Since I got my kindle I've bought over $300 worth of books.

none have been anything other then ebooks.

 

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the ebook thing has me confounded. did you know that ebooks have cut into paperback sales more than hardcover...not a small difference either its like a 3 or 4 times larger cut? that was published in a study in publishers weekly a couple months ago. i'm still trying to wrap my head around that. do people love ereaders so much that they'll spend two or three times as much on a book to have it digital rather than paperback? can't be the same people who live near me...people here are too cheap to want to pay 4 bucks for a paperback, much less the 12 or 15 bucks the ebook would cost. i mean you'd expect people with ereaders to mostly be going after books that are still in hardcover or new releases, not so much the paperback backlist. so i really can't help but wonder if those numbers just mean what i've feared all along, people are simply downloading pirated copies of books making the backlist obsolete.

i honestly don't mind the competition. its not a whole lot different to me than competing with barnes and noble. its the way it opens the doors to large scale piracy that bothers me and makes me worry about the future of the entire industry.

 

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In most cases, and there are exceptions, the ebooks are roughly the same as the paperback. New releases tend to be $11-$15, which is a few bucks less than if you got the Hardcover from Amazon (Generally $15-$20 New Releases). Most of the eBooks I get are older and are about $6.99 - $9.99, which from my experiences is what I will generally pay for a paperback, so I rarely spend more than the physical book would cost. Again, there have been some exceptions to this, but for the most part its not a big deal.

 

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Show me around here were I can find paperbacks, let alone the ones I want, for $4 and I'll switch back to print.



I've never paid more than around $1 more for an ebook then it's paperback edition would cost. And with how much I'd spend on gas to get to my nearest book store, that's actually saving me money.

And having ebooks is much more convenient for me. I find my nook slightly more comfortable than a paperback. I don't have to dig trough boxes to find a book or see if I already have it. And I don't have to re-purchase a book that gets destroyed from reading or that somebody forgot to return.

 

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most used bookstores are going to cap out at 4 or 5 bucks for a book with some of them being even cheaper. i'm guessing you don't have any used bookstores near you. same goes for target and walmart etc, they do books for around 5 bucks. most ebooks i see are at least 8 with many of them hitting 15 bucks. heck i think someone mentioned here a couple weeks ago that dune in ebook is a whopping 17 bucks. this also isn't counting the authors who publish only in ebook, many of them go for just a buck or two but they also aren't counted when factoring the sales difference.

anyway, the preference between the two is just that, a preference. some people like both and some are completely averse to one or the other. my preference is for books even with my business aside but i don't have anything against ebooks. like i said earlier i just have serious misgivings about what ebooks mean for book piracy.

 

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The only books I still buy are hardcovers. Series that I like a great deal I buy the hardcovers for collectors purposes. I probably buy a dozen hardcovers a year and then actually read the book in digital format. I haven't bought a single paperback since I purchased my Nook.

Also, I've never seen a paperback for $4 in my life. They cost $7-9 at the book store and they cost $7-9 in E-format.

edit: you mentioned used books, I'm sure those are cheaper but I am obsessed with mint condition books - the only books I ever bought from the used store was stuff I only half wanted and would never have bought at full price.

 

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we're pretty obsessed with fine condition books at our store so alot of the used stock is pretty impressive condition wise. we're rare that way though, most used bookstores don't care about condition and also don't carry hard cover like we do.

unfortunately independent bookstores are becoming a thing of the past, it used to be that alot of the used bookstores had the same kind of store we do. nowadays most used bookstores you come across are hole in the wall paperback exchanges with bad condition books, no organization and poor selection. its pretty sad really, the old fashioned used bookstores were really impressive places that you could find all sorts of cool stuff in.

 

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ugh i would never buy a used book. ever.

 

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The only used books I've been looking for are 1-3 of Codex Alera. Found 3, still need 1 &2...

<edit> Hardcover

 

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yeah based on whats out there...you may have trouble with that....


http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=butcher&bi=h&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=furies+of+calderon&x=0&y=0

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=butcher&bi=h&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=academ%27s+fury&x=63&y=14

 

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