid work catches my eye, I'll see if I have a freebie by that author. If I do, that'll give me a taste of what their style is like before I commit cash money to the cause.

I was offline over the weekend - the power went out Saturday evening, came back Sunday afternoon, and my cable was out until a few minutes ago - which gave me the chance to read such a freebie. It was generally decent, and I have some more free stuff from that author, so I'll read some of those soon. OTOH, I've gotten some freebies that were positively atrocious - I'm talking about writing quality that makes a distracted second-grader seem coherent - and I can flush those without remorse.

The really frustrating part, to me, is when there's a mixture. I finished Some Kind of Hero on my Aura H2O while the power was out, and the guy tells a good story... but he needs someone to proofread his work before publication. He's certainly not the worst I've seen in that respect, not by a long shot, but it's distracting just the same.

I think this may be why I'm wary of getting rid of too many freebies. A number of series that I have loved started with a freebie. One particular series had 7 or so books. I had never heard of it until stumbling across the first book on the freebie lists. 6*$9.99 later, I had read all the books in the series, and was a very happy camper!

I think I got rid of around 700 books from the early years of Kindle ownership in the past week or so. I've had e-readers since 2007, so.... I have watched the Kobo freebie list recently, but I'm trying to be super selective on the Kobo books, and am hoping to get most books for my Kobo from Gutenberg or the library, with minor supplementing from the Kobo store.

[Tarana]

April wasn't a good month for me. May could be almost as bad, but mostly due to audiobooks from whispersync freebees. I'm resisting so far though. I got a few freebees for sister, so they will be out of my library. I'm not much into the urban fantasy romance category.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by issybird

Originally Posted by TuxGirl View Post
Hello, my name is TuxGirl, and I have a problem with freebies.

How do you convince yourself to pare down your freebies?

Response by issybird:

For each title, ask yourself if you'd have paid a dollar for it. If the answer's no, then delete it. If too many titles still get through the sieve, raise the benchmark to $2.

Always remember that freebies aren't free. They take time (to sort, to tag, to scroll through, etc.) and the more freebies you have, the more time they take. The aim is to get your freebies down to a lean collection of books you'd actually like to read.

Ok now I am wondering if it is the numbers of the freebie books that bother you? I suggest just putting those freebies into calibre and making notes on them. They only take a couple of k or meg so are not going to be much of a bother on your computer.