# Will you pay any price for a book?



## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

In the last few years I have noticed a steady rise in the prices of paperback books as publishers continue to push readers to paying ever more for their products. Will you pay any amount for a book or do you have a limit on what you Will pay?

My limit was $8 but I have recently gotten a lot more great books at way under that limit so I am shaving that limit to approximately $6 and a limit of $3 on the majority.  I find that I can get to many great books at the $3 level for me to be willing to pay more than that.


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## LadyHawk (Feb 7, 2012)

I just paid $6 for a bestseller Kindle format. I really had to read it. I then get told that someone purchased the same book for 2.99 paperback.

I'm certainly going to do my homework before spend money on a book I really have to read. (and there are a few of them)  If it continues like that, I'll just go back to buying a paperback when I have to.


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## Sean Patrick Fox (Dec 3, 2011)

Nope. I get a lot of books from the library, and any paperbacks I can't get there - or want for my personal collection - I generally buy used off Amazon. For my Kindle, I'm very selective I want to buy because $9.99 for something you can't resell is rather steep, unless I know I'm going to reread it at some point.


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## Seleya (Feb 25, 2011)

"Any price" is a bit vague... On my wishlist I have a non-fiction ebook I'm very keen on, it's priced at 83.20 euros (paper is at 118.86), I'll buy it as soon as I get some gift money.


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

I noticed a few yrs ago when fiction paperbacks (seemed to) jumped to $7.99 from $4.99ish.

I just stopped and tried to focus my purchases at Costco and 2nd handbook stores. To me, that is still too much to pay for a mainstream fiction paperback.


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## jumbojohnny (Dec 25, 2011)

No, I always do my utmost to find a discounted price. If I cannot, then I mull it over, if I really like the author and am likely to keep the book rather than pass it on, then I'll pay the full price, but I won't take a chance on anything, if I am not sure, and it's not discounted, then I probably won't fork out for it.


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## jabeard (Apr 22, 2011)

No hard limit, though I try to stick under $9.99.


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## Eliza Baum (Jul 16, 2011)

There are very few books I want to read badly enough to pay more than $9.99, and not many more for which I'll actually pay the $9.99. I usually save those for the library and buy the ones that are priced low or that I can catch on sale.

I have some collectibles in the $100+ range, though, so I'm certainly willing to pay if I feel it's worth it. It's gotta be a special case.


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## psychotick (Jan 26, 2012)

Grief, what dollars are you using? Paperbacks here in New Zealand are running at a little over thirty bucks for brand new and on the bookshelves. It's why I value ebooks so much.

Cheers, Greg.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

I don't have a hard limit, but I'd probably pay up to $20ish for a fiction ebook that I really wanted to read right away. I think I paid somewhere in that range for the last Harry Potter book.  I've got my eye on a $50 non-fiction book, but I think I'll probably get that on in hardback for the shelf, even though the Kindle version is a few dollars cheaper.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

jbcohen said:


> In the last few years I have noticed a steady rise in the prices of paperback books as publishers continue to push readers to paying ever more for their products.


It's not just the past few years. When I started buying paperbacks, the list price was 25 cents. Now it's around $8.99 for many (I think), $14.00 if you buy trade paperbacks. $0.25 to $8.99 is an increase of 36-fold in only about 55 years.  

Mike


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## Guest (Feb 10, 2012)

I think 18 or thereabouts has been my top dollar.  I will be paying 13/14 I think for the new Elizabeth Moon book coming out later this month.

For my all-time favorite authors who come out in trade or hard-cover I am too much of a greedy guts fangirl to deny myself.  I blame the publisher and love them unconditionally.


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## Not Here (May 23, 2011)

Mostly I don't but a number of new YA book hover around 12 so I've been know to pop for one. It has to be something I've been waiting for and just can't stand to not have it. Oh well, and non-fiction but that's just given.


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## tahliaN (Nov 6, 2011)

I don't buy print books anymore, they take up too much room, and as a general rule, I don't buy any ebook that's over $10. I did a couple of times and discovered that the books weren't as good as some indie books that I paid $4.99 for and a couple that were $2.99 and 99c. Since then I've not bought books over $10 even if I really wanted them. I'm under-employed at the moment so I mostly don't spend over $5  these days.


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## MichelleR (Feb 21, 2009)

jbcohen said:


> In the last few years I have noticed a steady rise in the prices of paperback books as publishers continue to push readers to paying ever more for their products. Will you pay any amount for a book or do you have a limit on what you Will pay?
> 
> My limit was $8 but I have recently gotten a lot more great books at way under that limit so I am shaving that limit to approximately $6 and a limit of $3 on the majority. I find that I can get to many great books at the $3 level for me to be willing to pay more than that.


I don't know. I don't (or didn't since we're talking about print) have an official limit, and much depends on my mood at that moment and how much I'm interested in the book. Books have always been a splurge area, provided the money was there.


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## flipside (Dec 7, 2011)

It really depends on the book, the content, the packaging, etc.

Theoretically, I will pay any price for a book I really, really want, but having said that, I don't have $1000.00 so that price is out.

Subterranean Press for example publishes limited edition books so I'm willing to shell out $40.00 for a book I may never see again, from an author that I really really like.

What recently went up on Amazon was Ann & Jeff VanderMeer's The Weird, and it's a really thick anthology (1000+ pages, double-columns in print), so it's well worth the price even if it's more than $9.99.


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## Kathelm (Sep 27, 2010)

For fiction that I'm reading as entertainment, my cap is $10, with some rare exceptions.


