This post is sort of a continuation of my books I bought because of bargain price post. I am actually a relative newbie in ebook world, been reading them since 2014. But since that time, I have purchased more ebooks than physical books and based on my rough calculation, I’ve purchased no less than 90 ebooks. Obviously, ebooks are currently dominating my reading materials. There are many posts weighing the pros and cons of reading ebooks, and I won’t get into that here. If you’re not into ebooks, that’s totally fine and you could safely skip this post. However, if you’re new to the ebook buying and reading world, I’d like to share 7 tips to get the most out of your money.
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Subscribe to ebook deal newsletter or update
You might have heard of the site bookbub that sends mailing list containing ebooks deals daily. While it’s true that many of the deals they send are of self-published books, I’ve struck gold a couple of times. All you need to do is sign up for the mailing list, then choose which categories/genres you want and the ebook retailers you’re using. And if you’re interested to get email when there are deals on certain authors’ work, there’s an option for that too.
If you’re not US-based, don’t worry, even though some of the deals they send are US-specific, there are many that also work internationally.
Several platforms also offers a daily deal newsletter, you might want to subscribe to it too. -
Check the price on multiple retailers
This might not be possible if you’re locked in with a retailer, but if you’re not I highly recommend to always compare prices from multiple sellers before purchasing. You’d think that the same book will be sold at the same price throughout many retailers, but this is not always true. In fact, most of the times the price is quite different. Why? One is because there might be retailer-specific deal. The other reason is because ebooks have many versions, which is especially true for a bestseller book that could go into dozens of printing. Sometimes there’ll be a price drop after the paperback got released, sometimes they will release an anniversary edition and the original one got significant cut. Then there’s also country-specific price. Then there are so many other reasons that could be its own post and I am in no way an expert on this so I’ll stop here.
Whatever the reason, it’s usually a good idea to compare prices before buying an ebook. -
Check the ‘other editions’ on the same retailer
This sounds complicated, but it’s really not. For the same reasons why an ebook might have different prices on different retailers, ebook with the same title might have different editions listed on a single retailer. If you’re a google play user, it’s always a good idea to use the search box and you might just find that the book you want is on sale for $12.99 as well as $7.99. For Kindle users, there’ll be a box saying ‘other editions’ if there are more than one version of the same ebook. There might be a glaringly obvious price difference. Seriously, I’ve found an ebook priced at $11.99 and $1.99 for different editions.
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When in doubt, get the ebook bundle
Popular authors or popular series might have books sold as a bundle, and getting this bundle is usually cheaper than if you buy the books individually.
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Follow your favorite authors’ update, newsletter, and blogs
This one is a no brainer and by now many people follow their favorite authors on twitter and tumblr. However, if the author offers a mailing list, you might want to subscribe to it because usually if there’s a time-limited deals, this is the only way to find out about it ON TIME.
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Use the wishlist feature and keep checking back for price updates
I’ve mentioned months ago that I use google wishlist feature as my TBR pile. Not only it made it easier for me to carry my TBR everywhere, it also enables me to monitor all the price updates for books I want in one go.
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Be patient
Us readers, we’re both passionate and patient aren’t we? I mean, how else would you explain that we keep our calm for a year (A YEAR) after that cliffhanger.
Fortunately, patience is also a virtue for an ebook shopper. As I mention above, ebooks sometimes received a price cut as its paperback cousins gets released. Sometimes it could take months, years even, for an ebook to get to a reasonable price (by reasonable I mean reasonably cheaper than the hardcover format) so one needs to exercise self-control and be aware of the 1-click purchase button at all times.
One last thing. If you like to switch around between formats, such as ebook and audiobook, it’s often cheaper (at least on Kindle) to get the ebook first and buy the audio as add-on rather than buying them separately. Not always, but usually.
That’s all for today, folks. This post is not sponsored by any of the platforms or websites mentioned above. I’m just writing it for my fellow readers. If you have any other tip, please drop me a comment or email so I could add it here (and credit you, of course).