Plot Twist, Please

Kindle Book Prices Are OUT OF CONTROL… Is This the End of E-Reading??

• Susannah, Beth and Cass • Season 1 • Episode 32

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Kindle books were supposed to be the affordable alternative to physical books… so why are we suddenly paying hardcover prices for digital files we don’t even technically own?? 

Are Kindle prices officially out of control… and is this the beginning of the end for e-reading as we know it?

📚 Spoiler alert: this episode contains general book discussion only — no major book spoilers!
 ✨ Today’s cocktail: Wolf’s Blast Shiraz 
 🎧 Tune in, sip with us, and remember — keep your glass, your bookshelf, and your TBR full.

__________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to Plot Twist, Please – the ultimate bookish podcast for readers who love deep discussions, honest book reviews, and trending BookTok favourites. We talk fantasy books, romance books, thrillers, YA series, and everything in between whilst sipping on our favourite cocktails. From old favourites to the latest viral reads, we’re here for all the plot twists.

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INTRO 
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SPEAKER_05

If I'm gonna be able to get a book at 50% of the cost for a physical book from somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03

It's mental.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, I've noticed it else in like.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it just like shot up.

SPEAKER_03

I'm mad about it. Not happy about it. But if I want to read a book bad enough, I'm probably still gonna buy it. Yeah, like there's I can't justify that.

SPEAKER_06

No.

SPEAKER_03

I'm not spending that much money on a book.

SPEAKER_05

What are we paying for in that in that terms? Because you should be, if that money is going towards something, I want this book to be edited properly.

SPEAKER_03

If ebooks were always this expensive, do you think Kindle would have taken off the same way? No, no. No.

SPEAKER_06

It wouldn't have drawn people in. No. Cancelled immediately.

SPEAKER_04

100%.

SPEAKER_06

Welcome back to Plot Twist Squeeze, where you sit, flip, and spill the tea on books and booze. I'm Susanna. I'm Cass. And I'm Beth. And today we're talking about the absurdity of Kindle book prices. And let me tell you, I am heated because I have spent too much money on books recently because I read Kindle and I want to read and they're expensive.

SPEAKER_03

It's getting out of control.

SPEAKER_06

Before we get into it though, what are we drinking? Beth?

SPEAKER_05

So our drink of this episode is the Wolfblast Shiraz.

SPEAKER_03

Shiraz. We're not drinking my wedding wine this time. No worries. We didn't run out yet.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, I got the boob. We're just taking a brace, a brace, a break. What are we reading? I think we're all reading the same.

SPEAKER_06

We are for once. All at the same time. This kingdom will not kill me by Olona Andrews. It's our book club of the month book.

SPEAKER_03

So if you want to join us Join us reading it. Join our fable book club at Plotwist, please.

SPEAKER_05

Also, shout out to Clash of Claws. Book two just came out, Edge of Steel, and I've already finished it. So read it all.

SPEAKER_03

48 hours.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yep. Yep. Under 48 hours. How many pages was it? 405 pages. That's a feat. Wow. That's impressive. Gang. Yeah. I'm impressed with myself. But I'm also sad because right now the estimated date for book three, which is the final book, is April 2027.

SPEAKER_06

Oh my gosh. What are you gonna do? You're gonna reread them when like that's I think so, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I just I can't, unless they're like simple series, I don't think I could just wait that long. Like, yeah, all the heavy fantasy, I just can't.

SPEAKER_03

Did you pre-order Fury Bound?

SPEAKER_06

No.

SPEAKER_03

I did$12.99. Real cheap steal.

SPEAKER_06

I'll have to do that. It comes out in two days. I know. I'm excited. I'm not gonna be able to reread Iron Bound before I come out. No. This was actually my idea for a video because I was looking for our book club book to purchase because obviously it was coming up and I wanted to get it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And next month's book too.

SPEAKER_06

Oh yeah, and next month's book too. And this one was like$22.99 on Kindle. And this is Canadian, by the way. I know I posted on my YouTube community tab, and people were like, what are you talking about? It's only$14.99. I'm like, I'm Canadian, so it's way more.

SPEAKER_03

You get robbed here.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, and I was really upset because like I've always thought that Kindle prices are supposed to be the more affordable option. Yeah. Hence why I bought a Kindle in the first place, not just for the convenience factor, but also for the price factor. It's not that way anymore. It's the same price as if you were to buy a physical book. No, it's which physical books are cheaper. I did see that. Some of them are$20.$20.

SPEAKER_05

Listen to the lie. It was$7.99 at Home Sense.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. It was$20 at Coles when we were there. Coles is a bookstore in Canada.

SPEAKER_06

And how much was it on Kindle? Do you remember?

SPEAKER_03

I thought it was$16, maybe. Yeah, I think it was like$17. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Which isn't like as bad as the ones I've seen recently, but anything over$20 is craziness.

SPEAKER_05

To me, though, even like$16 and up is pretty expensive. Pricey for a digital copy. Yeah, like I'm not don't get to keep it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

You're not sending it to printing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You're just sending the digital thing to my Kindle.

SPEAKER_06

And you don't own the licensing of it either. So they could take it off Kindle. Yeah. Or whatever. And it's gone. Like you don't actually own it, even though you're buying it. Right.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Listen for the lie, which is our book of the month for April, or one of them, is$16.99 on Kindle.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I thought that.

SPEAKER_05

Um, you can get it at Book Outlet though for$11.99, but still, home sense was the was the best price.$7.99.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Crazy. So I slid into our Poit to a squeeze group chat with the three of us, and I was appalled. I sent them screenshots of these book prices, and I was like, are you kidding me? And so I was like, we need to talk about this because we're all pretty heated about it. Yeah. And uh yeah, so we're gonna talk about why Kindle books are so expensive now, what changed, who we think is responsible for that, and if this is gonna push everyone back to physical books or straight to the library.

SPEAKER_03

I also think it's more annoying because we all three of us pay for Kindle Unlimited on top of I'm already paying for books from you. Right. And a lot of authors are pulling out of Kindle Unlimited, which I think are we gonna dive dive in? We're gonna dive in.

SPEAKER_05

Also, I just checked. So the US to convert their$14.99 to Canadian is$21. Makes sense. Yeah. Wow, okay. So they should be just as angry as us. It's still ridiculous. It's still ridiculous.

SPEAKER_06

Because like they used to be like back in the day, I remember when they would be like less than$10 or like$4.99.

SPEAKER_03

Like$10. No, I think$12 was the tops I ever paid for Kindle books years ago.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, well, I think they marketed Kindle as a more affordable price and they said that they were never gonna go above like$10. Yeah. And then they obviously now look at them, went back on that. We have thoughts. Was there like a specific moment where you're like the Kindle prices are insane, or did you just kind of slowly see it like start it was a slow progression, I think.

SPEAKER_05

For me, I would say within the last three to five months. I would say, yeah, all of a sudden it seems because my biggest thing, I think, is that when I started reading, so many of the books I was reading was in Kindle Unlimited and series. And then you just got your Kindle not that long ago. Oh Ainsley's almost two.

SPEAKER_03

Was it two years ago?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and I got I got it around that right after she was born.

