A long time ago I posted about buying books: my habits, my decision-making process, and why book-buying is hard. In a world where there are multiple formats and locations for purchasing and owning books, how do you decide what to buy and when? I had developed this nifty little chart that showed exactly when and why I’d buy a book in a certain format. My, how things change in less than a year! I’m here today to give you an update on my book-buying habits and how they’ve changed.
I would buy a Kindle book if I owned the rest of the series as eBooks, if the Kindle copy was really cheap, or if I didn’t have an audiobook credit at the moment. The biggest reason would be if I just had to have the book RIGHT THEN.
Now, 
some of the same things are true. I’ll buy a Kindle book if I own the rest of the series as e-books. This is definitely true for the Pretty Little Liars and Rusk University series. I already own the beginning books as e-books, why change that? Otherwise, the only actual time I’ll buy a Kindle book is if there’s a big ass deal going on and I need it. I really don’t feel the need to buy Kindle books anymore! I read mostly eARCs on there at this point. I’m more than happy to accept Kindle books as gifts, but I don’t go out of my way to buy them. I think this is especially true if the book is almost as expensive as a paperback. So many eBooks these days are close to $7-$10 dollars… I may as well buy a paperback! I feel like there are so few books I’m DYING to have right away… and if I am, I’ll buy a physical copy for my collection or I’ve already preordered it.
Honestly I wouldn’t buy hardcovers that much in the past. I’m not a big fan of them – both the size/format and the price range. I prefer to have a paperback if possible. If I was in desperate need of a new release, I would suck it up and buy the hardcover. If it was a book by one of my favorite authors, I’d think about preordering it or buy the book right away when it came out.
I almost never, ever buy hardcovers for myself. Like I said, I’m not the biggest fan of them. The major source of my hardcover collection comes from Book Outlet if they’re cheap, Uppercase Box if they’re included, gifts from people, or MUST-HAVE books. (Even then, I may just hit the library unless its a favorite author.) I think preordering books if the biggest draw to hardcovers for me right now. I love preordering – especially because of the new trend towards preorder swag! I love it all. Preordering books has definitely gotten cheaper too. I love how Amazon will guarantee the lowest price that the book hits during that timeframe. You can preorder a hardcover book for $10 or less nowadays! You can sign me up for that, my friends. I’d also like to say that I’m a biiiiig proponent of all of the books in a series matching. If I have a series started in hardcover, that’s how I’ll continue.
Paperbacks have always been the love of my life. I love how cheap they are, how easy they are to hold, and how light they feel in my purse…lol. I used to buy them way more frequently – I’d browse the store and just pick them up like nobody’s business. I didn’t worry about reviews or anything (before blogging). Even after I started blogging, if a book looked interesting and had decent reviews, I’d buy it. I have so many of these books still sitting around on my shelves.
Today it’s a bit different honestly. I’m surprised at how much my physical copy book buying has changed. I usually will only buy a book if I’m REALLY anticipating it and convinced I’m going to love it right off the bat OR It’s by one of my all-time favorite authors. But, the biggest reason I buy physical copies? If I already read the book. I’ve decided to stop wasting money and shelf space on books that I don’t like or may not read right away. I’ve made better use of my library, Scribd, ebooks, and ARCs to decide what I may want to buy for my collection. I just think from a money perspective, it makes more sense that way! (Well, that, and the fact that my shelves are already incredibly full and I have so many books e v e r y w h e r e).
My audiobook habits are probably the biggest change of all since the last post! I used to use Audible, Audiobooks.com, and my library’s audiobook/CD collection. I would just use my credits as soon as they came to me.
Now, I don’t have a subscription for Audible or Audiobooks.com anymore! I got rid of them when I realized that $15/month (each) was waaaaay more than I needed to spend on audiobooks. I have quite a few still waiting to be listened to on there. Honestly, discovering Scribd has definitely made my life. For $8.99/month, I have UNLIMITED audiobooks (and ebooks) that I can choose from. I’ve been using Scribd for months now and can’t see myself ever going back to a pay-by-credit model. The new releases on Scribd are amazing and they have plenty of FULL SERIES to listen to. I’ll be good on audiobooks for a looooong time! I highly recommend checking it out and seeing what books you come across. It’s a great value if you’re a big audiobook listener like I am! I hardly ever listen to music nowadays.
I agree with you on Scribd for audiobooks! It has got SO MANY to choose from, it’s cheaper and there’s no limit to how many you can listen to. So I don’t get why Audible is so much more popular…
I’d say that most of my books are ebooks, but when I do buy physical copies they will almost always be paperbacks. I only really buy hardcovers secondhand, or at the bookfest, where they are like €4. Otherwise, they are just too expensive for me.
