Wednesday, September 7, 2011

National Buy A Book Day? Okay, I'm In!

Philip Athans declared today National Buy A Book Day last year over here on one of the blogs he writes for. Reading that blog entry we see a pretty accurate prediction for Borders and the way things are going for Barnes and Noble... well, perhaps in the future they'll be more like Amazon, a place where you buy things through some type of interface and get your Star Bucks coffee at the actual coffee shop.

Anyway, I bugged him about downloading free books. In case you were unaware for example, if you look for Tarzan on Amazon in Kindle format, there are a ton of such books for free over here. While he seemed overjoyed to download such classics at no cost, I felt the stern eye and explanation that no, a purchase must be made.

Me? I've made no secret that I think most ebooks are priced way too high. I've seen some authors come out and say they have no control over that. Eh? This isn't the Exorcist. You can't sit back while someone goes, "The Power of Christ Compels You." and writhe on the ground. If you're not willing to stand up for your own digital rights then say nothing or say, "I gave up all ability to control pricing," not "I'm powerless."

But that's another story.

Instead, I'm here to talk about somethings I did buy. In a rare move for me because I've already read all these books in particular. But... I'm a big fan of voting with your wallet. If you vote that it's okay to pay $14.99 for an ebook, that's your vote. I vote that $2.99, and over here, on Tor, apparently someone thinks that perhaps as the first book, as an introduction thing, that The Eye Of The World, Gardens of the Moon, and Mistborn, are all priced at $2.99.

So with my e-wallet, $2.99 for each and I'm there. Will I ever read any of them again? Maybe. While I read the first trilogy of Mistborn, I decided to wait until both Wheel of Time and Malazan were finished so haven't finished reading them. Will I pay anything more than $2.99 for the other books in the e format? Nope. The dollar rack is spinning with tons of these series books and I don't think I'll have to suffer for 'em.

But if they come along at $2.99? Mother may I have another.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for participating Joe! WOT is a long slog sometimes, but just too groundbreaking to be ignored.

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