If the author is alive yes I will pay- if not nope - library

You sound super cheap OP...goody for you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is almost *never* about the writer becoming rich.

It's about paper, printing, binding, and shipping. Inflexible costs. Recently f--ed even further by Trump's dumb tariffs.

Also: do you really think content should be free? Do you have any idea of how long it takes to compose and edit a decent book that isn't a piece of self-published trash?

No, none of those things really cost that much. In fact the cost for printing dropped dramatically. And tariffs have nothing to do with it. Printing costs dropped many years ago.

And the free content comment made me laugh. I think it's called the Internet. Look into it sometimes. Lots of free content.

Much of the good content on the internet is not, in fact, free. Our unwillingness to recognize that content doesn't just create itself out of thin air, that people create it and they need to make a living, is leading to the death of journalism. I say this as the wife of a laid-off journalist. Lots of great content is behind a paywall that you should pay for rather than try to get around and hack (I'm looking at you, person who uses 4 different browsers to evade the WaPo free article limit). Other content is paid for by ad revenue, but online advertising doesn't pay as much as people thought it would, and the model of ads for content is failing. If you think there SHOULD be high-quality, unbiased content out there...find a way to pay your way.

Anonymous wrote:I’m loving all the people who say no one pays that much for books and they only buy used. I’m, how do you think that used book came to be available in the first place? Someone had to buy it new in order for you to get it used.

So? I buy my furniture used, am I destroying the furniture industry somehow? How about buying clothes at thrift stores?

I’m loving all the people who say no one pays that much for books and they only buy used. I’m, how do you think that used book came to be available in the first place? Someone had to buy it new in order for you to get it used.

Anonymous wrote:If you’re going to shop online because you are too cheap and lazy to go the store, fine. Do not go into the store, browse their products, look at their displays, take advantage of their labor, and then walk out and buy it somewhere else. You are killing not just that store, but all brick and mortar retail.

The easiest and cheapest short term solution is not always best. Have some perspective. When there are no more stores in your town, it will be your own fault.

And when your jobs and your kids' potential jobs are all outsourced to companies that are chasing a dollar, call down to the basement, "Hey, honey, my choices made this happen!"

If you’re going to shop online because you are too cheap and lazy to go the store, fine. Do not go into the store, browse their products, look at their displays, take advantage of their labor, and then walk out and buy it somewhere else. You are killing not just that store, but all brick and mortar retail.

The easiest and cheapest short term solution is not always best. Have some perspective. When there are no more stores in your town, it will be your own fault.

Barnes and Noble now has “buy online, pickup in store” option that usually charges the same amount or less for the item as Amazon.

You can literally get any book you want used from Amazon for $4 (0.01 + 3.99 shipping).

If it was any other product that people bought used or cheaply online, DCUM would be all about it, but because its books we're bad people? GTFO.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I browse B&N, make a list of what I want, and then order off of Amazon. Fully aware that I'm part of the problem but I'm not willing to pay 30-40% more in a brick & mortar store, sorry.

But I bet you absolutely hate Walmart, which did the same thing to local stores. Hypocrite.

No, I shop wherever I can get the item cheapest. If that’s Walmart, fine by me.

It’s stupid to pay more, IMO, just to help keep someone in business who wasn’t married enough to adapt their business to the changing times.

Anonymous wrote:I place books on my wish list and often the Kindle version will drop to $5 or less, which is when I buy.

I do this hack as well!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I browse B&N, make a list of what I want, and then order off of Amazon. Fully aware that I'm part of the problem but I'm not willing to pay 30-40% more in a brick & mortar store, sorry.

This is abhorrent behavior. When there are no more brick and mortar stores, it will be because of people like you. Congratulations. You might think I’m overreacting, but you are actively sabotaging the jobs and livelihood of every person who works in the store that you refuse to support. Go to the library if you can’t afford to buy a book.

I do the same. Library books are disgusting! We did a class project when I was in middle school and the three places I had to swab samples was at the library (books, shared computer keyboard, desks). We then let the swabbed samples grow and the book sample was worse than the keyboard! That stuck with me and I stopped getting library books after I was finished with my schooling.

The reason why B&N and other bookstores have to charge more than Amazon is because of their brick&mortar overhead. B&N.com can't have lower prices than in the store or else the stores would have to price match.

Sorry, but B&M stores are dying and there's just no saving that. Also, not sorry for being fiscally responsible. B&N and other bookstores... just another thing we silly millennials are killing!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I browse B&N, make a list of what I want, and then order off of Amazon. Fully aware that I'm part of the problem but I'm not willing to pay 30-40% more in a brick & mortar store, sorry.

This is abhorrent behavior. When there are no more brick and mortar stores, it will be because of people like you. Congratulations. You might think I’m overreacting, but you are actively sabotaging the jobs and livelihood of every person who works in the store that you refuse to support. Go to the library if you can’t afford to buy a book.

You are over reacting. Business models change.

Not overreacting, and business models haven’t changed that much. Barnes and Noble is still providing a service that the cheap Amazon shopper is benefiting from, and one that an online store can’t replicate. She showcases the books in person, learns what she wants to read, and then sabotages the provider of that service by purchasing from a competitor that is ruining all other retail. It’s unfair, it’s not victimless, and it should be called out as bad behavior.

PP writer again - and man, we live in weird times that we have to defend B&N as the virtuous competitor to Amazon. I remember when B&N was growing and people railed against it as the chain that'd kill the local indie bookstores.

Buying local is the most virtuous way to buy books for sure. But I also think that reading is better than not reading, and any way you get books is a good way to get books. Support authors, support bookstores, support libraries, read.

I don’t mind paying $27 for an actual book. What kills me are the $35-50 self published ebooks I keep buying.

Anonymous wrote:I browse B&N, make a list of what I want, and then order off of Amazon. Fully aware that I'm part of the problem but I'm not willing to pay 30-40% more in a brick & mortar store, sorry.

But I bet you absolutely hate Walmart, which did the same thing to local stores. Hypocrite.