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## seanday (Feb 5, 2012)

I remember people adamantly taking the stand that they would not pay over the $9.99 mark that Amazon made standard. I am spoiled by the $10 mark, and it is rare that I go over it. As prices creep up, my upper limit seems to go down. $6.99 seems to be the sweet spot unless I have read the author before or I can't wait around for the library. And if the paperback is cheaper than the Ebook, well that is just wrong.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I wish I had a dollar for every time this subject has come up. . . .I could buy a whole bunch of books no matter the price!


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## Del S. (Jan 27, 2012)

I guess my only limit would be what I consider exorbitant. I've bought hardback coffee table books priced at around $50 if it was something I _really_ wanted. But when B&N would have their $1 sales on these books, I'd always feel like I hit the jackpot, too. If it's a book by an author I really want, I guess I'd be willing to pay just about anything.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I have a monthly ebook budget of $50.  So if I want a $14 book, then I just really need to decide whether I want to impact.the overall budget ...


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## mistyd107 (May 22, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> I have a monthly ebook budget of $50. So if I want a $14 book, then I just really need to decide whether I want to impact.the overall budget ...


this is exactly my thought process s well


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## StephenZimmer (Feb 2, 2012)

I think novels on eBook up to about $4.99 are reasonable.  Anything beyond that is a little steep when it comes to eBooks.  Most small/independent press are pricing things reasonably.  I personally think the prices major publishers charge for Kindle titles and such are often outrageous, especially when they are higher than a print softcover edition.  So for me, I won't pay more than around $4.99 for an eBook, but will pay more for a print edition.


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## KTaylor-Green (Aug 24, 2011)

If I want to read it bad enough, I'll pay the going price. I have several favorite best selling authors and I really want to read them. Kindle editions are still cheaper than hard backs.


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## Meka (Sep 8, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I wish I had a dollar for every time this subject has come up. . . .I could buy a whole bunch of books no matter the price!


Amen!!!


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## peter darbyshire (Jan 22, 2011)

I've spent up to $18 or so on an ebook. Usually when I'm drinking cheap wine....

I'm fine with spending the money if it's a book by an author I really want to read. If it's just a light read to put me to sleep at night -- sometimes I'm out of wine -- then price matters a bit more.


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## Tony Rabig (Oct 11, 2010)

"Any" price covers an awful lot of ground -- for instance, I'd like to have the Charnel House hardcover of Harlan Ellison's _The Glass Teat_, but not at $750 no matter how gorgeous it is (and it is) and no matter how nice an easy payment plan Joe Stefko can set up.

I've happily forked over the Kindle edition price for King's _11/22/63_ and for the Vandermeer's anthology _The Weird_; I've replaced a number of print copies with Kindle editions, most recently several Maugham novels from Vintage which are not bargain-priced. So I'm perfectly willing to shell out big 6 ebook prices for something that I know I want, but there's less and less of that coming down the pike these days. As I finish replacing print copies, more of my ebook $ will go to houses like Ash-Tree Press, Delphi Classics, and others that offer a lot of bang for the buck.

Re the note from jmiked above on the price of paperbacks over the years -- when I started buying paperbacks around 1963 or 64, you still found a number of them at 35 cents; 40 and 50 cents was more common, and if you were a fairly good scrounger of empty pop bottles (and I was) you could get a book or two a week just out of deposit money. When Robert Heinlein's _Glory Road_ came out in paperback, Avon priced it at 75 cents. Jeez Louise, 75 freakin' cents! I stewed for nearly two weeks about whether to spend that much on just one book, and I liked Heinlein a lot. Oh, to see those prices again...


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## Lursa (aka 9MMare) (Jun 23, 2011)

peter darbyshire said:


> I've spent up to $18 or so on an ebook. Usually when I'm drinking cheap wine....
> 
> I'm fine with spending the money if it's a book by an author I really want to read. If it's just a light read to put me to sleep at night -- sometimes I'm out of wine -- then price matters a bit more.


Sir, the money would be better spent on finer wine....IMO


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## Carol (was Dara) (Feb 19, 2011)

jbcohen said:


> Will you pay any amount for a book or do you have a limit on what you Will pay?


It depends on the book. There are a handful of books I'm so invested in I'll pay almost anything for them. For example, I've been reading the Wheel of Time series for about a decade now, so when the latest books come out I always rush out and pay $30 for the hardback because I'm too impatient to wait for the cheaper paperback. But my usual price is under $10 (for a paperback). For ebooks I prefer not to pay higher than paperback price but I'm afraid I'm not very firm about it. I think the most I've ever paid for an ebook was $18. In my defense, it was a book by a very famous author, the reviews were wonderful and I _really_ wanted it.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

I buy a lot of history books. Paying $25 for the ebook is still a complete steal in most cases, when importing the book from the UK is going to cost me around $60 by the time it's all said and done.


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## Neil Ostroff (Mar 25, 2011)

If I want to read it bad enough I'll pay up to $22 for a hardback. But I gotta really want to.


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## Krista D. Ball (Mar 8, 2011)

Next time we do these money discussions, we need to identify the average amount books costs in our respective countries. I wish I could get a brand new hardcover for $22.


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## jbcohen (Jul 29, 2011)

I guess Krista is right I should be a little bit more specific.  In my area a hardback will generally go for approximately $25 sometimes they will cost $22.  A paperback will cost up to $15 these days but most often they will cost $10.  I would say in the last two to three years the average price for a paperback and ebook has gone from $8 to $10 average.  These days I have found ways to get super books at a cost of approximately $3.50 so I can't see any reason why I should ever pay the average price when I can get a lot less the average.


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## peter darbyshire (Jan 22, 2011)

Lursa (aka 9MMare) said:


> Sir, the money would be better spent on finer wine....IMO


I was buying finer wine, but I needed more money for books....


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