srry if this a weird question but how do u choose between which books to buy vs which ones to buy on kindle? I mean most things cost less on kindle so i feel kinda guilty but i also really love having lots of physical books and i feel like im wasting one or the other
Sorry in advance but this is going to be a long response because, honestly, it really depends on several factors for me.
I buy a lot of used books. I found a thrift store near me that has a small section of used books that sometimes has great finds and sometimes doesn’t. They usually sell them for about $1-3 (US Dollars). There is a used bookstore about 20 minutes from me that I go to infrequently. And then I use booksalefinder.com to find local used booksales going on (usually libraries that do it to raise proceeds, but I did once go to one that raised money for scholarships for local women going into college). These kinds of places are usually hit and miss though - you’re lucky if you find something you want but don’t go there looking for something specific.
The ones I do buy new I usually buy at the bookstore I work at because I get a discount. So that’s another factor. Sometimes I buy them through other places like BookDepository or Amazon, but that is usually only when BD has a format I prefer that we don’t sell in the US or in order to increase my cart get the free shipping on Amazon when buying something else. But mostly I buy new because I cannot wait or I really want it, and I would rather spend the extra $3 or $5 on a physical copy than get it in ebook for what it would cost as much as the book would in paperback (once it came out). Really it is very much “yes I know I want this book and I don’t want to wait around to see if I am lucky to come across is at a used bookstore” kind of thing.
Kindle/ebooks, however, I usually buy when they are on sale. I almost rarely buy them if they are $8 or more because to me, it’s just not worth it (and seriously it’s getting ridiculous - I was helping a customer download a copy of The Boston Girl once and it was about only $2 less than the paperback copy which is just stupid in my opinion.) I get those price-drop e-mails from Kindle Daily Deals and other places (google is your friend). There was one website I used to frequent but the site disappeared so Idk what happened to that. But usually I mostly go through the Kindle Monthly Deals that change each month and see if there is anything there for me. Those are usually $2-4 and stay that price for the whole month. This can also be a hit or miss in terms of getting what you want. But this way I get the book when it is cheap and can read it when I want to. (i.e. I once read a sample of a book that was amazing and I bought it right then and there cause it was only $1.99 and then the next day it was back up to $10.99. Seriously.)
If it is a book in a series that I love, I’m going to want to have it in physical format. This is just me. I prefer to have my series together and in a place I can see them on a daily basis. Not everyone is like that. They might not care so long as they can get it at the cheapest or easiest way for them and that’s fine. I do have the Grisha trilogy on my Kindle though (they were $3 each last year but I haven’t read them yet, mostly for the next point I’m about to make.)
Fantasy books have maps. I love love love fantasy, but they tend to create these amazing detailed maps for their worlds that help me understand the path of journeys that ensue in the novel. The problem with Kindle is, maps don’t translate well in e-ink. Either they put it in this weird grayscale type where some of the map is so light you can’t read it, or the font is tiny and cramped and you can’t read it. If they created a zoom option on maps on Kindle that would help wonders. Also, flipping back to it isn’t as easy as in a book.
But, then there are some books I don’t care about whether or not I have it on my bookshelf. Those are the ones that usually get bought whenever I see a deal on it.
I am a weirdo on here who prefers paperbacks to any other format. It’s light, easy to hold in one hand, doesn’t have a dust jacket that I could lose (looks at HP 3 & 4, both of which are sadly naked). I also like to try and keep my series in the same format as much as possible, but when you start a series mid-way, that is hard if you don’t want to wait for the next book to come out in paperback when everyone else is talking about it. When Winter came out I bought it in e-book because I had the others in paperback and since it was the last one I didn’t want it to be awkwardly different. (I regret this choice now because I found out I could have borrowed the book from work instead but oh well too late). So this way I read the book and when it comes out in paperback I know I will be able to afford that with my discount so I won’t mind buying it that way too to complete my collection.
However there are many books that you can’t get in hardcover or even paperback. These are self-published, usually, and only sold in e-book format. One of my favorite books, Know Not Why by Hannah Johnson, is only in e-book (you can get it through Kindle or Nook) and nothing else. There are some you can buy physically, but it’s a print-on-demand and so can only be bought through certain vendors and are difficult to get any discount on. So this is also a major factor as well.
tl;dr: It depends on so many things, but for the most part it is personal preference. I like to see my books on my shelf, I like my series in physical format, and frequenting used book sales gets me so many books at really cheap costs. I can also afford to buy more books when they come out because I work at a bookstore and live at home (others can’t afford that and honestly I think most of my hoarding tendency comes from having lived a year on my own at school struggling to just have decent meals and I want to have book-cushioning for that time in the future when I might be able to spend as much on books per month as I do now). But I also love the portability of my Kindle, I love being able to buy so many books for such cheap prices, and it is a great easy way to get books that I can’t wait one second longer for (yes I did this with the Raven Cycle when I first read it and then treated myself later to all four in hardcover with signatures).
I hope this helps. It is really all about your own personal circumstances - finance, preference, and the availability of the book itself. If you like your books to be physical, you buy them physical. Just because it might be cheaper in ebook doesn’t mean you should have to settle for that. Treat yourself once in a while. Maybe you pick one or two books a month that you really want to buy in physical format and save your money for those and then get the rest on Kindle where it is cheaper if that is all you can afford. Look out for coupons, too. If you sign up at bn.com, Barnes & Noble constantly has e-mail coupons coming out (and if you sign up for the membership, you can get 10% off all books in store plus the coupons increase in percentage. This is $25 for the year though so there is that to factor in but if you hint at it you might be able to convince someone to buy it for you as a gift for a birthday or something.) So yeah, don’t feel guilty for buying books in a format you love. I know how it feels, I do it too - I spend a lot on books and watch my bank account go down and part of me thinks “why, Jen, why?” but then I look at the books themselves and they make me happy and I think that is what is most important.
And don’t forget the books will always be there. It doesn’t hurt to wait sometimes. I know it is hard when people on here are always talking about the newest releases, but sometimes you just have to ignore it and wait until you are in a good place to get it for yourself.
Once again, sorry for the length. I tend to ramble when it comes to open-ended questions like these.
