'Cause Wendy is doing a Consumer Survey.
I'm at an enviable stage in my life where I get 90% of my books new. This wasn't always the case as I was a stay-at-home mom for years and then when I did go back to work, the majority of the money I made went to daily living expenses. During those times, I got 90% of my books at UBS's as I didn't have the money to buy new. I used the library some - but darned if they didn't want me to return the books after I finished reading them and I hated that part of it. In addition with my 'head in the clouds' way of living, I often forgot to return them on time and had to pay enough fines that it wasn't cost efficient *g*. Plus, I like the thrill of ownership.
But now my sons are grown and out of the house. I have a good paying job, the house is paid off and I get a small monthly check from the government for Ron's old age pension. Plus I have quite a bit invested for my own retirement. This allows me to take all those wonderful trips to conferences. I like that.
So now I figure it's my turn to give back. For years I was buying books at half price where the authors saw no profit. But now I can 'give back' for the hours of enjoyment I used to get at but no earnings for them. And it's a good feeling when I buy books by new or mid list authors.
As to the other 10%. I only get ARC's from one publisher - not a lot of them and to be honest, many that don't appeal to me - but since they are free I'm not complaining and there are some gems in there. And many of this publishers books aren't stocked on the shelves here in Canada - and that could be a whole post in itself - with our main chain being the villian.
When I discover a new to me author with an OOP backlist I will still look for them in UBS's. But that is rare these days as I've tried just about every author out there in the genres I like.
And then there are the books I pick up at the conferences. I buy some at the Literacy signings but I pick up many more at the publisher signings that are free.
I don't buy ebooks as I don't have an ereader and after spending 8 hours a day at work concentrating on the computer, I don't have it in me to concentrate enough on it at home to read an entire book. But if I see an ebook that really appeals to me in eform and it comes out in print form, I will buy it online - new.
So that's it for my book buying habits. And that's why I have an entire library downstairs that's spilled out into the next room.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Kristie, I'm like you. I buy the majority of my books new unless they are out of print. I also don't have an ereader and I haven't warmed up completely to ebooks.
I also like the idea of supporting an author, and hopefully I do that by my (new) book-buying habits and running contests for books. It's not a lot, but I hope this shows my appreciation for the books I read.
Hope you have a great weekend :)
I usually buy tried-and-true authors new and try out new authors at the book swap. I hate it when I buy a new book and I hate it - I feel obligated to finish and reading shouldn't be a chore(if it's a series I usually buy the first few so I don't finish book 1 and have to wait for the next one - I'm impatient like that).
I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to keep a spreadsheet on my book buying habits. How many I buy new, used, get for free - and then keep track of the money spent. To be honest though, even though I buy quite a bit new these days, I don't actually "spend" a lot of money. I'm the queen of the book bargain, I take advantage of free shipping, and I can earn Borders gift cards thanks to my credit card points :)
I borrow the large majority of my books from the local library - they have a huge range. I do buy the odd book that is either a keeper (Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series) or books that I just want to read desperately. I've always been a library fan...but that's because I've always been cautious with money...and I always got so much stick from family members about books.
Post a Comment