I LOVE to read. It’s mostly my Mom’s fault, since she always read to me as a child, was a public school teacher, literacy teacher, and ran the literacy department for a public school system. It’s in my blood.
Now I understand all these book publishers need to make money. And, of COURSE, the authors deserve to make money. But WHAT THE F**K. $17? For an e-book? There are no printing costs. No paper, no shipping to bookstores. The publishers literally just have to read, edit, and market. $17. I feel like somewhere in this equation greed has really taken over.
20 years ago I was buying paperbacks for $5.99. Those were the expensive ones. I remember when they went up to $7.99 for some newer, bigger, more popular books and I thought, “That’s expensive, but, hey, prices go up!” Then ebooks. $2.99, $5.99, $7.99. It was wonderful. Then the $9.99 books came out and I was like, what? For a digital copy that I can’t lend to anyone, or sell when I’m done? And, if you read the Terms and Conditions, YOU DON’T ACTUALLY OWN IT! Nope, you bought the right to read it, but they reserve the right to yank it right off your digital device for “reasons.”
I started reading the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson a couple years ago. I bought the Way of Kings ($9) in April 2016 and Words of Radiance ($10) in May 2016. Then I realized that the series was incomplete… and waited.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Oathbringer was out and thought I’d read that, but it had been so long I needed to re-read the other two. Just finished yesterday, and went to buy Oathbringer. $17. The local libraries have about 2 dozen copies but there are 3 dozen people waiting for them. So, if I want to read it before I begin to forget the other two I’ll have to buy a copy.
$17. For… a book. That I won’t actually own, and can’t sell or lend (which also means I can’t borrow it from a friend). That has no real physical presence. On a side note: The paperback is listed at $20, and the Hardcover at $22. What in the hell is going on here?
Anyway, I’ve had enough of this for now. I’m not buying it. Sorry Mr. Sanderson. Pound sand Macmillan.
</rant>
Humble Dave 
That’s the only thing that puts me off buying new books. The prices can be ridiculous especially for a ebook. Which I didn’t know that they could take it back off you.
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They got caught doing it in 2009. The article is sensationalist, but the point remains the same: http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2009/07/why_2024_will_be_like_nineteen_eightyfour.html
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That’s unbelievable. It’s true that we don’t really own the e-books we buy as we can’t pass them on to someone else once we’ve finished with them. Like we can with a physical copy of a book.
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Some books you can loan through Kindle. But it’s I don’t believe permanent .. like if you don’t want the book anymore. Cheapest I could find Oathbringer for a physical copy is $18.43 which includes shipping price. haha.
But this is mostly why I use my public library even if it means waiting forever. Downside to it is I often forget about a book because the waiting list is so long.
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I’m on the library waiting list since May 2. Currently 13th in line with an estimated wait of another 2 weeks. Sigh.
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That’s not too bad. Not ideal but manageable lol. I bought an ebook for ten dollars bcos of the waiting for it from the library awhile back. Just got it I forgot to remove me from the list, oops.
Hopefully a few will forget they requested it &. You’ll get it faster.
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Cheers to forgetful readers!
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