Prices of books getting too high!

[Pumaann]

Anyone else getting upset by the prices of books for the Kindle---some are as high as 15 dollars---you can get a paperback cheaper than that or a good condition hard cover. Part pf my reason for wanting the kindle was reasonable prices (I think the standard 10 bucks a book is reasonable enough).  It's getting so I might just go back to buying paperbacks and reading in the bathtub again

[Cowgirl]

There are also a lot of really good books for a whole lot less as well as many for free. Check out the book corner here and you'll find some good recommendations.

[Leslie]

In the Book Bazaar we have a thread for free books and another one for bargain books. Plus many of our member-authors have their books on sale, some as low as 99 cents.

You can be happily reading for months with inexpensive books. I have bought exactly one book that cost more than $9.99 in a year+ of Kindle ownership. Most of the books I have bought have been $7 or less.

L

[Gregor]

I vote with my wallet.  If it's cheaper as a DTB or likely to be read by someone else from my family or friends, I buy that version.  Used is a great option, too.

[Gretchen Z]

Yeh, but keep in mind that typically the higher priced books are the newly released books, which means you're still saving off the hardcover price.  They know that some people are willing to pay more because they "have to have it now" when it's just been released!  Also, if it's newly released it hasn't been out long enough to become a NYT bestseller, which will eventually help get the price down to 9.99.  

Plus, all the books they and the publishers/authors offer for free, or really low prices, tend to offset the occasional higher priced purchase for me.  
I've found just waiting a few weeks and making a point to check back for pricing helps tremendously.  Just be patient.

And if you really want the book only you can rationalize paying a little more for it if you feel it necessary.  When I purchased my Kindle I had several paper books waiting to be read.  But once I got spoiled by my Kindle I decided to sell those books back and repurchase the ebook if I really wanted to read it.  For me, it's so much more enjoyable to read on my Kindle that I'm willing to occasionally pay a bit more for some of the ebooks.  But that's just me...

[drenee]

I feel pretty fortunate that a lot of books I wanted to read were priced lower a few months ago.  I have such a stockpile now I should be able to read for five or six years.  I think with the Kindle and other ereaders getting more attention that the market will eventually settle down and pricing will be more consistent.  I can hope anyway.
deb

[rho]

I generally put them in my wish list and check back from time to time and when the price comes down I buy them.. . . it usually doesn't take it too long...

[drenee]

rho, I do that as well.  I have a wish list for the books I want to be kindlized, and a shopping list for books that are available for Kindle, but I would like to see the price come down.  I check both lists pretty regularly. 
deb

[MichelleR]

The prices don't bother me, no.

That isn't to say that a higher price never dissuades me, but I think we do that all the time -- judge if an item is worth the price. From the grocery store, to a restaurant, to a clothing rack, to a hotel room. I don't begrudge a pub the price, if they can get it, but might decide to hold off. $15 is  about the price when I weigh the decision at all.

I think there are a number of reasons to choose a Kindle, but cost savings on books was honestly not on my list. I can understand how I might be more irritated if it had been, and if my reading preferences then took me to new releases -- the ones that tend to be more expensive.

[LDB]

I've purchased 179 books for my Kindle at an average price of $1.027 per book. Yes, there are books I might like that are more expensive than I'll pay but there are far more books available in my price range than I'll ever read. I also find that some of the too expensive books go on sale now and then.

[meljackson]

I got a lot of paperbacks at our library book sale today for .05 each so I have those to read while I wait for the prices to drop a little on the ones I want. Now I just have to figure out if I can even read paperbacks anymore. I could hardly see the print on some of the ones I scanned!

Melissa

[VictoriaP]

I'm currently reading through Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series (darn you KB'ers for ever getting me started on an 11-books-so-far series!).  I've checked the most recent paperbacks on my shelves, and the reality is that the prices for all these books are the same or lower than the last 30 or so DTBs I purchased pre-Kindle.  The newest Dresden is still in hardcover, and yes, that means it's more expensive than the others.  Generally, the new releases start at a little over $10-15 (still less than I've paid for a hardcover in the last few years), and drop to $9.99 within a few weeks of release.

So my choices really haven't changed:  I can either buy the ebook at higher "hardcover" prices when it's first released, or I can wait for the paperback DTB to be released, and then the ebook price will be similar.  If I want the pleasure of reading the latest books right now, I'll have to pay extra to do so.

Since I didn't buy the Kindle expecting to save money, I'm fine with that.

[Mollyb52]

I get a lot of the free and cheap books.   There are plenty of them to keep me reading and happy.  If I want to read an expensive book I get it from the Library.  I am just not going to pay 10-15 bucks for a Kindle book. 

[Carol Hanrahan]

I second the library book sales!  It's recycling at it's best!

[idolguy]

I vote with my wallet.  If it's cheaper as a DTB or likely to be read by someone else from my family or friends, I buy that version.  Used is a great option, too.

Excellent point.  I read *most* of my books on the Kindle, but not all.  Friends buy me books, I check out books from the library.  The books I want on the Kindle are largely available at a reasonable price.  There are many "channels" in which one can read the books one wants.

[mlewis78]

Yes, I've noticed a trend at Amazon over the past month or so of higher-priced kindle books.  Sometimes they come down when they become best sellers, but not all books I want to read are best sellers.  I certainly have enough on my kindle and in my hardcover/paperback library that I haven't read yet.  But when I bought my kindle, Amazon used the 9.99 book price as a selling point.

