# My Rant of the Day -- Kindle Books



## LDUBS (Apr 3, 2018)

After reading WV1951's rant, I wanted to share mine. Didn't want to Hi-jack his rant so I'm starting my own. 

My rant of the day is about Amazon ebooks. I was looking at a book on Amazon. I see that the Kindle book is 25% more than the printed hardcopy version. 

I'm not an expert, but for a printed version, someone has to move tree trunks, and/or recycled shavings & sawdust, and/or recycled paper to a pulp mill. Paper has to be manufactured and shipped to a printing facility. I'm sure printing press technology has improved dramatically but still each and every page has to have ink applied -- to both sides. The book cover is printed in color on heavier stock. The whole mess then has to be bound together. Then all those copies of the novel get put in boxes and loaded on trucks and railcars to be delivered to warehouses. Many copies are also shipped beyond that to actual retail locations. If someone orders the book from Amazon, it has to be retrieved from the warehouse and mailed to the person. 

Contrast that with the kindle book. Guy types a novel on his laptop and uploads it. Purchaser downloads it. 

How do they get away with this! :x 

(I know, I need a hobby or something - haha)


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## WV1951 (Apr 3, 2018)

How do they get away with it?

Simply put. They sell it.


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## bcbouy (Apr 3, 2018)

that's why download ebooks from the library on my kindle and kobo.free.


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## paper (Apr 5, 2018)

bcbouy said:


> that's why download ebooks from the library on my kindle and kobo.free.



Pretty much every library has free books (including audiobooks) on Overdrive. Contact your library. Usually just need a number and a PIN from the library.


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## richg99 (Apr 5, 2018)

Why/how do they do it?

Because they can. More and more people prefer reading via Kindle (me included).

Supply and demand have nothing to do with cost to produce. Demand is high and they can meet the demand easily enough...and make a big profit doing so.

No business is in business for very long if their goal is to sell something for the cheapest price that they can. Their goal is to sell something for the biggest profit they can get away with.

The Old Capitalist.....richg99


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## KMixson (Apr 5, 2018)

Because people spend money on them. They find an item sells for a dollar and they jack the price up to $1.25. If it sells for that, up it goes to $2.00. Still sells, up to $4.00. When the sales start to lag the price will stabilize then start to fluctuate with the demand.


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## LDUBS (Apr 5, 2018)

Oh, I am definitely a capitalist at heart and I already knew the answer to my question before I asked it. I'm just exercising my right to get POed about it. Hahah


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## richg99 (Apr 5, 2018)

I thought it was a great rant. Nice to be able to do that here.


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## JimmyTodd (Apr 6, 2018)

So I have a kindle and i love it . When on a hiking or camping trip i love how long the battery will last and how much variety i can have on hand. I thought if none of you were aware i would post a story i recently listened to on NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/03/29/598053563/why-the-number-of-independent-bookstores-increased-during-the-retail-apocalypse

Love hearing that book stores are making a comeback.

Todd


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## richg99 (Apr 6, 2018)

My wife reads a lot. So much so that we have set up a list of books she has previously read, just so she doesn't buy the same one twice.

She likes to hold a book in her hand....but...I have helped her recognize some of the finest features of a Kindle book buying experience.

And what might that be, some would say?? .....The SAMPLE..... If a book has a Kindle available, free of charge, we can get one or two chapters sent to her viewer before she decides to buy the book. 

Sometimes she buys it via Amazon, and sometimes she goes over to a very close and local Barnes and Noble. Either way, she no longer buys a book and then decides twenty minutes into it that she hates it.

Try it, you will like it.

Oh, and neither she nor I own a KINDLE. We both have downloaded the free app from Amazon called Kindle for iPhone/iPad/PC etc. She has an Apple iPad, and I have a Chromebook with Chrome on it. the books still cost what the books cost, but the reader is free.

regards, rich

https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_11?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=kindle+for+pc&sprefix=kindle+for+%2Caps%2C198&crid=FV2EWPH215J2


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## LDUBS (Apr 6, 2018)

I originally had the Kindle fire (gift from the Mrs). The battery lasted about 3 to 4 hours. I now have a paperwhite. The battery lasts for a couple of weeks. We do quite a bit of traveling. The old Kindle Fire would run out of juice before the flight was over. The paperwhite can last the entire trip. The longer battery life is really nice. However, there may be a big downside looming ahead. Newer in-flight entertainment may require a device with wifi connectivity and a screen. The paperwhite won't be good for that.


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