SPEAKER_03

Cause I'm just I feel like after COVID, like 21 is when I noticed like a slow increase in pricing.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I noticed like a slow increase, but over the last like I think three to five months when I've noticed I've noticed that also shot up.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah. Like, especially because like last year reading book one of a lot of series was on Kindle Unlimited. Yeah, and all of a sudden book two comes out. And then it's like you're like Between Two Kings was$9.99. Some other books are like, yeah, we're like$16.99.$16.99 seems to be like the standard price. Yeah. I find um even Kingdom of the Wicked, we did all three of those books. And I was so excited when book two was a dollar ninety nine.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I was like, yes, it's a steal.

SPEAKER_03

I'm finding the standard price now is$20.99. That's what I'm seeing.

SPEAKER_05

All the books, yeah, books that we've been looking at have been, yeah, like between$20 and$22.

SPEAKER_03

And I think part of that is too, like the books that we're kind of pivoting to. This is why we can't let you guys know ahead of time, is because we'll always like pick a book and then we'll see like one is trending. We're like, oh no, we need to hop on board. Yeah. So we'll pick that one. But I think it's because these books are trending that they're like, oh, more people are reading it. Up goes the price.

SPEAKER_06

I used to have this method of like, I'd go to shoppers or I'd go to Walmart or I'd see like a book I want to buy. Technically, physical books and hardcovers were more expensive. So I take a photo and then I'd come home and like look for it on my Kindled. I do that all the time. Um unlimited, or if it's in the store for cheaper. And then I come home and I'm just like, I should have gotten it at the dang store because like it's more money on my Kindle.

SPEAKER_05

Walmart is 25% off of the list price. Always? Yeah. So buy books at Walmart or HomeSet. But they don't, you're not always guaranteed to have what you want. Yeah, they're usually like it's usually like one little section. I think it's kind of new releases. Yeah. They don't really have a lot to choose from. Home Sense has a lot of books, but they'll only have one to three of that book.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Yeah. I noticed that their selection is pretty much always the same as well. Like I've been the last couple, like I went for to look for Listen for the Qui and there was none. And then I was just looking at a bunch of other checkout line. I did check there too. Yeah. Yeah. I thought maybe they'd have some more in there, but they did not bring any in. They have a lot of Emily Henry books, a lot of those like Wuthering Height special editions.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, they had all the spell shop ones when I was there. Their pricing is pretty good. That's actually, I got Avatar, the first three books from there.

SPEAKER_06

I got like a whole stack of books for like I thought it was such a steal. It was not a big thing.

SPEAKER_03

And they have some cute little um special editions too. Yeah, they're in there when you're looking. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. I will say up until recently, I didn't feel like I had to search of who had the best price. But now I feel like I'm right back to doing that again. Like, why do I have a Kindle?

SPEAKER_03

But that's just it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

If I'm going to be able to get a book at 50% of the cost for a physical book from somewhere else.

SPEAKER_03

It's mental.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. And like I've I used to do a lot of shopping through bookoutlet.ca, which like the issue with them is depending on the book, it can go really fast. Yeah. But like I remember like messaging you guys being like, because I did a big order with bookoutlet.ca and like I was getting like books to like$12.99,$9.99, and you guys were like, wow.

SPEAKER_06

So cheap. So what was like the last ebook price that made you go, yeah, I'm not gonna buy that?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I thought it was this one, but we bought we bought it. But we bought it.

SPEAKER_06

We bought it.

SPEAKER_03

And then well, the next one is a dollar more, and I'm still gonna buy that. So I don't think there's been one that's been mad about it. I'm mad about it. Not happy about it, but if I want to read a book bad enough, I'm probably still gonna buy it. I just not gonna be bad about it.

SPEAKER_05

I've also been searching, like if I know what books we're gonna be reading, I'll be like, is this one cheaper yet? Yeah, sometimes they go on sale for a day or two on Amazon.

SPEAKER_06

That's what I mean.

SPEAKER_03

Like the minute they're trending, yeah, they don't.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I've been um so annoying. There's been a lot of books in my TBR that aren't on Kindle Unlimited that do cost an arm and a leg. And because I knew we were buying like this one and then our next book club one, I have started looking for more Kindle Unlimited reads because I'm like, I can't keep going. Especially with the reading out reads.

SPEAKER_05

Like if it is under Kindle, you know what I mean? Like I've kind of done the same thing where it's like, okay, so all the books I'm gonna read for the rest of this month is all gonna be Kindle Unlimited.

SPEAKER_03

Kindle Unlimited. But I think like doing it that way is smarter if our book club of the month books are gonna cost a damn arm and a leg.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Yeah. I think the only books I'm gonna really buy is the rest of the Once Upon a Broken Heart series because I don't have the physical copies of those and I really want to read them.

SPEAKER_03

I thought you had the Oh no, you have Carival's physical copy.

SPEAKER_06

No, I have uh like the physical copy of the first book of Once Upon a Broken Heart, but Carival is all on my Kindle.

SPEAKER_03

Oh. So as we've already pointed out, Kindle originally was supposed to be a cheaper option for people because it was cost effective. You weren't getting the physical copies, you were saving space in your home, and that's not what happened. The whole appeal was it was supposed to be cheaper, easier, and it would be something that would help save space, unlike physical books, just download and read. And then something shifted. And I feel like people like us might be to blame.

SPEAKER_06

Well, Kindles are very popular now, especially on BookTalk, hence why we see like a lot of Kindle accessories and like Kindle charms and Kindle stands and clickers, and like it's become a whole phenomenon, the drives thing, you know. So I think people may mainly publishers and even Amazon are taking advantage of the fact that they know people will buy this stuff.

SPEAKER_03

I also feel like it's been a huge shift for people reading, is a lot more people are going with Kindle because it's so convenient. You can download a book wherever the hell you are. Say you finish a book at midnight, you want to get the second book. Guess what? Right there, click of a finger.

SPEAKER_06

You don't have to go out, you don't have to wait, go out, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03

Or libraries. Like, I don't know how you girlies do it, waiting for a book. I don't have that restraint.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, some girl said, uh, I think it was for this book, it was gonna take her 106 days to even she was like 106th in line waiting for a minute.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yeah, 106 in line, not even 106 days, probably way longer than that. So there's that. See you in two years, yeah. Right? Like you can find the chat in the archives, you'll have to dig down scroll very far down.

SPEAKER_03

So I think that books' sales for physical copies have gone down quite a bit because of that. Yeah, so they're trying to recoup in other ways. Yeah, and that's Kindle. But I think Kindle Unlimited, I think you told me this that the authors get paid per page read. Right.

SPEAKER_06

So Yeah, we'll we'll also get into that.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, we just this is the thing though, is that so I get the emails all the time that Amazon will have like, oh, all like so like these titles are all dollar ninety nine today or 99 cents, or at what point you're just like, yeah, whatever. I'm just going to if I'm gonna be paying for books anyways, I might as well just get rid of Kindle Unlimited and then just pay my 99 cents load up on a bunch of books.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, well, they have the stuff your Kindle days still, I think, too. Was the price the main reason that you guys started reading digital digitally?

SPEAKER_06

For me, I think it was more so like space because when I first got a Kindle, we lived in our air apartment and it was like very small. I only had I had two bookshelves, but they were crowded. So I got a Kindle for the space factor, also the cost factor, because I was into like I was doing Booksstagram back then. Yeah, and I was buying a lot of books, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So I also was not making it circle bookstagram again.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I I I was spending a lot more money than I was making. Yeah, so I was like, okay, I'm gonna just get a Kindle because it was cheaper, and yeah, it was back then. Yeah, um, I didn't have unlimited at that point, but it was still the more economical way to go. I started out with a Kobo.

