Hello! Today I'm considering the quandary of where to buy our books from. We have lots of options currently, we can buy online from places like Amazon and TBD, we can buy from supermarkets...or hey, from a bookshop.
There are pros and cons for each option. Buying from supermarkets means you can pick up a book on your weekly shop, and they're usually at rock bottom prices, often even cheaper than Amazon. However, supermarkets only stock a small selection, and it's usually the very mass market books that they expect will sell well. So if you're not looking for the next bestseller, this probably isn't the best place to go.
Online retailers are only getting stronger. Cheap prices, free delivery and hassle-free shopping make it a popular choice. But there's no....joy in shopping online. You can't look at the books, you can't pick them up, read the backs, run your fingers along the spines. And unless you know what you're looking for, it can be hard to browse on a website. Their 'recommendations' are fairly formulaic and changing them up involves a lot of ticking and unticking of boxes. I've said it before, but the day Amazon invests in some form of interactive recommendation service, bookshops are truly doomed. There are more downsides to online shopping, delays in delivery being one. Remember that awful snow we had pre-Christmas 2010? Yeah, my pre-ordered copy of Last Sacrifice never showed up. I ended up going to buy it in Waterstones anyway because I NEEDED it.
Bookshops are the more romantic, more ethical choice. As an older teenager I used to get £50 a month allowance, and I would often get the bus to town, stand in that beautiful Waterstones on St Anne's Square in Manchester (RIP, beautiful shop) and pick books from the 3for2. This is literally what I spent all my money on. And I didn't have a bank card or anything, so there was no online shopping for me. I loved the thrill of picking books I'd never heard of and wondering if I'd love them, the calm feeling I always felt from being surrounded by books. For me, buying books was an indulgence, because I mostly relied on the library. And the thing is, I was always perfectly happy to buy books in bookshops
pre 2007 (which is about when I started buying books on Amazon) but
now, NOW I look at that £7.99 rrp and think "but I could get this so
much cheaper online". Part of me wishes I never knew that.
Nowadays, I do tend to buy most of my books online. And I do feel guilty about it. My reasons are:
A) I get kindle books sometimes
B) My decisions about book buying now are, sadly, usually very strategic. I don't tend to 'impulse buy' books anymore, but because I have so many to read I carefully consider which ones should be added to my collection. This HAS taken a bit of the fun out of book shopping.
C) Price. It is price, it is an issue. I long for the day when I can justify walking into bookshops to buy books all the time, but right now I just can't afford to.
D) Variety. This is definitely improving, especially with so much interest in YA now, but I have walked into bookshops before many times and not found the book I want, especially if I'm after a backlist title. Which when you're looking for something specific is very frustrating.
Sometimes though, I just have to buy a book in a shop. I like the excitement, the thrill, the build up of doing so. I like going out on release day and seeing it and knowing it can be MINE. Though sometimes this does backfire, like the time I pre-ordered CoFA from Waterstones, only for them not to have it, and I had to go to the other Waterstones who then had to go find their copies from the back aaand...it was all very traumatic.
How do you guys buy books? Do you wish your buying habits were different? Do we have a responsibility to buy from bookshops, or do they have a responsibility to make themselves more attractive so they can compete more? Or is it a mix of the two? Does buying online feel 'less fun' for you? Weigh in in the comments!
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2 years ago
I'm so instant gratification that I prefer bookstores but the price drives me crazy! I can't afford to buy books at full price anymore. I hate buying online because once I click buy I want to see the book, hold it in my hands. I hate waiting. I also feel so guilty that I'm aiding the downfall of real bookstores. :( I guess if I buy about 50/50 at both I'll survive.
ReplyDeleteI'm like Jenny in that I love instant gratification. But I'm also young and poor. So I buy my paperbacks at B&N and my hardcovers online. That way almost all the books I buy are like $10. Sometimes I buy used books from AbeBooks.com where every single book is under $5, I swear. I refuse to shop at Amazon, though, for a plethora of reasons.
