Ponderings

I'm sure there has been much written about this and more times than I can imagine, but I'm looking to add some of my favourite books to either Kindle or Kobo on my IPad so I have them with me always. I LOVE this idea. So far I have Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase, Conor's Way by Laura Lee Guhrke (I am looking at you Wendy - heh heh), In the Midnight Rain by Barbara Samuel, the first two books by Pamela Clare, Sweet Release and Carnal Gift.

This is one of the huge pluses to having an eReader. Good books at Great prices. So it is with a great deal of confusion and wit quite a dash of anger thrown in, that there are some that will not be loaded onto my eReaders. And the reason you ask? Simple.

PRICING!!!!

How and why on earth are there many (many) ebooks at Kindle for either the same price or even MORE? How can the publishers possibly justify that? Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas for example, in my top 5 list for years now, is at Kindle for $9.04. Paperback is $7.99. It makes no sense to me why they would charge $1.05 more for an ebook than a paperback. $9.04 seems to be the standard price for ebooks from Avon.

I was looking at getting the ebook of Animal Attraction by Jill Shalvis, but it's even WORSE! They are asking $10.24 for the kindle version but only $7.99 for the paperback. It means they actually have the nerve to charge $2.25 more for a book that doesn't cost them in printing or distribution - $2.25 more for a book we can't actually hold in our hands. How can they do that? I looked at a couple more examples and that seems to be the difference in many Berkley books.

And that got me curious about some of the other publishers and how the prices compared from print form to eform. Grand Central (publisher of Elizabeth Hoyt for example) seems to be the same in either format. This is better than charging more and given a choice these days I'd probably go digital.

Now Ballantine's pricing is starting to make sense. Their print books are, on average, $7.99 and their ebooks $6.39, so with a savings of $1.60, digital is definitely the way to go. A few of the more well known authors with them that I've read are Monica McCarty, Christy Reece.

And then we come to Harlequin/HQN. Their prices seem to be all over the map. In my very unscientific poll, I had 3 different price differences for 3 different authors. But as all 3 were over $2.50 LESS expensive for Kindle, my days of buying HQN print books are pretty much over. The exception is Judith James as I love her books so much I buy both - speaking of which - for anyone interested, Broken Wing can be purchased for the Kindle for only $6.15. I know this because I bought it so I can have it with me wherever I go.

Harlequins aren't quite the squeal of a deal that HQN are, but they are still cheaper. And since they are less expensive to begin with than single title books, it's all good.

And I just recently discovered another good reason why ebooks wins out over print books. Say one's basement were to flood and they had several thousand books in the basement. Thankfully they could be up a bit high so they don't get wet. But the bookshelves themselves are toast. That could mean that one might have 35 boxes of books sitting in one's living room when the restoration people the insurance company sends out. These are books that used to be boxed up and then were released, set free as it were, in their very own room, only to be shuffled off when their owner allowed her son to be move back home for a while. The son had promised to rebuild the room the books loved so much and felt so free in, but the son lied and never did rebuild for them.

And now they sit, imprisoned once more. Only this time they are 'boxing in' their fellow books, the upstairs, younger books that are in the upstairs living room book shelves. So right now, the IPad is probably the best place to read books.