SPEAKER_03

I might be switching to Kobo, so I can't just use it for that. I started out with a Kobo in 2013.

SPEAKER_05

Stamp Drew, I was gifted, and I can't remember if it was a Kindle or a Kobo.

SPEAKER_03

I think it was a Kindle, and I think I started because I just thought it was really cool. But it was one of the first editions technology.

SPEAKER_05

It was the first editions, and remember like being like, ew.

SPEAKER_03

Oh no, I was real books. Yeah. I'm pretty sure the only way you could buy books on the k the Kobos back then was you had to get the gift card, and then you put the code in, and then it uploaded onto the account, and then did it. That's a whole thing I know. That's that I aged myself. Yeah. But then I switched to the Kindle basically because when I moved out on my own, I obviously had lots of bills to pay on my own, and I was like, oh, this would be way more cost effective. And then here we are.

SPEAKER_05

For me, it was I joined your guys' book club. Yep, and I didn't want to keep buying so many physical books because I was running in places to put them. And then I would have always been such a fast reader, and so I like devoured books. Remember kind of looking like talking like Cheryl was like Kindle Unlimited wasn't worth it for her at that time because she's like, I don't read that many books in a month, and I was like, I do. Like yeah, it made sense.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Do we think that that was the actual promise that Kindle like Amazon Kindle made, or did we all just assume that it would remain cheaper?

SPEAKER_06

I think it was a part of their main advertising back then. I don't have facts, but I think that's what they were saying. Like it was more economical and more effects here if we research later. I probably won't.

SPEAKER_03

Probably won't.

SPEAKER_06

If you know, let us know. Yeah. But like they're supposed to be more environmentally friendly as well. You know, there are some people that will debate that. So yeah, I do think that they promised readers that this would be a more cost-effective way of enjoying our hobbies, and they whied about it.

SPEAKER_05

I will say that I used to, if I was desperate for book two, I would download it using Apple Books.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_05

Because you have like you have that option on like your so I'd download it to the book.

SPEAKER_03

That's how I downloaded 50 shades of grape.

SPEAKER_05

There was times too where like if a like a store didn't have the book or something like that, or whatever, like I had an issue finding it. I was just like, I'm just gonna like I need this, I'll download it. Yeah, that actually came in handy a couple times. My flight home from Portugal, they didn't I they didn't have TVs or movies on the plane. And I was like, what am I doing? But I had the Divergent series still sitting in my in iBooks, yeah. And so I was like, We're I guess we're rereading this. Perfect. And if I was like, thank goodness I had this just sitting there.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

So I was able to just read it on my on my if I don't remember if I had my iPad with me or if it was just on my phone. But and that was kind of the nice thing too, is like it was just with me.

SPEAKER_03

Next question. If ebooks were always this expensive, do you think Kindle would have taken off the same way?

SPEAKER_06

No, no, no, it wouldn't have drawn people in. No, cancelled immediately. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_03

Immediately. Do you feel like Kindle lost what made it appealing in the first place?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, they're starting to. I think they are starting to. Well, you're thinking of moving to a completely different company.

SPEAKER_06

Well, I think that because Cobo has Libby. Yeah, Libby. So you could get like a library card and then yeah. So that's the reason why I'd still keep my book.

SPEAKER_03

You still have to wait. So imagine having Libby wanting this book and you're 110th in line.

SPEAKER_06

I would like, I wouldn't do it for new releases. I'd do it for older books that I like don't want to buy, but also want to read. So I'd have like a system in place.

SPEAKER_03

But aren't some of the older books already on KU?

SPEAKER_06

I don't know. I haven't looked that far in. It was just not it was just talking just do some further reading. She's just thinking about it. Yeah, just thinking about it.

SPEAKER_05

I'm you know, I will say, like, I'm starting to get to the point where it's like I'm ready to just use this for Kindle Unlimited and then buying the books if you can find it cheaper outside.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, that makes more sense to me. It's just the space thing. I don't know if I can even do this here, but I thought about building like a little tiny library and putting it in my front garden so people can just like the three library? Yeah, that in this area. Yes. It might attract some readers. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

Or maybe say that when you buy like a really or you have like a really cute house in a nice neighborhood.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I'll do that. But I like your idea. There's three in like our immediate neighborhood that we kind of hit up. One does like a mix of adult and kids' books, the second one is like all kids' books, and then the third one's like all adult books. The tiny label. They're so cute.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, there's one in front of the church, like on the walk that we did with our dogs in our neighborhood.

SPEAKER_06

Do you have to just like grab one?

SPEAKER_03

I have friends who you did. Remember? It was um oh my gosh, what's that movie we once on?

SPEAKER_06

We've seen a lot of movies.

SPEAKER_03

Something OV. A man named Of A Man Called Ove. Oh man called OV. Yeah, that's where you got that from.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, okay. I know your mom had like a lot. Yeah. One by her house, too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I have friends of mine who run like little libraries and they have like legitimate like a full library in their basement, and they'll pull like seasonal books, things like that. Like they take it so seriously. I love that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Great idea.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Who is actually responsible? From what I've seen, a lot of people say that comes down to publishers setting the prices, not Amazon. Cass kind of blamed us.

SPEAKER_03

I crude well, like people in general.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, book talk coming after us, and we're trying to be on, we're trying to track the book talks.

SPEAKER_03

I'm just saying, like, I think it's because we a lot of people on book talk are all Kindle girlies. Not a lot, not all of you. But there's a lot of Kindle girlies.

SPEAKER_05

Now there have been lawsuits, uh, agreements, all like the behind-the-scenes stuff that's been going on because of all of this. Basically, like the control of it has shifted.

SPEAKER_06

Because it used to be like authors that would set their own prices, I'd say. Or, you know, the publishers would set them, but they'd be reasonable. And now publishers kind of have like the final say for some reason. So do you think it's publishers then?

SPEAKER_05

Or would you guys say it's Amazon?

SPEAKER_06

Well, Amazon's letting it happen. Amazon's letting it happen because it used to, I think Amazon used to set the price. I don't know how it used to work. I just know it used to be cheaper. I I think it's both.

SPEAKER_05

Amazon is an okay. Amazon is a greedy, greedy company, and I think it's seeing an opportunity for them to make more money. But I wouldn't be surprised if there's certain books that say publishers have come in and say, for this book, we want like say like a set amount. And so, say some of the books that are lower priced, maybe like the the set price that the publishers want is lower. Yeah, and then Amazon's adding their own cost on top of that.

SPEAKER_06

I mean, I wouldn't put it past them, yeah. Because you know, these publishers are using their platform to sell it, plus they're gonna be the ones that are shipping and like doing all this manual work if people order it from there. So um, yeah, I think it is a mix of both, unfortunately.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and I think too with some authors and whatnot, I wouldn't be surprised if publishers are like this this right now is costing us money, so we want to recoup that cost. Yeah, we're going to get it from everywhere. Right. What are we actually paying for at this point?

SPEAKER_03

This is the the million dollar question. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know. Maybe editors, the publishing houses, like their employees.

