$9.99 a Month for Unlimited Books!!!!!!!

This is not an ad, I promise, but for $9.99 a month, all of this (and much more!) can be digitally yours.

This is not an advertisement. When I watch the news and see a reporter talking about a brand new product, I change the channel. I watch the news for the news, not to watch a reporter give free(?) advertising to a product I’m probably not interested in. That’s what commercials are for. But that might just be me being grouchy.

Today I’m writing about a product, but I’m not confident about the product or its concept. I’m not endorsing the product that I’m writing about. When I write about a product to endorse it, it will probably be a product that I created, and I’m uncomfortable even doing that. If I’m uncomfortable trying to get others to spend money on stuff that I created, I definitely don’t want to waste effort getting others to spend money on somebody else’s stuff.

According to Publishers Weekly , ebook subscription provider Oyster (which I had never heard of) has added a bunch of new publishers to its service. I’m not interested too much in the details. I am intrigued, though, by the concept of paying $9.99 a month for an “unlimited” number of digital titles. It’s kind of like Netflix, only with books. It’s an interesting idea, but I’m not sure it’s right for me.

First of all, Oyster and I might disagree slightly about the meaning of “unlimited.” Oyster says you have “unlimited access” to their books each month, but their selection is 500,000 books. That sounds like a limited number to me. I know I can’t read all 500,000 books, and I know that 500,000 books is a lot of books, but it isn’t “unlimited.” I’m pretty sure new books aren’t in Oyster’s selections, and that would put a limit on my usage. If there are millions of books out there, and Oyster has 500,000 books available, that’s less than 25% of books available, and that’s not really unlimited; it’s a good start.

The thing is, I get annoyed at people who use the same logic that I just used. I know exactly what Oyster meant when they said “unlimited.” You get “unlimited access” to their books. I know that. It’s clear in the article. That’s why the article used the phrase “unlimited access.” I probably shouldn’t obsess over the word “unlimited.” I don’t believe in  starting unnecessary arguments. Oyster used the term “unlimited access” correctly. I’m just guessing 500,000 books might mean the selection isn’t great for everybody.

$9.99 over 12 months means $120.00 a year. Yeah, I know that technically it would be $119.88 over a year, if I was completely literal and multiplied $9.99 by 12 instead of rounding up. I’m the type of person who estimates instead of doing precise math. If I were figuring this out on a spreadsheet, I’d use precise math, but I’m writing a blog post, so I’m estimating. If I were taking a test to get into (or out of) college, I’d use precise math and show my work, but I’m writing a blog post. When I write a blog post, I usually focus more on grammar, spelling, and punctuation than I do on precise math.

I also ramble sometimes.

Despite writing a blog about books, I don’t spend $120.00 a year on books. I don’t even spend $119.88 a year on books. So far this year, I have spent less than $30.00 on books, and I’ve read almost everything that I’ve desired to read. I bought two books at a used book store. I’ve read a bunch of free samples on my e-reader. I’ve purchased two really cheap books on my e-readers. And I’ve read a bunch of books from the public library. I can’t think of any book that I’ve wanted to read and haven’t been able to. My system works for me. At this rate, I’ll spend less than $75.00 on books this year.

However, this doesn’t include my daughters’ books. My daughters like new books, and I often buy them the new books they ask for because they usually read them. I spend between $20.00-$40.00 each month on new books for them. Maybe it would be worth it to get a subscription service so that my daughters could use it, but they don’t read digital books. They prefer real books. That’s great for the book publishers who might fear the possibility that young people will stop buying books. I don’t know if my daughters are an indication at all, but they don’t like digital books. They like tablets for games, videos, gossiping about each other, but they don’t like tablets for books. In a way, that’s too bad. They might have been able to save me a lot of money.

*****

But enough about me! How much do you spend on books each year? How much would you be willing to pay each month for unlimited books? Is a selection of 500,000 titles enough to justify the cost? Do the “youth” whom you know prefer real books or digital books?  You can tell me.  I promise not to share any information with Google or Facebook.