Online Books & Book Prices?

[Gwazi Magnum]

Question to frequent book readers out there cause I myself am not a frequent book reader.

Over time I have found myself amassing a decent (though not large) list of books to read.
However, I haven't read that many books myself growing up excluding anything school required or star wars focused as a kid.

So I'm wondering two things specifically.

1. What do people think about ebooks compared to hard cover books?

What's the preference? Why is it a preference? Does one posses uses the other lacks?

2. Where can they obtained for cheap (and not covered in jam/dirt etc)?

Being largely a PC gamer I have gotten very used to investing my limited cash on steam sales and humble bundles. That way I am getting maximum gain for minimal cost. The only comparison I can find with books though is Amazon, and that get's counter-acted by shipping fee's knocking it back up (and the government is bound to add an extra fee at the border like they do with think geek).

 

[Windsong]

• e-books are a massive convenience to my spouse, we have four/five large book cases FILLED with books, only a few shelves are mine and they're all sci-fi or WH40K books. She's odd that she likes to get a new book and open it up and smell it, but she reads an awful lot. E-books on her i-pad are still just a massive convenience when it comes to portability and size, not to mention font size adjustment and color switching for ease of reading.
• Goodwill book stores are your best bet for cheap books. Got the entire Ender's series for a few bucks, and its helping the greater good or some charitable shit there. Also thrift stores.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

• e-books are a massive convenience to my spouse, we have four/five large book cases FILLED with books, only a few shelves are mine and they're all sci-fi or WH40K books. She's odd that she likes to get a new book and open it up and smell it, but she reads an awful lot. E-books on her i-pad are still just a massive convenience when it comes to portability and size, not to mention font size adjustment and color switching for ease of reading.
• Goodwill book stores are your best bet for cheap books. Got the entire Ender's series for a few bucks, and its helping the greater good or some charitable shit there. Also thrift stores.

1. So it's the e-books I should be looking at for convenience then?
   I'll admit that I didn't even know about the font and colour changing.
2. I looked up goodwill, the closest one is hours away. :/
   So it's probably gonna have to be thrift stores.

 

[Windsong]

• Yes, but then again, I'm assuming you have some form of smart phone or tablet. My wife has a new iPad Air 2 and I use a Dell Venue 8 Pro for mine, which are the size of an Amazon Kindle give or take.
• Thrift stores might not have the best selection, but you might be surprised.

Or you could just download e-books off a torrent site and buy them as you get the money.

Amazon has a nice selection of books that are rarely as expensive as their book store brothers.

 

[ᴛᴏᴄᴋᴀ]

I have well over 600+ books on my Kindle. I can carry is with me wherever I go, and have access to all 600+ books any time I want. It is definitely a huge convenience. Amazon is fairly cheap for eBook prices, but it really depends on the popularity of the author ad things of that nature. The more popular the book the higher the chance is you'll be paying a ridiculous price. However, they do frequently drop the prices down to $2.99 or less on some of the more popular authors. You just have to know where to check for the listing of books that on sale each week. There are sites like Pixels of Ink gives updated listings of books that are free and on sale each day. There are some more I'm subscribed to, but I'm pretty sure my husband blocked them from our router when I started running out of room on my tablets.

 

[Zen]

1. What do people think about ebooks compared to hard cover books?

I can't speak for others, but many prefer ebooks because of how easy it is carry them around.

What's the preference? Why is it a preference? Does one posses uses the other lacks?

I'm starting to prefer e-books over hard cover books simply because of convenience, (I don't want have to wait for the books to be shipped), being able to carry so many books with me in a slim, light tablet, and also being able to do my work and surf the web on my Kindle Fire. Don't get me wrong, I still have a soft spot for physical books, but when it comes down to costs and being able to carry everything with me, I prefer my Kindle Fire.

I will say that there are some drawbacks to having a tablet to read from. I haven't encountered this myself, but some people do get tired reading from a computer screen. Amazon has done a lot of tweaking to the Kindles so this doesn't happen as often. Also, if you've run out of battery life for your tablet, there goes your chance at reading your book. Kindles don't use up a lot of energy when reading, but doing other things might. I get 11 hours of mixed use from my Kindle, but I still love the thing. Other things to consider is the upfront costs and if you're tech savy.

Some of the benefits from having a Kindle include"
- Being able to change the font and font size. You can also read with black background and white colors if you'd like. (Similar to the color scheme that Iwaku has set up).
- Being able to make clean highlights and notes. Tap and hold onto a word or passage, and you can add notes or highlights.
- Don't know a word? Tap and hold -- The Kind bring up a Dictionary, a Translator, and Wikipedia for your convenience. Very nifty.
- Electronic bookmarks.
- You can get to see popular highlights from people regarding the book you're reading. Keyword: popular. That being said you won't find a ton of highlights in your book.