SPEAKER_03

Like I know it obviously some of it goes to the actual author, but us, what are we getting? Bethany.

SPEAKER_05

It's gone.

SPEAKER_03

What?

SPEAKER_04

I wasn't even that long. You were. It wasn't.

SPEAKER_06

You have longer tangents than me. Dang it. No, it's gone. Oh wow. Yeah, I think we're paying for employees and the the labor goes into actually creating the book. But like physically? Oh, I reminded me.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, so we've talked about this in previous episodes of editors and publishers and like how they're not doing their jobs. Yeah. What are we paying for in the in that terms? Because you should be, if that money is going towards something, I want this book to be edited properly. I want someone to come in and be like, because it's it's not just writing style, it's Like so many times I'm like, who the heck chose the layout for this book? And we even kind of we're talking about that for this book, which I'm really enjoying. I'm devouring this book, even with how wordy it is. It's very word dense. Yep.

SPEAKER_03

But I like it, and that says a lot.

SPEAKER_00

But this was determined to be a lie. DNF'd it only days later.

SPEAKER_05

Like we're looking at like, why is this in there? Like, you know what I mean? Like the like the like layout of it. Yep. Um, but we've talked about when it comes to like all the AI allegations for some of these these books, for Hailey Fam and for what's her name?

SPEAKER_06

Mia Boward.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Mia. Where are the editors in this? Where are the people who are going through saying like putting their notes and saying this needs to change, this needs to change, this. Yes?

SPEAKER_03

They're on they're on Chat GPT.

SPEAKER_05

That's where the editor is paying for Chat GPT. I'm paying for someone to actually use their brain. Susie? I want to tell the people my story.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, yes. Okay. Go on. Oh, speaking of chat GPT. Speaking of chat GPT. If you're in our book club, you've seen this story. You've seen this story. I'm not gonna out the author because he is an old man and I'd feel really bad. But Nate and I, we went to Cole's naturally, books, whatever. And there was this indie author who was signing copies of his book. I didn't go up to him. We were leaving the store. We didn't buy anything because the book I went for was not there. If anyone knows where Beneath is, please let me know. It's prequel to Conform by Ariel Sullivan.

SPEAKER_03

Is it not on Kindle? Oh, you have the physical copy of Conform.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, and he is on to do the physical. So on my way out, this guy comes up to me and he's like, Do you want a bookmark? And then I see, I'm like, sure. And then I see his name on there, and I'm like, oh, are you this person? And he's like, Yeah. So then he shuffles me over to his table, wraps me into his story about how his mom was in the Secret Service back in World War II. And I like historical fiction. So I was like, oh, like this sounds really cool. He was signing my book. He spelt my name wrong, by the way, even though I told him how to spell it. I told him my husband's writing a book. Does he have any tips? And he asked my husband, Do you use AI? And we're like, no, like we don't use AI because we're strictly against AI. And he's like, You should. And I was like, wait, what? You should. I was like, really? Very weird too, because he's an older man.

SPEAKER_03

You would think he'd be more old school.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. Especially like in the writing sphere. Yeah. But he's like, I got Chat GPT to render up my cover. Uh, you can take what you've written so far and put it into these different programs. He gave like three different programs, and it will like mimic your writing style and it will write the story for you. Ew. And Nate's, he's like, How much of your book have you written? And Nate's like, over half. And he's like, Oh, like that's yeah, take what you've written so far and then it can rest write the rest. I'm like, I walked away after that. And you know, he signed the book before he told me all this, and before I paid for it, by the way.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like you someone should have to pay for it before you just start signing it.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I would have also just left it. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_06

He put his name, her name in there. I I wasn't, I'm not the kind of person that would just be like, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_05

Beth definitely would have. She'd be like, Nate should have been, he should that's right. You need to marry the kind of person who would.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, they're both not like that.

SPEAKER_05

We're both Ty would be like, I still remember going out for dinner with a friend of mine, and she asked for just a plain burger, nothing on it, comes out, has ketchup. And she'll make it well, she's like, it's fine, I'll eat it. I was like, absolutely not. You said ketchup free. You said nothing. Yeah. And I think it was just like she wanted to put her own condiments, like she didn't want it too little, too less. Like she's like, I know, but she was like so embarrassed, and I was like, it's fine.

SPEAKER_06

I mean, my mom and my nana are like that, and it's they're embarrassing too extreme.

SPEAKER_05

They went in the other direction, they're huge.

SPEAKER_06

So I think that's why they're not like that.

SPEAKER_05

I'm there.

SPEAKER_06

I'm like very much a people pleaser, I'd like to say. I'm like your friend, I'm just like, it's fine. So I left, and I was just silent, and I just was like, and it's like, I know exactly what you're thinking. And then I went to the uh book club, a chat, and I had to tell people what I just went through because I spent$26 on this book that I will not read now.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's so annoying.

SPEAKER_06

Anyway, that's the end of my tangent. Um back to you.

SPEAKER_03

Just looked up Beneath on here. Okay. How much should we pay for Conform?

SPEAKER_06

$16.99.

SPEAKER_03

$18.99 for Beneath. What? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Conform just came out basically, too. So why is it so much? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

This is what we mean.

SPEAKER_06

This is what we mean.

SPEAKER_03

This is what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_05

This is what we're talking about. This is the this is it. Really annoying. So I think we can all agree that ebook prices do not feel justified. No, like not at all. I know I still buy some books. You definitely still buy books. Yeah. You've got your trophy books and whatnot. I buy none. You buy none. But between the three of us, like we're a little bit of everything. Yeah. Um, so it's not like they aren't getting physical out of us, even with being on Kindle Unlimited.

SPEAKER_06

Yep. I do think like more people are going the digital route, and I think the publishing houses don't really want that. They're catching on. They're catching on. So they're trying to make it almost impossible for people to read on Kindle to almost go back to physical book sales for some reason.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but that's why they're cheaper. Like you see in like indigo and all that stuff. It's like there's a whole section of like they're mainly paperback, but there's also some hardcovers that are just 20 bucks.

SPEAKER_06

And I will note, I was telling Nate this the other day, like the when we were at Kohl's, the paperbacks that are being produced now, they feel so cheap. Like so cheap.

SPEAKER_05

Now, the one thing I will say is that in recent years I have noticed that book prices have gone insane.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And now I don't know if that's because people have gone more digital and they're trying again, trying to like recoup costs on things, but that's part of the reason of why I started being like, maybe because I was against digital. Like I said, like I was gifted like an e-reader years ago. Um, you've tried to get me over to Kindle for years, and I was like, no, I like my books. Um, and even like so, when I would download books on two iBooks, I would still go out and buy the physical copy of that book. Does it feel wrong? Well, especially because like a lot of times it was like the second or third book in the series, and I was desperate for it. And I just like I was just like, I just I need it right now.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And then, but I still, but then I already had the other books, the physical copies, so I'm like, I'm gonna go. And then some books, especially if I'd already had the physical copies, I would reread. Right. So I wanted all three books I could reread.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But one of the things, like part of it was like I was reading so many books, I can get through so many books so fast, and spending the money that they want. I used to like me and my sister used to live at indigo. We were there at least twice a week.

SPEAKER_03

You and I used to go a lot too.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, like anyone who's like, You want to go to indigo? Starbucks, books.