I do have a lot of free books on my Kindle.  That doesn't mean that I would think it's OK for me to pay $16 for a kindle book.  I would sooner reserve and pick up from the public library.

[LibbyD]

Anyone else getting upset by the prices of books for the Kindle---some are as high as 15 dollars---you can get a paperback cheaper than that or a good condition hard cover. Part pf my reason for wanting the kindle was reasonable prices (I think the standard 10 bucks a book is reasonable enough).  It's getting so I might just go back to buying paperbacks and reading in the bathtub again

I'm not upset.  I didn't buy my Kindle with the idea of saving money.  I was interested in saving space at home, giving my eyes a break with larger font sizes, and being able to travel with all of my reading material contained in one slim item in my handbag.

I never thought $9.99 would be the "standard" price.  Amazon said, and still does, "New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases $9.99, unless marked otherwise."  Before I placed the order for my Kindle I browsed through Kindle books and found many that were $9.99, others that were more, and others that were less.  The best way to avoid disappointment is to do your homework before you buy.

There are a lot of good ideas here for finding books at lower prices.  Try some of them so you can make the most of your investment. 
 

[Cowgirl]

I didn't buy the kindle to save money on books but it was an added bonus.  When I average the cost of all the books I have it comes to about $2.00 per book.

[Gertie Kindle 'a/k/a Margaret Lake']

I have only purchased a couple of books at $9.99.  I haven't paid more than that for a book and I won't.  I have bought a few trade paperbacks for $14.52, but that was a series I love.  Most of them have now been Kindleized for $9.99 or less. 

Everyone has to make their own decision as to what they are willing to pay.  I rarely paid new hardback price pre-K, only for a couple of series that I love.  Now, one of those series is Kindlelized and I haven't had to pay more than paperback price for any of them. 

[Aravis60]

Most of the books that I have on my Kindle are books that I got for free, and all of the books that I bought have been $9.99 or less, so I've been lucky. I have yet to find a DTB book that I bought on my Kindle for less than what I paid for the Kindle edition (I think that makes sense). When I find something that I want on Kindle, sometimes I shop around to see if I can find it second-hand or on sale somewhere for less, but I never do. Of course, I live in a small town, so the selection of books in my local purchasing area isn't all that great (which is another reason that I love my Kindle).

[mlewis78]

The list price for new hardcovers and paperbacks has been very high for several years now.  I can't remember when I was willing to pay full list price for a hard-cover book.  I read a lot and have bought a lot of books.  For me, paying list is just not an option.  I am unemployed now for 4 months, so I have to be particularly value-conscious, but even when I was working in a well-paying job I appreciated value and didn't like to waste money.

[Meemo]

Anyone else getting upset by the prices of books for the Kindle---some are as high as 15 dollars---you can get a paperback cheaper than that or a good condition hard cover. Part pf my reason for wanting the kindle was reasonable prices (I think the standard 10 bucks a book is reasonable enough).  It's getting so I might just go back to buying paperbacks and reading in the bathtub again

Not me - I find enough free or incredibly cheap books both from Amazon and from publishers' and/or authors' websites that I don't need to go for even the $9.99 books.  My Kindle has more than paid for itself since I bought it in August.   

[cheerio]

I guess it has to do with supply and demand. Everyone is trying to make a buck.

[Rasputina]

I'm not upset at the prices. Of course I have more than one DTB that cost over 100.00 I have my kindle mainly for the convenience of it.

[meljackson]

I think the reason I was so upset about this in the beginning is that when I first got my kindle back in Oct/Nov there were a ton of really really cheap books. There were a lot of kids books for .95 and they are all over 3.00 now. Not a fortune but I did get spoiled by the really great prices a few months ago. The prices really have risen since then. It's hard not to be depressed about that.

Melissa

[KindleKay (aka #1652)]

The series I am currently reading (30+ books!  ACK!) averages $6.50 per book.  Almost all the Kindle books I have bought have been in the $6 range.  I have also purchased many free and bargain books thanks to KB!  The most expensive book I bought since I got my Kindle in early February 2009 was #8 of the Sookie Stackhouse series.  I was plowing my way through books 1-7 and then I hit #8 and it was somewhere around $11.50.  I decided to wait but after 2 days, I couldn't wait anymore and took the plunge.  Glad I did, even if it is way lower now thanks to the release of book 9!  I have not yet bought #9.  My intention is to finish the series I am reading now, then reread the Sookie books.  By that point, I will purchase #9, even if the price is still higher....

It is all about what matters most to you, I guess. 

[Thumper]

For the most part, if I want a book, I'll get it unless the price is outrageous. I'll allow more impulse purchases if the books are under $5, but if I want it...as long as it's priced at or under whatever version is in the print market, chances are I'll pop for it.

[mlewis78]

I read an article about kindle book prices in the Sunday Times business section.  Amazon kindle on Twitter posted it this way:

kindlenewsNews: Steal This Book (for $9.99) - New York Times: Steal This Book (for $9.99)New York Times, United ..

http://tinyurl.com/p323dq

[LDB]

My highest purchase was $9.59 followed by $7.99, $7.96, $7.96 and $7.79. I can't say what they were as I only keep track of amount and not what title goes with which. If I pull those 5 out then my average per book is 81.4 cents each thanks to lots of free and one cent books. Of my 175 books only 8 were more than used paperback pricing. That is my normal cutoff point for buy/wait decisions. I have easy access to several used bookstores so I can get good condition copies of most things for very little. I'm sure if that wasn't available my choices would be at least somewhat different.