SO MANY. Scribd is the absolute best. Hardcovers are SO expensive – I love that I prefer paperbacks in general 😉
I used to be the same with mostly buying paperbacks but I also have OCD when it comes to series matching and I’ve actually ended up going back and buying some favorites I own in paperback in hardcover just so I can continue to match them with the new books being released. I’ve also grown to appreciate hardcovers more since I moved and I spend so much time commuting. I like that I can remove the jacket and I don’t have to worry about it getting beat up at all in my purse!
That’s a good point! I usually carry a book around with me but don’t take it out too much lol, my commute is all driving! I love paperbacks but definitely need series to match too. If I can get the book from the library or on my kindle first, I’ll read it there… then wait to buy the book when it’s in paperback.
I love this post. It is interesting to see how much your habits change. I used to buy a lot of Kindle books for my book club in 2013, but then in 2014 I decided to spend less on books and use only the library. I kept track of what the books would have cost for my Kindle, and the savings was around $600! Now I only buy Kindle books when I have an Amazon credit.
I don’t like to buy physical books because then I have to find somewhere to story them. I will occasionally get sucked in for a pre-order of something I MUST read as soon as it comes out. But otherwise, I just use the library. You can usually reserve books before they publish, so I’m one of the first ones for new books normally.
Yep, I know what you mean! I try to use the library as much as possible but there are some authors where I just NEED all of their books – especially if I have plans to reread.
It’s always so interesting to read about other people’s book buying habits! In my case, I have odd habits. I like my YA fantasies in hardcover (and all of them must match), though I’ll accept buying paperbacks if it’s an older series. I like my YA contemporaries in hardcover as well, though I’m not averse to paperback versions if they have better covers. I rarely buy audio books (I’m very picky about that!), but I do buy romance and NA novels as Kindle books.
Generally, I spend the most money acquiring books that I know I *must* have in my library – favorite authors, series I’m collecting, ARCs I’ve read and want to own finished copies of. It’s very rare for me to buy a book randomly at a bookstore, rare but does still happen on occasion. I’ve found I’m using the library a whole lot more now, and borrowing books from my friends too!
Yes exactly! I’m not big on the random book-buying anymore. In general, I only buy a few books a month – the rest come from my Secret Sister or are ARCs… so I stick to once-a-month book haul posts!
I don’t buy many books, mostly because I feel guilty about all the books I own that I haven’t read! But when I do, it’s usually books by favourite authors or of course, books I just can’t wait to read! In my recent post I declared that I’m on a kind of book buying ban. Not because I have a problem with buying books, but because I want to focus on my TBR and try and make a dent in it. Love the idea of buying ARC’s you’ve loved vs. books that might take a while to get to. I don’t make it a priory to buy finished copies of ARC’s I’ve loved, but am trying to change that. Interesting discussion 🙂
I think that’s my biggest issue too – my bookshelves are FULL of books I haven’t read yet! I really need to read those and focus on them for a while.
99% if my book purchases are ebooks on my Kindle. The only time I buy paperbacks or hardbacks is if I get a good sale at a bookstore.
Yeah I tend to be more frugal and careful about my book buying now too!
This is a really good post! I love how you took a then and now approach to your book buying! I’m like you as far as e-books: I mostly get free classics and cheap stuff, unless there is a book I’m dying to have instantly! Happy reading! 🙂
Thank you 😀
I have an ipad and I could never get into the e-reading trend, though I tried. I just feel like as a collector of books (which I consider myself now, as my collection has gotten WAAAY larger than the normal person’s lol) not having the book to hold in my hands or display on my shelves is a waste. I utilize my ipad mostly for books that are SUPER cheap that I’m not sure if I’ll love, and e-novellas for series I own. You’re totally right too. Most new release books are practically as expensive via e-book as they are in a physical format, and if that’s the case I’ll definitely be buying the physical copy!
Yes, exactly!
I don’t buy e-books. I have a Kindle Fire, but I have never actually bought an e-book. I’ll pick up a few freebies here and there, but I mostly use my Fire for eARCs.
Now hardcovers… I buy them all the time, even if I already have the book in another format. I just love having all my favorites in hardcovers.
I buy mostly used paperbacks, unless the book is only available in paperback. I like them, but I just destroy paperback books.
I don’t buy audiobooks either. I’m sure that will change when I have a teaching job because I think audiobooks are beneficial to students, but I just don’t have time to listen to them. I don’t really take longs drives, which is when I would listen to audiobooks.
Haha that’s a good point. I like to listen to the audiobook when I get ready in the morning, shower, and drive to work. Something to listen to while doing other things!
You know what’s funny… I won an audiobook (on CD), so I uploaded it to iTunes. I’ve been listening to it when I’m driving and getting ready, and I can see that I kind of do like it now. Now this one was a re-read, so I’ll have to see how it works for a book I haven’t read yet.
Good luck! I love having something like that to get ready to.