Are You on the eBook Bandwagon? What Was the Last eBook You Bought?
By John DeNardo |
Monday, September 5th, 2011 at
12:20 am
As if I don’t have enough books on my to-be-read pile, the advent of eBooks means a whole new avenue to fuel my bibliolic purchases. And exercise that avenue I do!
My latest eBook purchase is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s City of Ruins. I enjoyed the first book in the series, Diving Into the Wreck, and wanted to read the second. Apparently it wasn’t enough that I have a generously-supplied physical review copy. I’m about halfway through the eBook and enjoying it.
Are you on the eBook bandwagon? What was the last eBook you bought?
Related posts:
- The eBook-Haters Meme
- Voice Of The Fans: Do You eBook?
- Jumping on the Baen bandwagon
- Quick Meme: What Was the Last Book You Bought?
- Free eBook Reminder: Claim Your Free eBook Copy of ‘Zendegi’ by Greg Egan!
Filed under: Books
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
I bought E.E. Knight’s March In Country awhile back.
I tend more towards free ebooks, or library ebooks though, in addition to any e-galleys I might get.
Little Fuzzy, by H. Beam Piper, was the most recent ebook I specifically went out looking to aquire – got it from ProjectGutenberg.
–Kev
Yep, I joined that bandwagon a long time ago. The last ebook I bought was today. Banned book weeks is coming up, and Amazon just did a big markdown of Vonnegut books (http://j.mp/pi6URC), so I downloaded Cat’s Cradle (and about a half dozen others). In case you hadn’t heard, Slaughterhouse Five has been banned in Republic MO, and the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library is up in arms.
My only issue with reading series in ebook format is that sometimes there are gaps in availablility. Red Mars is in the kindle store, but Green Mars isn’t, even though Blue Mars is. How is that okay??
I’ve been on the bandwagon for a year and a half now. Got to say that my kindle was one of the best purchases I have made in a long time.
The last one that I bought was The Unincorporated Woman.The next one I expect to buy is Reamde (a lot easyer to hold my Kindle than one of Neal Stephensons hard covers.)
I have also been downloading alot of free e-books. You have to love the way Baen Books has been doing e-books, most new releases are just $6 and you can get alot of thier stuff free from the Free Library or through baencd.thefifthimperium.com
Love my Nook. Just bought “Low Town” by Daniel Polansky.
I buy Kindle books regularly, reading The Scar by China Miéville on it at the moment.
Of all titles (last and last paid):
G K Chesterton, Eugenics and Other Evils, $0.00, 2011 August 29
Billy Bishop, Winged Warfare – In World War I, $0.99, 2011 August 04
SF (last and last paid):
Fantasy and Science Fiction, Free Digest; $0.00, 2011 August 03
Nancy Fulda, Hexes and Tooth Decay, $0.99, 2011 July 14 (short story; Amazon listed the story today – 05 September – for $0.00; Nancy put the story up at my request)
This gives a distorted view of my buying. I buy in bundles. Billy Bishop’s book was the last I bought in that bundle, but that bundle included James McCudden, Flying Fury, $9.99, among others. I am trying to complete my collection of Robert Heinlein, so I am due to shop Baen’s Library for another block of Heinlein.
I’m really not. I’m much more likely to buy nonfiction ebooks than fiction. I have been buying short stories and taking advantage of some discounts, though. The last ‘book’ I bought was Sanford’s Never Never Stories.
The last book I bought was a pre-order of Neal Stephenso’s Reamde.
I’ve been crazy about ebooks ever since I got a first generation Sony Reader maybe…three years ago? And now i’m up to a current-generation Kindle 3. I’ve rarely, if ever, bought a paper book since then, and only if essentially forced to.
On the other hand, I rarely used to buy more than one (paper) book at a time; I was incredibly picky, partly because I knew I had to find space on my shelves for that book. It was a purchase I had to think particularly carefully. Since buying my first e-ink device, it’s like I’ve been on a perpetual spending spree. Now I have something like forty paid-for ebooks on my machine, awaiting my attention, and I read about five times as many books as I used to.
I bought Ready Player One a couple of weeks ago.
Been downloading eBooks since I had my Apple Newton. Been buying them since 1999 or so.
Beware. Beware The Hester Effect.
Indeed, Beware the Hester Effect.
