I’m coming to the conclusion that a kindle book should never be more than $3.99. Here’s why.

The book isn’t really 44 cents, of course. There will be a shipping charge of $3.99, so the total cost of getting an actual paperback in your hand will be about $4.50.

That’s almost always the way it works. In rare cases there won’t be old copies on sale for pennies, but … there usually are.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both print and digital books, as I’ve discussed in more detail here. In the end, I find it to be somewhat of a wash, and I only buy kindle books when they’re cheaper than the paper version. And in order to be cheaper than paper, they need to be $3.99 or less.