Kindle Your Social Life --- We're Making Reading Cool Again

The price of kindle books is a bit steep......

My wife bought me (and her parents) a Kindle. I love mine and have bought and read a number of books in it. It's a great little gadget which I really enjoy and aside a few gripes about its function, I think it's very nice.

However, the biggest gripe I have is that the kindle can become a very expensive little habit if one reads a lot of books purchased from Amazon. Really, at $9+ per pop, it can get pretty expensive in a short while. Given that the publishing, warehousing, storage, etc. of these books must be many times less expensive than hardback or paperback editions, it seems that the books should cost a fraction of the current retail prices...

Like I said, I love my kindle and all, but the other day I found myself looking around for yard or garage sales to look for used paperbacks... Typically, the cost of one of those is anywhere from $.10 to maybe $1.00 !! I don't expect Amazon to sell books that cheaply, but 50 to 100 times more?

I they want the Kindle to really take off, they have to make more books available at more reasonable prices. Specially considering that the purchaser cannot resell, lend or even give away the book after he or she is done with it...

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Manuel on July 27, 2009 at 9:49pm: Thanks for the info. I'll check it out.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Manuel on July 27, 2009 at 9:56pm: Hmmm.. I did a quick search on Google and it took me to the Amazon webpage. Reading some of the reviews I see that it's a manual for the Kindle 2 (just as the name implies, duh.) Anyway, I have the original Kindle so maybe I just need to find out the info about the free books, and other applicable topics.

Thanks; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nicolette on January 10, 2009 at 9:31pm: Hello Manuel,

I don't think that popular mainstream writers are going to switch over to writing for FREE.

So the bigger this thing gets, the more expensive the books are going to become. Count on it.

The KINDLE books are still a lot cheaper than the Hardcover or Paperbacks.

About 20 years from now, I do believe that the "price model" Amazon is using will be the
national standard. A lot of those "free books" won't be free once this really becomes the
standard way Americans read books.

TO ALL:

My name is Nicolette Larson and I'm new.

Got my Kindle as a gift 6 months ago.

I just did my first blog and would love your responses.

Link: http://www.booksummit.com/profiles/blogs/switching-overto-the-kindle; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Teach142 on January 14, 2009 at 2:59pm: The one thing I have noticed recently is the price increase on some books. When an author brings out a new book in a series, the prices of the other books in the series have gone up in price. I have noticed this several times. I say, "Not Cool Amazon!"; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by fcescgb on February 15, 2009 at 6:18pm: The more books they sell, the lower the prices will be. 10% of amazon revenue comes from the kindle business. When it grows up, prices will go down. I hear you, and I wish for books to be cheaper. But still, $9.99 is cheaper than most of the physical books sold on Amazon.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by John Van Roekel on March 28, 2009 at 3:48pm: I've deliberately set the initial price for my historical novel Braver Deeds very low at $1.99 (discounted to $1.59 by Amazon) so that price would not be a barrier to anyone who wanted to read it. However, with the expenses associated with the upcoming self-publication of the print version, and to keep some kind of parity with the print version, the list price will rise to $4.99 in April.

If you want to purchase Braver Deeds for your Kindle at the current price, please do so soon by visiting its Amazon page. For more information about Braver Deeds, visit BraverDeeds.com.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Neil Kottler on April 7, 2009 at 11:18pm: I certainly won't buy any book above $9.99 and lately I've been trying to find items in the $5 and less range. I came across biographical profiles of America's tycoons by Daniel Alef. They're priced right--99 cents for each one, though some are $1.99. His profile of Katherine Graham was spot on. They're really interesting bios and I like the style of writing. Kindle needs more works like that.

I agree with you. If Kindle is really going to take off, prices have to come down. And if they do, I'll be buying more books and articles. I think Amazon will make more in the long run on volume if they can get the publishers, who set the prices, to become more reasonable.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Jhnson on April 9, 2009 at 7:11am: compared to some other forms of entertainment, I'd say its a bargain; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Manuel on April 9, 2009 at 7:34am: I'm not suggesting that the Kindle and the electronic books are not a bargain compared to other forms of entertainment. However, the price of books is a little high if one is a voracious reader and one's pockets aren't very deep. Particularly in these days with the economy sucking so bad and people losing their jobs and all, spending $10 per book can be pretty expensive considering that you cannot even sell or trade-in your e-books after you read them.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tim Thurston on May 18, 2009 at 6:01pm: You pay $359 which is pretty steep for the convenience of the Kindle and then for a bestseller pay 10 bucks, get it immediately without drving to the store or ordering online and then have it archived forever - and out of all of this the author and publisher get $3 and Amazon $7. The conveninece is the real plus and the price break simply a bonus. I wonder how many purchased this $359 item so they could get cheap books?? Like you said, there are plenty of cheap books already to be found and the library is free if you don't mind waiting.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jayce Ryan on June 25, 2009 at 3:07pm: You're right. Some of these books are way too expensive for a platform that costs 350 dollars or more. But I have found some really serious bargains. A recent steal was a great fantasy novel called Luthiel's Song at .99 cents. As good as a used book sale -- but I get a great book with all the Kindle benis. Here's the link

Also, if you want a list of great bargains, there's one on this forum: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joseph Komen on June 27, 2009 at 1:35pm: My debut novel "Desire of Many" is $5.99 (but sells for $4.79 last I checked) at Amazon in Kindle format. In my opinion, it is not much. I worked six years writing the story and believe I've provided a well-written hard science fiction novel that will provide value to the reader. My problem as an new author is how to enable people to find it (as someone who isn't famous ... when one searches for Science Fiction - High Tech in the Kindle store, one has to hit the next button about 30 times before they see my book to even consider it). I don't know what it takes to let people know about my book so they can decide to purchase or not. That being said, I also understand the other side of the transaction. I know that in this economic environment we may have reservations against spending $5 or $10 when we don't have to.; ▶ Reply to This

RSS

Welcome to
Kindle Forum, Kindle Social Network

Sign Up Free
or Sign In

You're writing the story - join and build the best place to share a love of books.

Kindle 3, Kindle WiFi

Just $139 - Kindle WiFi.

Just $189 - Kindle 3.

Featured Members

Forsaken by Shadow by Kait Nolan.5 stars on 16 reviews.

Email me if you'd like to get featured.

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service