November's book club selection, voted in last night, is The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks. Many thousands of reviews of this online, it was highly controversial and acclaimed when first published, it's been around for 25 years, and it was a runaway winner in our monthly poll, the other choices only managing one vote each. Sounds like it will be a cracking read, if a little... grim... in parts.
So here I am on Amazon first thing this morning, putting in my order, rather disturbed to discover the following...
Formats:
Kindle Edition £4.51
Paperback £4.75
Huh? You're telling me all that paper manufacture, typesetting, print run, ink, cutting, binding, packing into boxes, shipping to the distributor, storage, shipping to the store, that is no longer necessary because of "the wonder" of Kindle... all that... translates into a retail saving of 24 PENCE???
Good grief.
Not that saving money is the main reason for buying a Kindle, but I'd have expected a bigger differential. At that rate and assuming I went for the non-3G version, I'd have to buy 455 books before I'd made back the outlay. Something which, at recent rates of purchase, would take about 20 years!
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1 comment:
I think the real savings with ereaders come when you're buying a brand new release which, in hardcover will cost considerably more than the electronic edition which, here at least, seems to be in the neighbourhood of the paperback release that comes out a year later. Plus, a book this old could probably be e-borrowed from your library if they do that sort of thing. Instant savings :)
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