As many of you may or may not know, I read both print and digital. I tend to buy fiction and nonfiction books in digital form now and my academic stuff in paper. Basically, if it is for fun, I try to get an ebook.
I have noticed that some publishers have decided that some ebooks should cost more than the paper edition, which for me is a load of hooey. What happens if I cannot find a digital book at a reasonable price you may ask? I either borrow it from the library or buy it used, which means the author and the publisher have both lost out on a sale.
Surely, I cannot be alone. I have decided to post once a month the books I would have bought but I had deemed the prices for the digital editions ridiculous.
I was really interested in Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. Smith's story set in 1950's Russia looked really good, BUT the mass market is about 8$ and the ebook? 12 dollars. Twelve dollars for a book that has been out since 2008? Nope. I don't think so. So, I continued shopping and purchased books further down on my wishlist (which is ever growing) and have decided to look for a used copy of this book.
The Kindle edition for this puppy is--are you sitting down?--17.99$. Yup. You can get a lovely paperback edition for 10.88$ brand new, but to get a digital copy of a popular history book that was released in 2003, you have to shell out more money. I am reading this book right now, but borrowed the book from my local library, which is what I have recommended to people in my reading group who wish to read this book.
When I worked in retail, we would refer to a customer leaving due to lack of an item or an item being "over priced" as a lost sale.
If you have decided not to buy an ebook because of cost, feel free to email me and I will include you in my posting (even anonymously if you prefer).
3 comments:
*whispers* I don't like ebooks as much as physical books.
I just don't.
If they are cheaper, I will consider buying the ebook instead, but when you're looking at more than the mass market price of a book for something I can't do anything with, not going to happen.
I'm with Saranna. I buy ebooks when the savings makes it worthwhile. I've been slowly easing myself over to ebooks for the saucier stories too, so I can continue to read them at the office. Reading a book with a menage picture on the front, or reading a plain grey Kindle screen... yeah, but not if the ebook was MORE expensive. That's just insane.
@Sara and @Pia I agree, I do not value ebooks the same way I value paper books. Also, I can give away paper books or sell them. So to charge an exorbitant price for a book that was released YEARS ago (keeping in mind that both of the books I mentioned were older and not subject to windowing)...it is just disgusting and greed on the publishers part. They are so concerned with preventing "devaluing" paper that they are actually doing it all themselves.
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