SPEAKER_03

Now when I go to indigo, it's not for the books, it's for the Starbucks.

SPEAKER_04

No, or for the apparel and the cops, the mugs, yeah, the home decor.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They do have some cute stuff. Yeah, they do. But yeah, book prices have gone insane.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, like hardcovers in Canada now are around like 50 bucks sometimes.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, or more, or more, yeah. We have seen them at like$58.99, and I'm just like, yeah, like there's I can't justify that.

SPEAKER_06

No, I'm not spending that much money on a book.

SPEAKER_05

At that point, might as well just light my money on fire. Yeah, right. Exactly. I do my own. Don't even get me onto gas. At what point does it start to feel a little ridiculous? This is the point.

SPEAKER_03

The end.

SPEAKER_05

What she said. But I'm so torn because well, I'm so torn because if I go into the store, they want$58.99 for this book. But then I go online and they're like$22.99. I know.

SPEAKER_03

But like I said, there's so many books that are$20 right now.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. It's the hardcovers that get you in the price for physical books, but paperback and digital are the same.

SPEAKER_05

Well, even like when we were talking about it, like Cass was like, okay, like at what point you do you just not buy a book? And I'm like, unless you guys make me, I'm not buying this book. And you're like, well, the next two books we have to buy them.

SPEAKER_06

But Nate, I was telling Nate, he's like, well, it looks like you're gonna have to switch to a different hobby. And he was full-blown serious. I was like, what do you mean?

SPEAKER_04

Like, I what hobby can replace reading from an author? Yeah, an aspiring author. Stupid.

SPEAKER_03

That is an actual blasphemy. Yeah. Hey Nate, get bent.

unknown

Why?

SPEAKER_04

You know why. You know what you've done. Come here for a second. You're making a cameo.

SPEAKER_02

A few moments later.

SPEAKER_04

Choose Mike, any mic.

SPEAKER_03

Um, what kind of nerve do you have as an aspiring author telling your wife as a book influencer to get a different hobby?

SPEAKER_01

I didn't tell her to get a different hobby.

SPEAKER_06

When we were talking about the prices of book, whatever, how convenient you forget. You told me. You told me. Looks like you're gonna have to get another hobby.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_06

Oh my lord.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, as a joke, when every single book you're like on Kindle is like$21.99,$22.99, she finish it in like three days and move on to another one, buy another one, even though she has Kindle Unlimited, paying$12 a month for that,$22.99. Three days later,$23.99. Another three days later,$24.99.

SPEAKER_03

Hey, guess what? They're all write-offs now, though.

SPEAKER_01

Write-offs doesn't mean the money magically appears back in your bank account. Shit's creek! Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

You've seen that clip.

SPEAKER_02

Please play the clip here. Oh, that's a write-off. That's a write-off? Yeah. Do you even know what a write-off is? Uh yeah. It's when you buy something for your business and the government pays you back for it. Oh. And who pays for it? Nobody. You write it off. Who writes it off? I don't know. The govern the write-off people. It's so funny.

SPEAKER_03

It is hilarious. That's exactly it. Nate, everyone. This is my brother, my husband.

SPEAKER_05

And that that is the episode in a nutshell. So thank you for coming.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for joining us on this episode.

SPEAKER_06

Okay, so now that he's gone, I can get into this without having to prevent myself. So this is the part that I kind of told you guys at the beginning, but you don't even own the book when you buy it on Kindle. So when you buy a physical book, it's physically yours. It's on your shelves. You can lend it out, you can sell it if you want. Um, you can throw it in the garbage.

SPEAKER_03

Petition to be able to share books on Kindle.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Like even for a small fee. Even if I was paying$12.99,$16.99,$20.99 for a book. I had the physical copy that I could give to someone, be like, you should read this book.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I knew for sure, at least like my mom or my sister or Cass or someone would get to read the book as well. And then I could keep it and I could read it again if I wanted to.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

And I you, I mean, you could read download on Kindle, but you can't give it to someone unless you're like, here, borrow my Kindle for a week. I know.

SPEAKER_03

No, I'm this is like a it's like a third arm.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I take mine everywhere. Same. If I don't have it, I have Kindle on my phone.

SPEAKER_03

Actually, you do take it everywhere. Insert video of Susie at a concert two weeks ago.

unknown

I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_05

I just didn't like the opener, okay? Oh the opener was brutal. Terrible. Some people really liked her and she has like a good following, but paldi, however. Liscopaldi was a king. So then the king of men.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, physical books, but then you have Kindle when you're just literally buying access. It's a license, not the actual ownership of the book. So you're paying full price for something that could technically be taken away.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

If I'm paying premium prices for a book at this point, let's be real, they are premium prices. I want full ownership. I don't want them to just magically disappear off my Kindle like without me noticing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

The other thing is it feels like can so Kindle Unlimited itself feels like a library.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

But you're but you're so but you're paying for that library. And because you're like return to library.

SPEAKER_06

I hate that. It only lets you do 10 at a time. Do you know how many books I download from Kindle Unlimited? I know.

SPEAKER_03

Because if I don't, I'm gonna forget it. They're like, oh, add to list. No, I'm gonna forget I have a list. Yeah, let me just put it in my library. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so like you, it's almost like you have this library that you have to pay for, and then they have this very expensive online bookstore. I know. Does that change how you guys feel like when you spend money on them?

SPEAKER_06

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

It makes me mad, but I'm still gonna do it. It's true. You're like the vast majority.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I won't.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, she will.

SPEAKER_05

I always said, unless it's like a book club book, I honestly probably won't. Don't look at me. Oh.

SPEAKER_03

I like that.

SPEAKER_05

You're so stuck.

SPEAKER_04

I just bought it. I was like, oh, that's a cute, right? Your toe last episode. Well, she's flinging her hand around.

SPEAKER_03

I don't wear jewelry that often, so I think you're like, well, yeah, that's what it is. If there's a new piece of jewelry, I'm like, hold on a minute.

SPEAKER_05

I still have to get size though. It's emerald and diamonds.

SPEAKER_06

I like that. Nice. I bought it in Scotland. So let's say you bought the book and you own the f- On Kindle. Yeah, on Kindle, and you own the file forever, but the prices were more than they are now. Would you still spend the money or would you go to physical?

SPEAKER_05

See, I just think it's not that I would completely say no to a book. I think I would either sit on it for a bit and see if the price drops, or I would start like I would start looking at like my different book outlets that I I look at and things like that and start looking at different options rather than just being like, yeah, whatever else, pay it. Whereas at you're a more of a yeah, whatever else, pay it.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

She's just like, I hate it, but I'm still not about me.

SPEAKER_03

I hate it about me, but like just it's what it is, you know.

SPEAKER_05

You justify spending so easily. Easily. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That's justifying. I help justify everyone at once.

SPEAKER_06

I was just saying, you're a bad one. The road is new. That thing on the back of your phone is new.

SPEAKER_03

This road is new?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, your new whiff gloss contraption on the back of your phone is new.

SPEAKER_03

I've had this gloss. I have two glosses. These I've had for a while. However, that is new, yes.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. And then you're telling me to go to Aries website because they have 30% off sale.