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you mean about having to carefully consider where and which books to buy. It doesn't totally take the fun out of it for me, because the idea that the book we'll be dropped onto my doorstep is enough to get me in a tizzy. But, I've never really experienced buying a book from a small-scale bookstore outside of Barnes & Noble and Borders until very recently. And I gotta say, it is TEN TIMES MORE thrilling doing the shopping there, even as you mentally wince at the prices. But smaller bookshops can be so beautiful. And this one is geared specifically toward YA & middle grade books so it's like walking through heaven, bro.
ReplyDeleteI totally totally agree with you, particularly on how you said that you just have to buy a book in the shop. I love that feeling when you dash to the bookstore, find a book you've been waiting for ages sitting nicely on that shelf, that excitement of grabbing the book, taking it to the counter and buy it. This is why I rarely buy books online unless I really can't find it in the shops here because I hate waiting for the book to arrive and it's a completely different experience compared to buying a book in the book shop directly!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, Cait! <3 LOVE IT!
I don't know, I like online buying and nowadays I'm hopping between TBD, Amazon and Fishworld. I don't mind waiting for my books as well, and I usually find really great bargains under £3-4 for paperbacks online. However all my impulse buying comes on rare occasions when I go browsing Waterstones (I love that shop!), charity shops and library sales. It's fun and it's still cheap, because I don't allow myself to buy anything that cost more than £5.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that the majority of my books have come from bookstores - however, I usually take advantage of offers, price is quite an issue when you buy as many books as I do! I think that the supermarkets often have really cheap, new books which is great. If I want a very popular book and don't care about condition, I'd have a browse in the charity shops. I do buy quite a few American titles online though as 1. It's quick 2. It's often cheaper and 3. I can't usually find them in any shops. I really, really love bookshops, but I think that the better prices and variety on the Internet is winning me over. However, I would be devastated if any more bookshops nearby close! Great post, Cait! Really well put. :)
ReplyDeleteStephanie
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I buy most of my books online too sadly. If I can get it online for $11 with free shipping why am I going to pay &18 for the same book at my local bookstore. I also tend to buy books for my nook, not physical ones. Unless it's a must have on the shelf book, I buy ebook. It's more practical. I don't have room for hundreds of books, and I don't have the money to buy all those pretty Hardcover copies either. I do still buy from books shops, but like you, I usually know what books I am going to want. I have so many to read that I only buy ones that I am totally pining for. I know which ones I will make time for and which ones I will probably just end up ignoring so I tend to not impulse buy either. I do really like going to the bookstore with my daughter though, so that will never change. I love how excited she gets looking at all the books and trying to pick some out. It is worth the extra money to see her beam like that, but for books for me, it's all about convenience and cost.
ReplyDeleteI do prefer buying books in bookshops, but unfortunately, nowadays books are really expensive in shops and I can save at least 2 euro online, and although it is funner to buy books in shops, I can't exactly afford that luxury! Interesting post though :)
ReplyDeleteI have to be really honest and say that I buy 80% of my books online there are just so many pros to buying online and with the recession and such why on earth would I pay full price for a book in a bookshop when I could get it half price from Amazon? Amazon and The Book Depositoy's books are always so clean and pristine compared to books that have sat on a dusty shelf and been handled a lot from my book shop as well.
ReplyDeleteThat being said nothing beats the feeling of going to a bookshop and spending ages wondering around looking and picking up new books. When I have the extra money or there's a book I see that's been put out early before release I will buy from a bookshop, bookshops and booksellers are a great thing and I try to support them when I can afford to.
I do buy most of my books online, however nothing will beat the feeling of spending hours browsing in a bookshop! I do like to take advantage of the 3 for £5 offer that The Works seem to permanently have - if you look hard enough, there are some cracking books to be found! There's also a discount book warehouse about an hour away from where I live, and they seemed to have nearly every book that I could think of for £5 or less!
