Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted by Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Since April 2022, the meme moved to another host, Aria @ Book Nook Bits. Let’s Talk Bookish is a meme where participants discuss certain topics, share their opinions, and share their love by visiting each other’s posts.
This week’s topic is Collecting Books and is provided by Zahra @ The Owl. The prompts for this topic are: Do you enjoy collecting books? Do you feel like physical books are overpriced? Do you buy books after you’ve read them to add to your collection? Do you buy special edition collector sets? How invested are you in your book collection?
First things first, I don’t read physical books due to my visual impairement. I only consume ebooks and audiobooks and yes, even here it’s possible to collect books. I tend to get multiple copies of books by my favorite authors or of my favorite series. Books by Sarah J. Maas are a good example. I collect them in English both as ebook and audiobook, but also in Dutch as an ebook. I don’t really like Dutch audiobooks in general (although the quality is getting better and better). Besides, they are not on Audible, so difiicult to collect anyway.
Do I think ebooks are overpriced? Yes. Physical books as well. Why? Well… It mainly appears when looking into Dutch books. We have a set book price (regulated by law), which means physical books are often €20.99 up to €24.99 sometimes. Limited editions can even be up to €35 (yes, I see you Cassandra Clare books), but that’s exceptional. Lately, €22 is becoming more regular for physical books though. Also, ebooks are getting more expensive. A short while ago, €9.99 was the standard price for an ebook. Lately, most ebooks turn out to cost €11.99, or even €12.99. Some books are even €14.99, but I’ve seen €17.99 for an ebook as well. That’s ridiculous in my opinion, because some people only have access to ebooks. I know translation rights et cetera cost money too, but then people should not complain that Dutch books (especially within the YA genre) barely get sold and that series don’t do so well. People buy English books more often because they are much cheaper. Myself, I often read English books as well because let’s face it, life is expensive. However, I notice prices are increasing on English books as well, but not as ridiculously as on Dutch books. Recently I bought an original German and French book and honestly I was glad I had a giftcard to spend.
Well, for obvious reasons, I don’t buy books to add to my collection affter I read them. I did that before with Dutch translations, but with these ridiculous prices, I probably won’t anymore. Furthermore, these books tend to disappoint me when reading the translations after reading the original English versions first. In my opinion, collector’s sets are nice for the real fans, but they cost a lot of money so you have to really ask yourself whether you really want them or not. Will you read them again or will they just stand pretty on your shelf? I just don’t get why people buy so many editions of the same book, but that’s just me I guess. If they enjoy it, go ahead. They are a lot more invested in their collections than I am probably.
Let’s discuss. What do you think about collecting books and the prices of books in general?
Laurie Is Reading 
It is so interesting that you have a set book price regulated by law. I wish that were the case here as books are priced so wildly different from place to place.
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Trust me, it’s annoying 😀
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It’s fascinating to me that book prices are legally regulated! I’ve seen book prices jump a lot in the past year. Like a book that would have been say $28 a year ago is now $40! I understand inflation in the U.S. is a huge problem. However, my salary has not risen in proportion to inflation, so, no I won’t be buying that $40 book!
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Yes we have that exact same problem in the Netherlands. It’s a worldwide post pandemic problem I’m afraid.
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