2. Where can they obtained for cheap (and not covered in jam/dirt etc)?
Amazon is where I go for my books. I have a Kindle and an Amazon account. I've gotten a LOT of my books for free or for a dollar. This includes The Wizard of Oz, Sherlock Holmes, the entirety of H.P. Lovecraft's collection (including audio I think), Gilgamesh, Grim's Fairy Tales, and a bunch of other stuff.

 

[Skyswimsky]

I think a well set up datacenter is cheaper in the long run than anything hard cover books can offer, the only question I am wondering is if the means to produce the energy to keep that all running is worse than the trees and energy used for the paperbook industry.


I buy my stuff on http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

@Amazon Suggestions: So you're saying I can simply buy ebooks off of Amazon as well? And for a dollar or less much of the time?
If so that definitely settles where I'm buying my books from.

@E-Books: Is there a way to turn the Highlights off? When I read I'd rather just read, not be interrupted by what others felt like inserting into the book.
The rest of those features mentioned all do look really handy though. I doubt I'll tire looking at a screen seeing as the majority of my life is either gaming or forum sites.
But to change fonts and such might help cause once in a while I may find a certain font to be an eye sore.

+I'm surprised by how many people are suggesting e-books.
I thought for sure I'd get some replies such as "Hard cover is best. It smells and feels nice" sort of answers.

 

[Novis]

1. What do people think about ebooks compared to hard cover books?

Depends. But more recently I have been moving to eBooks.

2. Where can they obtained for cheap (and not covered in jam/dirt etc)?

eBooks, I get from my local Library. They have tons of eBooks that are readable through PDF and can be downloaded for free to most E-reader formats.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I completely forgot that the Library was a thing... :/
That might be a good idea to check out too... If I ever find the time/motivation to go over to one and not simply look for it online.

 

[Zen]

Oh god, yes I borrow ebooks from library ALL THE TIME.

Not all ebooks will be a dollar or cheaper. The current best sellers can cost from 5-15 dollars depending on the author and subject. It really depends. The classics tend to be cheaper, but like someone else said on here, there are sites that will monitor discounts on books. They will even send you email notifications on sales.

Granted, some of these discounts are on some crappy books. So always do your research before buying. (Goodreads is a good recommendation source for me).

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Are they 5-15 dollars when on sale?
Or generally? Because I'm more than willing to wait for a sale to happen.

 

[Halo]

Nothing - nothing - will ever compare to the feeling of a real book in your hands. At least for me. I love it. And I still prefer to buy copies of my favourite books in real form.

Despite that, I do have and love a Kindle, simply for convenience. I read at around a hundred pages an hour, so most books last me less than a week even though I'm reading around university work - hell, even LotR only took me about that long. So it becomes far more economical and faster for me to buy books on Amazon, download them straight to my Kindle, and be set to go. Otherwise I'd spend more times waiting for books/for a chance to go book shopping than I would actually reading.

The Kindle is also perfect considering I'm living away from home. There is a bookshelf in my room at halls, but A) It's quite limited in capacity and B) more importantly, it'd be very difficult to transport my books to and from home as necessary. Having a Kindle solves all of that, and it's lightweight so it's super easy to carry around and stuff.

For books I love and adore? The real copy will always be my favourite. Being able to feel and smell and see a book in your hands is unique and special and one of my favourite things in the world. But Kindles and similar devices are also damn wonderful things for making reading so accessible. Definitely worth it, on every logical level, particularly if you aren't much of a book-lover anyway.

EDIT: As for sales and stuff, it doesn't necessarily matter - the Kindle copy is often cheaper than the normal copy regardless. I just got Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance for £8.50 as a Kindle copy, when the actual book is like £13-17 or something like that.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

*Compares Kindle prices to normal*

Some of these are barely any different being 1 dollar cheaper or less.
Though there are some good ones that are 3-5 dollars cheaper.

Though when I say sales I'm talking 50-75% off sales like Steam has with games.
Now, I know that's Steam and most places can hardly compete with such a practice.

But I've also constantly seen people go "Steam Sales? That's cute, you should look at Amazon".
Implying Amazon sales are even better, and if they're telling the truth I'd rather wait until they have such sales themselves.

