Now I've acquired the habit of browsing for books in my local branch of Waterstones and then buying them from the Kindle Store, I am astounded at the savings. Today I found seven books I wanted – six newly released hardbacks and one paperback. The hardbacks in Waterstones had price tags between £18.99 and £20 with most ticketed for a £4 or £5 reduction. While standing in front of the best-sellers display I purchased all these books from the Kindle store and downloaded them instantly to my iPhone. The most expensive of the batch was £11.25 (that was for the £20 hardback, the only one in Waterstones that didn't have some sort of discount). The rest of the hardbacks ranged from £9.02 down to £5.93 while the paperback was only £3.97.
The total bill at Waterstones, including all available discounts, would have been £96.45 while I paid a mere £53.45 in the Kindle Store. This is a staggering difference. Incidentally, to buy the same physical books from Amazon rather than as downloads, I would have had to pay £61.23 plus whatever delivery charges were appropriate. So the buying eBooks from the Kindle store does bring savings, whichever way you look at it.
Just how long are book buyers going to be foolish enough to buy from high-street retailers when they can make such big savings either online from Amazon or, better still, from the Kindle Store where there are no delivery charges? The writing is very definitely on the wall as I have said many times.