In the bookshop, opinions needed.....

[leaserspottedmummybird]

Okay. I'm not nc because this is not a personal or intimate issue.

Just wondering. The book I want to buy in Waterstones is £16.99 BUT amazon have it for £9.

Books are so expensive in general but I really want a treat for myself ( it's a cookbook so of benefit to all the family really)

I'm heading to get some lunch and going back to Waterstones later. What do you all think?
AIBU to want to get the book cheaper online? Or should I support a bricks and mortar bookshop? It's not as though they are a struggling independent bookshop and we are on a budget.
Thanks all.

I did this yesterday in Waterstones. I bought a hardback book that I know is cheaper in Amazon (and I have Prime), but it’s one of the best shops we have in our mall and the staff are really nice, so I’m happy to.

It has rattled my chain because it is always the wealthier lecturing to others. I buy Ecover and other green products to help the environment. That is my limit.No I can’t afford farm shop meat,milk delivered in glass bottles,new full price books......

Yes many of us do like paying less because we earn less.

Without browsing Waterstone's latest, I wouldn't have a clue about new books out. I spend ages in there reading every blurb then buy one or two paperbacks. I usually spend my book tokens in there. Don't buy books from Amazon, read the reviews though and leave my own. Mainly use the library.

It has rattled my chain because it is always the wealthier lecturing to others.

With the absolute greatest of respect, One, you have no idea about my financial situation.

I can't afford farm shop meat or new full price books.

I just don't buy much meat. Or new full price books. At the same time, when I do buy meat it is free-range (although usually from a supermarket not the butcher) and when I do buy books most of the time it is not from Amazon - I am not perfect, however!

I am not lecturing anyone. I am just saying we all make choices, but even if your choice is to keep on using Amazon, other choices are available. If you like to read, Amazon is Bad News for the business a whole, even whilst it is Good News for your financial circumstances. The library is better, even if you have to pay to reserve a title.

Waterstones never has the books I want in to browse.I find they are often behind book Instagramers where I pick up recommendations. They seem to just chuck out the recently published on displays. They were improving but have gone backwards re pushing the more obscure.I also follow a lot of US blogs and Amazon is often the only place to get them new or second hand. I only ever buy second hand these days but they’re never in Waterstones anyway.

And I have to buy meat as I have 3 hungry teens to fill so it’s Lidl all the way.

I avoid amazon as they are yet another company who con this country out of milllions in unpaid tax.

Wordery online is good.

Waterstones never has the books I want in to browse.I find they are often behind book Instagramers where I pick up recommendations.

Odd. The Instagrammers are sent the books by the publisher's marketing departments - they're definitely not buying them somewhere secret! They ARE often promoting proof copies, though - so they will be Instagramming stuff sometimes as much as 4 months before it's published. Perhaps that's it? You wouldn't find it on Amazin either in that situation, though. If you want US books then indeed, you would need to order via a US distributor, which a high street UK bookshop is not.

Otoh, any high street bookshop will order in for you, if you ask them to.

I just think Waterstones are behind the game a bit now. I Know Where the Crawford Sing has been out for ages and was all over Instagram. Ditto The River.Don’t think I’ve seen the former in Waterstones certainly not when it was first published here. Lots of people are following book bloggers. There seems to be very little thought put into the Waterstones displays and no personal recommendations.

I also think Waterstones need to up their offers and loyalty scheme if they want to attract the big reader.

You can save masses of money on books by getting them from the library. At least then authors get PLR.

You can also find your nearest independent bookshop, ring them up and order the book. Mine gets it for the next day.

UK paperback pub of Crawdads is not till December- that’s why Waterstones don’t stock it yet. The HB might not have had the buzz back in November last year.

I agree Waterstones aren’t anywhere near perfect - but they’re about it for traditional bookselling on the high street.

September-December is a terrible time to browse for anything other than the usual suspects in any chain, though. Find a good indie and it’s a different story.

Can anyone recommend some good book instagrammers?

I absolutely refuse to use Amazon, I was recently given a voucher for Amazon as a gift which is a total waste as I don't even want to look at their website .. I would always use an independent book shop, Waterstones or a library .. or I get most of books from charity shops on the high street.

@Ragwort any chance I can have the voucher please?

I usually buy books online from the book people but amazon if it's cheaper and/or an overseas published book that I particularly want need. I love books but have dramatically cut down how much i buy.

I just find bricks and mortar stores too expensive and it's very rare that WHSmith has anything in store that I actually want ( especially now that I no longer buy magazines)

@OneHamm3r

Very well said.

If I buy a book and don't like it after reading then I donate it to my local charity shop. That's happened recently with the fourth book in a series that I have enjoyed but the last just felt like a dead weight that the author had published simply to fill a gap and 'jump on the money bandwagon'

Forget to check the new and used tab on Amazon. I buy a lot of my books that way and usually pay just a couple of quid.

Amazon all the way. I’d never pay almost double for the exact same item, it’s just bonkers to me.

Tend to use Kindle these days (other e-books are available). I like physical books but the house was filling up with books I don't re-read (including cookery books full of recipes I know I'll look at and not make).

Not Amazon for me.

We have decided to go with principles this year and not buy anything from Amazon. Not been as hard as we thought. Costs a bit more, but keeping the high street alive has benefits that are worth paying for.

On the rare occasions that I buy new books, I get them from Waterstones.
I love the feel of books, and holding one as soon as you buy it is better than waiting.

For something like a cookery book I'd buy it in a real shop. I like to look through it, see which recipes attract me, see the quality of the photos. Can't do that on Amazon. I wouldn't look at the real thing in a shop then buy it on Amazon, otherwise one day I might be left with only the Amazon option....

Would buy online though for a novel, or if I already had a cook book and was buying another as a gift for a friend.
[confused purchasing ethics]

minnie I also love holding book and also the smell of books so yes I do love physically looking at books in shops but usually they are too expensive in the actual shop and I think that is greed on the part of publishers.