Ebooks: What’s Your Price Cap?
Hello readers, writers, and authors,
This post is something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while, and I finally got the nerve and time to write it out.
My question is this. What’s your price cap for Ebooks?
I’m not the biggest fan of e-reading. I love the feel of a physical book in my hand, always have, always will. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and due to these strange and uncertain times, I bought a Kindle about a month or so ago.
My mentality in buying a Kindle was that I would be able to save money and purchase some great reads in the process that I’ve had on my TBR for quite some time.
However, as I searched the scores of books I was interested in reading (I seriously need help at this point, save me!), I saw something puzzling that I hadn’t really considered before.
Ebooks aren’t necessarily cheap. In fact, some are actually more expensive than their physical counterparts. So, back to the question at hand.
How much are you willing to pay for an ebook?
For me, anything priced more than $5 makes me question whether a purchase is worth it or not. Despite the perks of having an ebook, it simply doesn’t justify the cost for not having a physical copy.
I did find this article that tries to spell out why ebooks can be more expensive, but to be honest it just feels like a bunch of excuses to me.
In the end, I was still able to find some cheap ebooks on my list, but for the others on my list I may have to wait for my local library to open back up at the end of May.
So what do you think? How much is too much for an ebook?
Feel free to share in the comments, I’d love to hear your opinion!
***Can’t get enough of Jaunts & Haunts? Subscribe to my Chills and Thrills Newsletter on my home page so you don’t miss a thing! Newsletter emails go out every Sunday! Also, feel free to check me out at the social media links below!***
It got to a point where I simply didn’t have physical room for all the books I read. I either had to find a place to pass them on (and neither the library nor the second-hand store wants them because they’re already full of other people’s used books, at least in our area), or I had to contribute to the landfill.
So I’m happy to pay as much or a little more for ebooks, but usually I don’t have to. The last two full-price ebooks I bought were 9.99, and the physical versions were 16.00 and 16.49. Often I can find good ebooks to read for less than 5 bucks.
This past Christmas I got a Kindle Unlimited membership which is FANTASTIC because there are so many wonderful books I can read free with KU.
I really like your perspective and you bring up a great point. Eventually, you will run out of space for books if you’re a voracious reader.
I havent been reading too many books until about two years ago, and while my two small bookshelves aren’t full yet, it’s just a matter of time.
I’m so jealous of the KU subscription!
You already know my thoughts on this. I am all about the free ebooks. I can’t justify paying a lot for a book I can’t physically hold in my hand. I think the most I’ve personally spent on an ebook was like $3.99 I think and that was because I was buddy reading it and I had no other option at the time but for me that’s still to much.
I don’t blame you. There are so many great methods to getting a free book. I know I havent utilized all the methods I know of, but hopefully I’ll get better about that.
It really depends! I think the sweet spot for me is somewhere in the 3.99-5.99 range but I have paid more every once in a while. I think I paid 12.99 once! I really comes down to being able to get the book immediately and in a convenient to read format. I still buy tons of physical books though. 🙂
Yeah that’s pretty reasonable. If I had a gift card or something I would probably ignore price a bit more.
I think physical books will always be my fave, but I’m trying to get more ebooks and lately that’s been working.
Oddly enough once I got used to reading on my phone it was a game changer for me lol.
Haha, I dont like reading on my phone, but a bigger screen like the kindle has was my gateway
This is very interesting. I love physical books but, like Priscilla, I already have a lot of books, and I’m reluctant to spend 16-30 quid on a book by a new author that I’ll be giving away to charity shop after reading. I’ve got lots of free books on my phone, and if it’s one I’ll be reading again, and I can afford shipping etc, I’ll buy a print copy too. Shutter was $10 ebook and $8 print. I have paid $16 for an ebook so I can immediately read the new book by a favourite author. I’ll happily take a chance on a book up to $6, but over that I need to be very taken with the concept, or know the author or other such incentive to persuade me.