So that 10 dollar book becomes 5 or 2.50

 

[LeVen]

I'm not the biggest fan of ebooks because I can't buy them and can't read them everywhere I'd like. Schools don't like people using electronics and ebooks are technically electronic. So I do like hardcover as opposed to on a tablet or something.

thriftbooks has really cheap books that you can order online. They can range from never opened before to some wear and a little bit of water damage. My sister ordered from there and got books in really nice condition, even one library book that looked like it was never checked out before.

 

[Lawkheart]

I usually just torrent the books I want to read and then buy the physical copy if I end up liking them enough. Physical books are my favorite form of reading, even though e-books are easier. I'm one of the weird ones about smell; I have a sensitive nose and certain things stick with me for a long time and the smell of books in one of them. I love going to library's and just sitting in the isles and flipping through an old book.

 

[Halo]

Uh, you're comparing to Steam a lot. No offence, but that's kinda ridiculous. They are completely different products. Just because Steam and the Amazon store both sells things online doesn't make them equivalent business models. No, the sales aren't like 80% off, but very rarely are sales for anything that high. That's what makes Steam exceptional, I guess. I wouldn't judge the value of every product and every retailer against Steam and against prices for games.

Kindle books are cheaper than normal books. Starting with "you want to read" as the premise, they're the most economical way to go about doing that, regardless of how good the sales are or aren't.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Just because Steam and the Amazon store both sells things online doesn't make them equivalent business models.

Except I've seen people claim Amazon sales were even better than steams.
So if I were to give those Amazon customers any credit I should assume the sales on Amazon are at least as good as on Steam.

Otherwise that means the Amazon users I've ran into before hand were lying.

Kindle books are cheaper than normal books. Starting with "you want to read" as the premise, they're the most economical way to go about doing that, regardless of how good the sales are or aren't.

But they're even more economical if on sale.

 

[Minibit]

1. What do people think about ebooks compared to hard cover books?
I have some pretty bad eyes that I need pretty thick lenses for, so staring at screens for long lengths of time can make me tired, give me headaches, or discomfort me in a vague way that's hard to put a finger on until the screen is off. I like to be able to binge-read books, and screens aren't compatible with that. I also enjoy the tactile sensation of paper, and being able to 'disconnect' while reading a book. No skype notifications mid-paragraph, no temptation to tab over and see what's new on Iwaku, y'know?

2. Where can they obtained for cheap (and not covered in jam/dirt etc)?
Used bookstores. I've yet to see a *dirty* book in a used bookstore; some that have yellowed with age/smoke exposure, and many with creases in the spines, covers, and pages, and even a few with small tears, but most of the bookstores I go to refuse to take books that are in such terrible shape, the owner wouldn't want to have it for him/herself. Prices range depending on the book's condition and popularity from five to ten-fifteen dollars. I got most of my Dragonlance books in really good shape (like new, only mildly worn) for around five dollars a piece, and I used to buy manga from my local value village for two or three dollars a volume all the time. In small business stores, it helps to be genuinely friendly with and listen to the owner, if he/she's around. I've gotten discounts on books because the owner knew I shopped on a tight budget, but also knew I really wanted/would enjoy the book. Not huge price slashes, but they'l spot you a couple bucks every now and again. Plus you have someone to talk about your reads with!

There's a bunch of places online like the Gutenberg project where you can get books for the low low price of free, but I'd really recommend people to shell out for the books you want to read, whether they're digital or physical. The writing market is oversaturated and hard to make a profit in, and a lot of authors could really use the two cents they'll make in Royalties off of your purchase.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

being able to 'disconnect' while reading a book. No skype notifications mid-paragraph, no temptation to tab over and see what's new on Iwaku, y'know?

True.
I'll admit that's a nice perk/bonus I didn't think about.

Prices range depending on the book's condition and popularity from five to ten-fifteen dollars.

So the prices at used book stores are about the same as e-books?

it helps to be genuinely friendly with and listen to the owner, if he/she's around.

Oh yea, that's true with almost any business.

Though sadly although I do normally aim to be friendly with people, I piss enough people off for unknown reasons (I suspect my physical posture was wrong, my tone was slightly off, or something else really minor was missing that tips them off as being odd or different) that I personally wouldn't rely on it to be a method of getting discounts for myself.

I'd really recommend people to shell out for the books you want to read, whether they're digital or physical. The writing market is oversaturated and hard to make a profit in, and a lot of authors could really use the two cents they'll make in Royalties off of your purchase.

Same thing with a lot of game development.
That's why I look for retailers with good deals generally rather than simply run off to Pirate Bay for everything.