SPEAKER_03

I just got a notification. I thought you'd know what you're doing. Yeah, but you know how much trouble I get. Your phone is so heavy. My phone is holy crow! Take that off. It's still heavy. Like these phones are. It said it's still heavy. I do think we need to talk about the accessibility side because this isn't just about convenience. Ebooks and devices like the Amazon Kindle have made reading way more accessible for a lot of people. You can change font size, use text to speech. You can carry multiple books without physical strain.

SPEAKER_05

Oh yeah. Well, even I talked about this again in the genuine diverse episode about all the stuff I would have to shove into my diaper bag, or like if I was like when because my OB was through the hospital, like I would have to go, but I'd be like carrying one or two books in my purse. Yeah, and it was like, I'm like, after I got the Kindle, I so wished I had this for all of my hospital visits, especially because like the one day their system went down and was there for so long. It's so annoying. Yeah. And I was like, if I had my Kindle that I could have just easily like been slipping in places and like would have been golden. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Question time. Do you think higher ebook prices could make reading less accessible for view for people? Absolutely. Definitely.

SPEAKER_06

Not everyone can afford 20 bucks every like, let's say you're an avid reader, you read maybe two books a week. With the way the prices are now, if you're not using Kindle Unlimited and they're over 20 bucks, that's$40 per week. Times that by two, four, six, eight. Beth, how much is it?

SPEAKER_05

You're looking at about$170,$167.92. Just for books. On top of rent, groceries gas. Usually that's before any tax as well.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, don't get me started on tax.

SPEAKER_06

And for people, I feel like you do rely on the Kindle service for accessibility, whether they're disabled and they can't work or they have a disability that would prevent them from being able to make a little income.

SPEAKER_05

It's interesting. So I've one thing I've seen a lot that people will say is that they're on a fixed income. Yeah. Whether that's welfare or disability or whatever, or you know, maybe whatever's going on in their life, like they can only work for so long, or they've lost their job, but it's still, you still need that escape. You still need that time for yourself. I'm not the breadwinner in my relationship right now because I'm home taking care of the kids. I'm my job is stay-at-home mom.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. Pays zero. Yeah. Hey, zero, zero dollar. Stress 100%. Time off, none. So if you have, you have like a very small budget to be working within.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

That's a lot.

SPEAKER_03

So this kind of ties into what we've already sort of talked about, but have ebooks made reading easier for you personally in any way?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I'd say like I get to take my Kindle where with me wherever I go on drives to your parents' house, family get togethers, on the go train, on the go on there for a while, at a concert once. At a concert, reading in bed as well.

SPEAKER_03

Like I so much easier. So much easier. I brought it to the Raptors game. Uh when you take it to the beach, it's they're well, most of them are water resistant, so you don't have to worry about paper. Reading a good old paperback paperback at the beach.

SPEAKER_04

Your kids paperbacks can get wet.

SPEAKER_03

Come over all willy-nilly out of the water, and you're sitting there reading your paper book and they just go splash everywhere. Especially Ainsley. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

She'll be like, mine wet hands. Oh, she does that all the time.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah. I like the fact that all the books I read have the same font and the same size. Whereas when I read physical books, they're all different layouts. Yeah. I don't know, it's an ick of mine. So I like the fact that it's all the same, as well as like I'm kind of blind, even with my glasses.

SPEAKER_03

You can customize things way easier.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, I have my font set to like size six, where yours is like the font at the lowest it could go, I think is one.

SPEAKER_05

Is that what it's at?

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I couldn't read that. Oh, if I had to even when I would go up to two, that is a it's a huge jump. Put yours up to six.

SPEAKER_06

That's what mine's at.

SPEAKER_05

I'm gonna do it and I'm gonna be disgusted.

SPEAKER_06

Is yours actually at one?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, it's the lowest it can go. If it could go lower, I would make it.

SPEAKER_04

And she has lower the smallest Kindle ever. What is mine at?

SPEAKER_05

This is mine. It's just a wee size one. No. If they had a zero or a minus one, I'd be really happy with that. Bethany. If I had to go up to a gosh.

SPEAKER_04

You're at six? I'm at six. Oh my gosh. What's it look like on yours? So this is a six. Yeah, that's normal.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's normal.

SPEAKER_04

I like that. Wait, what am I at? What are you? 50? Yes.

SPEAKER_06

Some would argue, yes. All right. And then mine's at a five. Okay. This is one. I could not do that. I'm sorry. That's too much. No wonder you read so much. You read that.

SPEAKER_03

That's like this. Mine's a five. It's a healthy font.

SPEAKER_05

That I would say is normal. Oh, it goes up to 14. That's disgusting.

SPEAKER_03

But that's good for people that have like eyes.

SPEAKER_06

I make you think a four is normal if you buy a book. But for people who are have some like vision problems. Vision issues would probably be. It's good for them.

SPEAKER_04

Examine it's an option at least, you know? Please tell Beth she's insane. Come join me.

SPEAKER_05

Just tell her off the phone.

SPEAKER_06

And my oneness will support you. I'm number one. I'm number one. You're just trying to make up for being a loser last episode. When I was designing the designing the thumbnail, I actually put loser on your forehead. Nope, I should have left it.

SPEAKER_05

I took it in the would have been held in the business. Just so you guys know, I finished seven books last month. So I didn't let number four ride me too hard. To be the same as Cassandra would be so disappointing.

SPEAKER_03

I bet five. I got five at least. You know what face I just saw in my head, that Kevin Hurt one where he's like, you know the one? Where he's like, he sucks his teeth. Yeah, that's me. Does this impact self-published authors more? I don't know. I'd say so. Probably. If people are not gonna buy their books on Kindle, is this something that we think publishers should be taking more seriously? I think so.

SPEAKER_06

I think so, but at the same time, I think it's something that they're planned. Like they plan to do this. They know what they're doing. So they're not gonna take it seriously because this is part of their scheme.

SPEAKER_05

End of the day, it always comes down to money. Whether it's Amazon or whether it's publishers, it's gonna be everything. Yeah, gas is gonna be money.

SPEAKER_03

Don't say that word, Susie.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Come back for a different episode on gas prices.

SPEAKER_03

On gas prices.

SPEAKER_05

No, that's actually that should be your channel. Or we have been talking about doing memberships and doing extra content for the memberships. I was gonna put that in.

SPEAKER_03

I was gonna ask, I was gonna ask the viewers on like YouTube on our community tab and in our book club if memberships was something you guys would be interested in for extra bonus.

SPEAKER_05

We would do extra, yeah, bonus content, things like that, but maybe we would talk about stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so we could do lives. Um come join us on this discussion. Yeah, there was a viewer that mentioned like because we don't really talk about our book club of the month books in depth anymore because we just found they weren't hitting with people that weren't reading them.

SPEAKER_05

People yeah, so how we started our episodes was that we would do the books we were reading, but people didn't want to watch the episodes until they read the books. But then we also we have such a high follower count who do libraries and they do have quite a weight. Yeah. Yeah. So some of them would be like, Oh, I have to wait until I can read this book and then I'm gonna watch your episode. Then we tried changing the episode of trying to doing it as like a spoiler-free this is why you should read this book.

SPEAKER_06

But again, like they just don't hit us hard.

