I got an email from Barnes & Noble the other week telling me that Ken Follett’s latest historical novel was available for pre-order. I don’t read much historical (okay, I hardly read any), but I did enjoy both The Pillars of the Earth and World Without End, so I clicked over to read up on his new Fall of Giants.
The first thing I saw was the 1 1/2 star rating. Um, what? The book wasn’t even out yet, and yet there were already 200+ reviews with an average rating of one star? I skimmed over the reviews and it became very clear what the problem with the book was, and it had nothing to do with the actual story.
Readers – most of whom hadn’t read the book because it wasn’t released yet – thought the book was too damned expensive. So they were giving the novel terrible reviews, I suppose because they’re trying to make a point to both the publisher and the bookseller.
Fall of Giants‘ list price is $36. B&N is discounting it 41% online, which gets the price down to $21.06 for the hardcover. A bit expensive for me. If I bought every book I wanted to read in hardcover, I wouldn’t be able to afford very many books. Then I glanced at the eBook price.
The eBook is priced at $19.99.
WHOA!
Would you pay this much for an eBook? I wouldn’t, and I’m a fan of eBooks. Typically I never spend more than $13 on a book, in any format. What can I say, that’s my comfort zone. I have paid more for books occasionally if I was simply unable to wait for the paperback, but I have to be a big, big fan of the author to drop more than $20. I have a budget to stick to!
What about you? How much are you willing to spend on books?