The last book I bought was The Skin Map, Stephen Lawhead. It’s been a few weeks, so I’ve been itching to get another one. I”ve tried to be good and wait until I finish a book on the kindle before I buy another.
This has not always worked…
My latest eBook purchase is Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s City of Ruins. I enjoyed the first book in the series, Diving Into the Wreck, and wanted to read the second. Apparently it wasn’t enough that I have a generously-supplied physical review copy. I’m about halfway through the eBook and enjoying it.
Oh, John, we’ve decided that’s the Kiesche Effect–when you buy an ebook of a book you already physically own. I mused naming it after myself (since I do it) but Fred pointed out that he’s done it for far longer than I have.
I almost always buy the e-book version now, unless its something by someone I know or something that I want signed (in which case I will often buy both paper and e-book). The last e-book I bought was Gardner Dozois’ The Year’s Best Science Fiction, 28th Annual Edition.
According to my list, I’ve read 23 e-books. This doesn’t count magazine subscriptions on the Kindle (Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, IGMS, Apex Magazine, etc.) And I have about 100 e-books that I’ve bougth on my Kindle, so I am guilty of both the Hester and Kiesche effects.
BTW, Paul, I knew you were at least reading e-books because I saw a flood of Kindle “notes” you’d made going to Twitter the other day.
When the Great Days Come by Gardner Dozois (from Prime Books). Saw it in B&N and hopped on my Nook to read the excerpt, and then paid $5 for it right then and there. Dozois is lucky it was in my price range for ebooks…
So far, though, it’s a damn fine collection. The first story is an alternate history tale that rocks something awesome. Love it.
After an excruciating month of NOT buying any ebook, I broke the fast this morning and bought Wendy Despain’s Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing (which I’ll be needing for my Narrative Theory in Interactive Game Design classes).
And, Paul, Fred, is there an effect or a name (other than crazy) for the person who first buys the ebook version and THEN buys the paper one? For that’s what I did last week with N.K.Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which I had for quite a while in my Kindle but I found for a bargain in a bookstore, so I couldn’t resist.
I have been reading ebooks for almost 6 years. I used to read some SF and Fantasy ebooks on my palm devices. Many of these I can still read using other devices such as my Nook or iPad. Now I read quite a few books on my nook. The last e-book I bought was “Ghost Story” by Jim Butcher.
I’ve been reading ebooks since I purchased a Rocket ebook reader many, many years ago.
In the past week I’ve added The Steam Pig: A Lieutenant Kramer and Detective Sergeant Mickey Zondi Investigation by James McClure, a monthly freebie from Pheonix Picks, Radix by A.A. Attanasio, and MASH by Richard Hooker.
Bah humbug. No ebooks. I’ll stick to paper.
Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. I read the French translation when it was first published in the late eighties
. The e-book version made it extremely easy to buy it in english.
@Rico: I see Green Mars for Kindle here: http://www.amazon.com/Green-Mars-ebook/dp/B000QCS91E?tag=sfsi0c-20
Last ebook I downloaded was Masterpieces of Mystery, Vol. 1 (of 4) by Joseph Lewis French at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27722
I buy ebooks to stretch my book-buying budget, and as a way to sample a new author or small press (though I don’t buy 99 cent ebooks without a really good recommendation from someone whose tastes I trust). I still like paper for some books, especially anthologies, since paper form makes revisiting just my favorite stories easier.
My most recent ebook purchases:
Apexology: Science Fiction and Fantasy
Sublimation Angels by Jason Sanford
I don’t buy ebooks. I have only my phone or the computer to read them on, and neither’s convenient. If I had an ereader, it would be different. Until then, I occasionally download free epub.s because they’re free, then spend months not reading them.
The last ebook I bought was a very cheap War of the Worlds that I read on a borrowed Kindle.
My last purchase last week was The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction volume 3. It was paper. Cost – 25 Cents. Last one before Like new hardcover of Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay. Cost $3.00. Yes I’m a paper guy. No e-books for me for the forseeable future.
Yes. I am firmly on the bandwagon. I purchased ‘A Dance with Dragons’ just the other day. I’m about halfway through now.
Oh I’m leadin the charge.
Last bought By Light Alone by Adam Roberts and 81 Miles by Stephen King.
Not needing two hands to read is a boom.
Indie stuff. It’s cheap and I can download a free sample before I buy.
I love my kindle, as well as hardback books.