ReplyDeleteAnd in terms of supermarkets, I've found that Asda seem to really be pushing their YA section (at least, my local one does) and their prices are fairly cheap as well, at around £4 for a paperback and £6 for a hardback. I try to buy from a mixture of all these places, so I don't feel so bad about buying the majority of my books online.
I mostly buy from Amazon, but that's because I get Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks and also because the closet bookstore that stocks YA around me is in another state (in that state's defense, I'm only fifteen minutes away from the state line. but it's over 100 miles to get to the bookstore.) I do love going to B&N when I can and spend all my time in the YA section (and romance; let's face it, I love romance novels.)
ReplyDeleteI work at a used bookstore and prior to getting the job, I instantly wrote off used books at, well, crap. The stuff no one wanted. Once I started my job, I realized that wasn't the case at all. We get new releases all the time and have an incredible selection - all for ridiculously cheap! Hardbacks we sell for $5-6 (unless they're brand-new, in which case they go out for $12) and paperbacks are just a dollar or two.
ReplyDeleteHowever, because it's a used bookstore, we obviously wouldn't have every book that a store like B&N would have on hand. In that case, I typically head to the Internet. I can't imagine spending $30 on a book now.
I get most of my books off Amazon, because relatives give me giftcards when they can't think of anything else to give me. So I don't buy physicals from a shop, unless they're from a charity shop and I've not seen it on shelves that often. Or I'm in Forbidden Planet. I go in to that shop and will end up with a little (read, lot) less money and a pile of books. In short, I'll get books from anywhere cheap and convenient.
ReplyDeleteBah. You know I'm guilty of buying everything (EVERYTHING) from Amazon :P. Regular shops are more expensive, so I usually only buy from them if there's an offer, or if it's a book I really, really want. Also agree with what you said about being careful - I usually research books and read reviews before I buy them, I rarely randomly pick one off the shelf. Unless it's The Work, because that shop is so cheap it doesn't matter if the book turns out rubbish :P.
ReplyDeleteI buy most of my books from the Book Depository, as I live in Australia and books from bookstores are ridiculously expensive! With the Book Depository, not only is the shipping free, but the prices are ridiculously low! A few weeks ago I picked up a brand-new copy of Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins for less than $6 (the price was about $6.50 but there was a further 10% off due to the promotion)! I sometimes buy Kindle books off Amazon, but overall, the Book Depository is my go-to bookstore!
ReplyDeleteI prefer buying books from stores but like you I find myself thinking "I can get it cheaper online!" and at the minute that what I have to way up. I had to turn down the change to get my copy of Heart Shaped Bruise signed because I would have had to give someone the £13 (?!?!) rrp to buy it in store at the book launch when I could get it on amazing for £6.88… thats like nearly half the price and I just couldnt justify spending so much on a book!
ReplyDeleteI do feel bad about it but I order most of my books from Book Depository. I just can't justify paying full price at the bookstore when I could get it so much cheaper. If I was rich I would love to support local stores, especially indies, but I'm not rich, and every dollar counts. I know that's an unpopular choice for some people, but it's the reality.
ReplyDeleteFinally got round to commenting! Personally I love that feeling of walking into a bookshop and picking up books, reading the blurbs and basically appreciating my surroundings (don't even get me started on that smell of fresh books...) But buying books from a bookshop is a luxury for me. Nowadays most of my books, including ones for school, are bought off Amazon simply because they are SO much cheaper. Obviously clicking 'Buy Now' doesn't generate the same thrill and excitement that you get when you hold the book yourself and wait to pay for it, knowing that this book will be yours finally. But the prices are more affordable online and that's the main reason why we sway towards Amazon.
ReplyDeleteI know it's impossible for bookshops to lower their prices, considering the rent and bills they have to pay for their shops, but surely they could do more cheap deals on single books? Waterstones always has a 3for2 deal but sometimes I don't need to buy 3 books so I'd prefer it if they lowered some of the prices for individual books instead!
Can't wait for your next Caitlin Considers post and I look forward to taking part in the discussion then too :)