Advanced options
A GBP 130 e-reader amortises against the ebook discount: at 20 books/yr and GBP 4.50 saved per book it pays back inside 18 months. The honest asymmetries: ebooks are licences not property (no lending shelf, no resale, no charity-shop afterlife), paperbacks are objects with a second-hand market on BOTH ends (buy used for GBP 3, donate after). And the library wins outright: free, includes ebook lending via council library apps: the best-kept open secret in this whole catalogue.
What The Ebook vs Paperback Calculator Works Out
- Paper vs ebook per year: books read x the average price of each format. UK paperbacks list at GBP 9-11 and ebooks typically undercut them by GBP 3-6, so a twenty-book year saves GBP 60-120 digitally before any device is counted.
- E-reader payback: the reader's price divided by the yearly saving, in months. A GBP 130 reader against GBP 90 a year of discount pays back in about 18 months; if your ebooks are not cheaper than paper the reader is a comfort purchase and the card says "Never".
- The routes that beat both: the library (free, including council ebook and audiobook lending apps), charity shops at GBP 2-3 a book and the 99p daily-deal newsletters. The new paperback and the full-price ebook are both the expensive way to read.
- E-reader price and life (advanced): entry readers cost GBP 90-110, mid-range GBP 130-170 and premium models GBP 200+. They last five years or more, so the cost per year of ownership is small; this is spread into the all-in ebook route.
- Resale or donation value (advanced): paperbacks are objects with a second-hand market on both ends. Enter what you get back per book from marketplace sales or trade-in (often GBP 1-3); donating counts as zero cash but completes the charity-shop loop. Ebooks are licences and return nothing.
- Second-hand share and price (advanced): the share of your paperbacks bought used and what they cost. Charity shops and online marketplaces price backlist paper at GBP 2-4 including postage, which usually beats the ebook price.
- Library share (advanced): the share of books you borrow for free, removed from both routes. Even a third of your reading from the library changes the answer more than any format choice.
- Ebook subscription (advanced): an all-you-can-read plan (GBP 9-10 a month in the UK) replacing purchases for the share of your books it includes; the rest are bought at your usual ebook price. Big-name new releases are usually the ones missing.
- Adjusted verdict, cost per book and life saving (advanced): the two all-in routes compared per year, per book read and over the reader's life. The heavy reader is cheaper (and greener) digital; the occasional reader is cheaper on paper, especially second-hand.