Spellwright – Blake Charlton
Yes, I am on the band wagon too. The last e-book I bought on my Nook is Leviathan Wakes which is good so far. Been reading it and a large H.P. Lovecraft collection. Would like to read City of Ruin but so far not available on my NOOK. Sent a message to Lou Anders about it on Facebook and Pyr books are finally making it to NOOK but not Kristine or the other Pyr books I am wanting yet Kay Kenyon’s The Entire of the Rose. I have almost stopped buying real books, and when I do it is usually at a good discount or at a half price store, and then mainly authors that I love. It has saved me space and some money in buying books. And as some of the others have said I have also been picking up free books where I can and the .99$ as well, knowing if I don’t like I can either archive them or delete them and either be out of no or little money.
I’ve had a seat on the eBook bandwagon for almost 12 years now. My last download was an Agatha Christie novel offered as a free eBook from BN.com last Friday. I did buy a supporting membership to the last two Worldcons specifically to get the Hugo Voter’s Packet. (and yes, I voted each time)
I’ve been reading ebooks almost exclusively for most of a decade now. Between my phone and my iTouch, I’ve got more ereaders than you can shake a Hitchhiker’s Guide at. My most recent purchases were The Terror by Dan Simmons (3 bucks from Kobo!) and Historical Lovecraft from Innsmouth Free Press (99 cents on Smashwords!). Viva la digital revolucion!
And, Paul, Fred, is there an effect or a name (other than crazy) for the person who first buys the ebook version and THEN buys the paper one?
I don’t know. I did that when Mary Robinette Kowal came to town. I already had Shades of Milk and Honey as an ebook, but the prospect of getting a paper signed copy was irresistable. (especially since it was from a local independent store)
@Tam,
Rico may not be in the States. In Canada, for instance, the availability of the Mars books is as he described. The issue of rights outside of the States seems to be a mess. I would buy Gene Wolfe’s Book of the Short Sun in an instant if I could get all three volumes. But, alas, in Canada, we are only allowed to purchase two of them. It’s the same for British books published outside of the UK. There are books I can physically get in a bookstore, and which are available elsewhere as ebooks, but which the publishers don’t want to be sold to me.
I love publishers. I actually do. I know many editors whose work comes from a love of the books they publish. But they’re letting me down.
Booklife by Jeff VanderMeer – it is a book for writers: http://www.amazon.com/Booklife-ebook/dp/B004GHNG3Q/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1315293829&sr=8-6&tag=sfsi0c-20
and Fingers, very nice short stories – http://www.amazon.com/Fingers-other-fantastic-stories-ebook/dp/B005GQW132/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1?tag=sfsi0c-20
I don’t see it as a bandwagon, but instead as a plague.
A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin. It was significantly cheaper than the hardcover.
I didn’t buy it as such (it was available via Project Gutenberg) but I have just finished reading The Status Civilisation by Robert Sheckley. Haven’t read his stories before, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be checking out some of his short stories too.
As others have mentioned, the likelihood is that I will be buying some paperback versions of his work now (if I can find any) because although I love my Sony eBook reader’s convenience and eInk screen, it really doesn’t replace an actual book.
I think the last one I bought was “Lest Darkness Fall”, in a cheap version and with 3 extra short stories. Good deal!
But I also read a lot of free stuff. Sometimes having something available in a good epub format is the difference between me bothering to read it and not.
I’ve started working my way through “The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg” series from Subterranean Press. I finished volume 1 and the companion volume “In the Beginning” a few days ago and picked up “Volume 2: To the Dark Star” this weekend.
I am most assuredly on the eBook bandwagon. The last book I bought was The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. The last 17 titles I read (since April 2011) were eBooks.
Yes, reading my first Kindle ebook right now: Leviathan Wakes: Book One of the Expanse series by James S. A. Corey (pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). Quite entertaining so far.
Coincidentally, the very first ebook I read (on my laptop) was Abraham’s A Shadow in Summer. Tor gave away the ebook for free, which introduced me to Abraham. Thank you, Tor.
By the way…
Reading this paragraph on my first Kindle ebook made me smile:
“The OPA man, Anderson Dawes, was sitting on a cloth folding chair outside Miller’s hole, reading a book. It was a real book—onionskin pages bound in what might have been actual leather. Miller had seen pictures of them before; the idea of that much weight for a single megabyte of data struck him as decadent.”
Leviathan Wakes: Book One of the Expanse series