SPEAKER_03

So we could there was so a or one of our viewers said, Have you ever thought about doing like Zoom calls for people that have read your book asking them to join in on a zoom call? So that could be something we could include. Let us know. Let us know in the Interested. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

I was on book threads and this post from Meg, Megan loves reading. She said, not gonna lie, seeing authors say they're leaving Kindle Unlimited is actually really depressing. Kindle Unlimited is the only way I can afford to read on a fixed income, and books are literally my escape. So this hits way harder than it probably should. If you're an author planning to leave KU, please drop your books below so I can avenge as many as I can before they're gone. And I was like, I didn't know a lot of authors were leaving Kindle Unlimited, so I looked into it.

SPEAKER_05

There has become a bit of a stigma when it comes to KU and the KU authors. You've got like this group of people who hate on not just the KU authors, but KU readers. I know. Drives me insane. And to me, it's just it's just an easy way, no matter where you are and your writing journey, to get your book out there.

SPEAKER_03

Well, and not only that, reading is subjective. So what you think is not good, a lot of people enjoy.

SPEAKER_05

So like let's not yuck others' yums, because Zodiac.

SPEAKER_03

Cast.

SPEAKER_06

I'll yuck her yum though, because whatever. Tempest and tea leaves, that whole series, this the saga legacy or whatever, those are all on Kindle Unlimited too. And they're fantastic.

SPEAKER_03

There's a lot of great books on Kindle Unlimited. One Dark Window, we just found out is on Kindle Unlimited. Great. Clash of Claws.

SPEAKER_06

Fantastic.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

I do think you should go.

SPEAKER_03

Stop shitting on KU.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, there's a lot of really good books on KU. So I don't see why there is stigma there. But when I looked into it, apparently a big reason some authors are starting to leave Kindle Unlimited or pull their books off entirely comes down to how they actually get paid. Which reading this, I was actually really disappointed. So with KU, authors aren't paid per book like a normal sale, but they're paid per page read. And that rate is so tiny. Usually around 0.004 to 0.005 cents per page. Depending on the month. Wow. That's insane. So let's say we're reading a 300-page book. Even if someone reads the entire thing, the author is only making$1.20 to$1.40 per reader.

SPEAKER_05

This is actually sad because some of the books that I have read have been so good. And I would have paid more than that to read it. Agreed. At least$10. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Well, that's why a lot of people were saying, like, if you have a book you like on KU, buy it so you can support the author. And that's only assuming that they actually finished the book. So if they don't, the author only gets paid half or however much they've actually read.

SPEAKER_03

I do know a lot of people though that will read the book on KU and they loved it so much they go and buy the physical content. I don't think that as like a trophy.

SPEAKER_06

I've done that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. A lot of people do that. So it's like Sophie. Or Sophie.

SPEAKER_05

Susie is definitely our trophy. I took Susie and put trophy.

SPEAKER_06

Oh. Which I used to kind of Because they're a trophy collector. Yeah. I used to criticize stuff like that, especially when I was first starting commentary content. But like now that I've gotten more into reading, I can understand like if you really like a book, why not get the trophy? Like a lot of book talk people do that. They'll buy special editions of the books they've read. There's obviously some weeway in that. Like there's things that I will criticize a little bit. But like if I really like a book, Nate will go out and buy me a special edition. You Bobby.

SPEAKER_05

And I mean I mean, really for anyone. Like I said, like I have it where I've I've desperately wanted to read the next book and I downloaded it and then I ended up buying it anyways.

SPEAKER_06

And like the One Dark Window special editions, Nate got me that both books for Christmas. And I have them on display because it's like it says something about you you are as a person. The sprayed edges would get me for sure. Yeah, they're pretty beautiful.

SPEAKER_05

Most people I have them on the table.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Or they'll put them facing out. So you don't even have the book in the title.

SPEAKER_06

So on top of that, the payout fluctuates every month because it comes from a shared global fund split between all authors on the platform. So it's not even the same. And what ends up happening is authors are locked into an exclusivity deal with Amazon, which means that they can't sell their books anywhere else. Okay. Earning relatively low amounts per reader and competing in an oversaturated system where their income can change month to month. So for some authors, especially those who aren't getting a lot of massive page reads, it doesn't make financial sense with the time that goes into writing a book, editing, getting hiring an artist to design the cover if you're doing it right. So they've opted to leave Kindle Unlimited, which I don't really blame them after finding this out to go wide on other platforms.

SPEAKER_05

See, like I always knew that they got paid paid like per page, but I was thinking it was like I thought it was higher than that. Like five to twenty-five cents per page, depending on popularity.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. It should fluctuate. Like YouTube does that.

SPEAKER_06

They they do, yeah. It depends on the the quarter and to how uh much advertisers are willing to pay for your videos. So anyway, that's that's that. And it's really unfortunate, and that's kind of why I'm like, maybe I should buy the books, but at the same time, I can't afford. So there's like almost this weird like disconnect between like authors who need to earn a living, readers who can't afford to like buy books for 20 bucks every time.

SPEAKER_03

But even you've said you will read a physical book and you miss reading from your Kindle.

SPEAKER_06

Because it's just the convenience factor, yeah. Yeah, it feels it feels weird now. And my hands like they get really achy. Yeah, mine do too because I'm old as crap now. The carpal's. Oh my gosh, stop. I feel old. I literally had to go walk in my walking pad today, this morning, because my joints were stiff. Uh bringing it back. Let's go.

SPEAKER_05

Does this mean we're just going to be buying physical books? No. No. I don't have the space. I'm probably gonna be the one here to say yes. I could see myself going back to physical books.

SPEAKER_03

And the ebook and paper book are basically the same price. What are you choosing? Ebook. Ebook. Saves me the gas.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, gas and space. Yeah. 100%.

SPEAKER_05

But I will be looking at that though. Whereas before I probably wouldn't have.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_05

If it's two dollars cheaper to go with a paperback and have to drive there, I probably would do it.

SPEAKER_03

But you're gonna drive there and pay gas.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but I'll probably get other stuff while I'm there.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, I guess.

SPEAKER_05

So the gas price gets Oh, this whole episode is us complaining about the Kindle prices, but we're still gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_05

For now. For now. We're still gonna do it for the most part. For now. Yeah. But we can be mad about it. There are there are limitations. I feel like my limitations that doesn't mean we can't be mad about it. My limitations are here. Susie's here, and Cass is like up here. As like I'm not reading a physical book ever. Cass pays for convenience.

SPEAKER_06

I do. So a good thing about this whole debacle is that it might actually push people towards libraries.

SPEAKER_05

So I don't know, because the comments from our library goers.

SPEAKER_03

No, and that makes that deters me even. 106 in line. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like I'm gonna take up uh Nate's suggestion and just go with the whole new hobby.

SPEAKER_03

I wouldn't even do that.

SPEAKER_05

I'll still May I suggest video games. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

May I suggest staring at the paint dry? Okay, well, you guys answered my questions, so I'm not gonna even ask any. On to you, Cass. You guys answered all my questions. Oh, really? One single sentence. No way, Jose. That's true.

SPEAKER_03

That's it. I feel like this is actually pushing people into something else. Because if ebooks are getting this expensive, what are people doing instead?

SPEAKER_04

Staring at the wall.

SPEAKER_06

Watching, playing video games, watching.

SPEAKER_03

No, but video games are stupid expensive too.

SPEAKER_06

$80 for but they take you a longer time to get through.

