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Comment by wewyor | Hacker News Reader

Amazon offers samples of books before you buy (usually the first chapter, or more if it is short) and that kind of solves the try a few pages problem.

I think most people just are more willing to fork over 99 cents for a mediocre book rather than 8 dollars for a decent one.

I have a kindle but sadly prices aren't set for my market (the used papberback shopper).

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Maybe for speed readers that's the case. IMO though, life is too short to read mediocre books if there are better ones you could be reading (same is true of mediocre music and movies).

While you are probably right, I find it sad that people would rather read lots of mediocre books than a few good ones. But maybe I just value my time more than most people.

I don't have time to read mediocre books. I've found myself buying a number of ebooks and putting them aside, at several price points. I think I am more wary of the sub $9 ebooks, which may not make sense, but there you are.

Exactly. A book that I can read and enjoy is worth $10 or $20 minimum. A book I can look up for a familiar reference, maybe a bit less than that. A book that I will dismiss soon after starting it isn't worth the space it takes.

All these books under $5 are, from my point of view, priced so you take a chance on something you don't know. Not for me. However, if a book I know I will use (and therefore worth North of $20) happens to be priced at $5, then so much the better.

I have actually used the samples both to choose unknown books and ignore popular books. They are quite useful.

But even with that, the unknown book still felt like a risk at the $8 it was priced at. (It turned out to be really good until just before the end, then it went downhill fast. I didn't buy the sequel.)

Had the book been $3 I'd have been perfectly happy and probably bought the sequel as well. At $.99 it would have been a sure thing.

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