As many of you know I'm a bit of a reader. Ok, that's deliberately understated, I read about 2 books a week, sometimes 3. I would say I'm a bit of a collector, although I don't collect the antiquarian books, the uber rare or the ancient tomes of yesteryear. No, I collect first editions/first printings of modern fiction. This isn't hard with 1st/1st printing runs usually over 100,000 of what I read.
But I've given it up, because theres something I like collecting more. Money. You see, despite being a passionate reader of about 15 regular authors I still feel that books are grossly overpriced and feel that authors could make up for lower prices with higher quantities sold.
Enter the digital age.
I've been a reader of ebooks for a long time, the first device I remember reading a book on is a Palm V. Then I got the awesome Dell Axim with the wifi's. It was on this device that my addiction to ebooks began. I would take this baby into the bathroom with me and 2 hours later I had finished the newest Stephen King or Harry Potter book. My asshole hates my reading addiction, this I know for fact.
So, needless to say I've acquired a great many ebooks. Probably a few hundred and growing every week. What I love is that I have 15 books on my iPad and iPhone right now that I can't wait to read. Instant gratification. No more buying one book at a time, finishing it at 2am and then waiting a day or 7 to get the next book with a trip to Barnes and Noble. The other day I read Mile 81 by Stephen King, finishing around Noon. I then started Second Son by Lee Child and finished that around 2pm. I then immediately started the new Dexter book. My total cost for the day? $0.0.
The old way would've easily cost $41. Do I feel guilty about not giving those authors my $? Nope, because I know that they don't get almost anything out of the $17 or so dollars per book. And when I see another author I like, James Patterson, selling ebooks for MORE than the hardback...well, that makes me incensed. I mean Jesus. The guy has a shit ton of money, sells millions of books and decides to RAISE his prices? Karma is a bitch.
I also recently won a Kindle in a random drawing. Not sure what I'm going to do with it as I have no use for another ereader. Probably just return it to BB for credit and get Gears of War 3. Yay.
2 comments:
LOL Has "the wifi's"? I would ask you if it had "the GB's" too but I think back in those days it was probably just "the B's"! In case you are looking for a way to get rid of the Kindle, I know an escalation engineer that would love to buy it from you in exchange for a binder full of coupons :)
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