SPEAKER_05

But do you do you think like, are you suggesting that Amazon is trapping us?

SPEAKER_04

100%.

SPEAKER_05

Probably. Like they're trying to push us. But what but that's the part that's hard after having the discussion is Amazon trying to push us into the KU trap. But then all these authors. All these authors are like, we know.

SPEAKER_06

Kindle Unlimited, yes. I'm gonna still keep paying for Kindle Unlimited. Same unless there's more authors that are dipping out, like that I really enjoy.

SPEAKER_05

Then I probably won't. There's a line that's there, and we're not on the other side of that line. I think you're still saving some money on Kindle Unlimited. We're like, ooh, guys, we're getting really close to that line. We're still saving. I'm no longer happy here.

SPEAKER_03

The money to keep us there.

SPEAKER_04

But saving is relative.

SPEAKER_05

That's true.

SPEAKER_06

That's true. And I probably will only actually buy books that I'm really wanting to read that aren't on there.

SPEAKER_03

But do we feel like Kindle Unlimited is a good deal, or is it an illusion?

SPEAKER_05

For me right now, it is still a good deal because I read so much a month.

SPEAKER_06

It's only$10.99, right?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

So I read a lot of books on Unlimited that actually I'm getting more for my money, I'd say.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. I typically, other than our book Club of the Month picks, I typically am reading more Kindle Unlimited books for the rest of them.

SPEAKER_05

I am still surprised at some books that are on Kindle Unlimited that I'm like, oh hello.

SPEAKER_03

There's a lot of good books on Kindle Unlimited.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Do you feel like you read what you want on Kindle Unlimited or what's just what's available? Uh depends. Both, I would say. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it depends.

SPEAKER_03

And then do we think this is slowly turning into a Netflix situation where we don't actually own anything? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and we can't even we can't share anything with anyone. I know. It's already.

SPEAKER_03

Well, actually, Netflix changed that, didn't they?

SPEAKER_05

That they went back on it because so many people canceled their.

SPEAKER_03

People were pissed.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah. They did hold out for quite a while. I thought that they were gonna, I thought they were gonna turn around faster and they actually held up. They're standing on business. Yeah, they were. They're like, no, we ain't going back on this. And then they're like, we're losing money.

SPEAKER_03

It just reminds me of Justin Bieber. They're not clocking it. I'm standing on business. Yeah. What's not clocking to you?

SPEAKER_06

Closing question for you guys. Are prices going to keep going up? Are people going to push back? Or are we all just going to slowly accept it like Cassandra? Let us know what you think. She's not even slow. She's just accepting it.

SPEAKER_03

I'm all no, I'm not even slowly.

SPEAKER_04

I've already accepted it.

SPEAKER_03

I've said I'm going to be mad about it, but I'm still gonna pay it. Yeah, that was pretty quick.

SPEAKER_04

But if you're still paying it, that's just you accepting it.

SPEAKER_03

That's what I'm saying. I'm gonna be mad.

SPEAKER_04

I'm gonna be one of the ones that push like pushes back. Oh, I'm gonna complain, but I'm still gonna do it.

SPEAKER_06

I'm gonna slowly accept it, I think, at this point. It might change. Bookoutlet.ca, here I come.

SPEAKER_03

Susie, you're a little bit more like me.

SPEAKER_06

No, yeah, not. Yeah, you are. You're just really good at influencing people. You're like a really good influencer.

SPEAKER_04

You could sell anything. Could I though? I don't know. Yeah. Now it's time for Lines Beloved.

unknown

Ooh. Oh.

SPEAKER_06

You guys left me out to dry there.

SPEAKER_04

That Beth, Beth, you left her right out to dry every week. Wow. You leave us out to dry every week. But that's it. I can't have a dry week.

SPEAKER_05

Consistently lame. Consistency is key.

SPEAKER_03

Mine is from Hunted by the Demon's Vow by Ann Cottle. Okay. Page 308. She had every part of me, even if she didn't know it. I gave her everything. Not just in pieces, but all of me. My body was hers to command, bending to her touch and will. My heart, scarred and scorching, was hers to keep or shatter. And carved into my blood and bones, my vow now belonged to her.

SPEAKER_04

Is it dual POV? Uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That was very poetic.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, that was so good!

SPEAKER_03

Guys, that book, don't sleep on it. It's so good.

SPEAKER_06

Mine is from Deals and Dream Spells by Rachel Morgan, book two in the charmed leaf legacy series. Okay. Page 252. He turned her hand slowly, then brought it to his mouth. He kissed the inside of her wrist, soft, lingering, a whisper of heat against the fragile flutter beneath her skin. He heard the quiet inhale of her breath, but she didn't pull away. Tell me when to stop, he murmured in a low tone, lips grazing over her skin. That was nice. Right? Give me the goose pump. What do you call them?

SPEAKER_03

Goose pimples?

SPEAKER_06

And this is closed door too. So like the urine is good and it gives you that spice without being like super explicit.

SPEAKER_03

Hunted by the demon's vow is pretty closed door until like the last few chapters, and then it's got some spice, but it's wide open. It's still really good though. Yeah. Like not, yeah. Okay. I don't know. It's just I will add it to my list at some point. Just read it. It's like, I don't know, real good.

SPEAKER_05

What do you got, Beth? I'm actually gonna do two. So the first one is from so it's Cleanlands in New Zealand, page 124. He probably Googled, where can I make Grandmactavas shit himself on a zipline? I'd always loved zip lines. I'd never been fearful of them. Sam, you fool. But that was before I encountered a zipline fashioned by Satan. So he legitimately laughed out loud at a couple of them in here. And then the second one is from page 216. Sam had announced that he was going to join me on the swing. And as I'm sure you can understand, this did not reassure me. The equivalent of Jeffrey Dahmer saying, You must come over for dinner. Almost. That's good too. Right? Yeah. So that is uh that is. Yeah, so that is the end of my Clanlian's journey. About time. Yep. Yeah. The end. I will say that Sam during the writing of this book was single and looking. And I am very upset.

SPEAKER_03

Now he's with a girl that has a kid. Yep. Beth at that time was also married and looking.

SPEAKER_04

Two kids.

SPEAKER_05

I'm not looking at Sam.

SPEAKER_04

I also was nowhere near New Zealand, but married and looking at Sam.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know if I told you guys this, but Nate was playing the Uncharted series with Nathan Drake. It's like a video game series. I know it's Graham McTavish voices some of the bad guys. Doesn't he?

SPEAKER_05

He does a lot, actually, a lot of um of video games.

SPEAKER_06

So I heard the voice I'm reading, and I just look up and I'm like, Graham!

unknown

Graham!

SPEAKER_05

Graham!

unknown

Papa?

SPEAKER_06

Papa? He's like a daddy, but he's an old daddy.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah, daddy Google.

SPEAKER_06

He's a papa. Anyway, so that was really cool. And that's it. But, anyways, that's all we got for you guys. That's it. Enjoy. Goodbye. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at Black Twist Pleased Pod, or also anywhere you can get your podcast. So make sure you're following or subscribed so you never miss an episode. If you love this one, hype us up a little. Leave us a comment, drop a rating or review, and tell us what you would like us to read next.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you so much for joining us on this episode.

SPEAKER_05

And as always, keep your glass, your bookshelf, and your TBR full. Cheers