2 Questions About Collections of Books

1. What happens if I buy a commentary set or collection of a theologian that isn't complete? As new books are added to that same set that I already purchased, are they updated into my library too or am I locked into that past set and now have to buy the books individually? If the newly available books are added to that set, can I even get them individually?

This leads me to my second question...

2. What happens if I am only looking for an individual book out of a collection? For example, maybe I want to hand pick my commentary books based on my preference of scholars on different books. Besides just individual commentaries consider the following example:

I was looking at buying the trilogy for Francis A. Schaeffer which contains the God who is there, escape from reason, and he is there and he is not silent. I saw it retails in print edition for $25 and is available on amazon for $15. When I searched for this trilogy/indivudal books through Logos I saw that my only option is to buy the full Francis Schaeffer Logos set which goes for $125. As a poor seminary student I'm not looking to buy a $125 big scale collection of Schaeffer books nor when it comes to commentaries, a $1000+ set when one of my classes only requires one volume from a set or that's all I can afford.

I deeply desire to apply all book purchases through Logos, but these two issues seem to be hindering that and forcing me to go to print both for availability and price.

I'm interested in hearing how others are working through this.

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Comments

Fred Chapman

1. What happens if I buy a commentary set or collection of a theologian that isn't complete? As new books are added to that same set that I already purchased, are they updated into my library too or am I locked into that past set and now have to buy the books individually? If the newly available books are added to that set, can I even get them individually?

This leads me to my second question...

2. What happens if I am only looking for an individual book out of a collection? For example, maybe I want to hand pick my commentary books based on my preference of scholars on different books. Besides just individual commentaries consider the following example:

I was looking at buying the trilogy for Francis A. Schaeffer which contains the God who is there, escape from reason, and he is there and he is not silent. I saw it retails in print edition for $25 and is available on amazon for $15. When I searched for this trilogy/indivudal books through Logos I saw that my only option is to buy the full Francis Schaeffer Logos set which goes for $125. As a poor seminary student I'm not looking to buy a $125 big scale collection of Schaeffer books nor when it comes to commentaries, a $1000+ set when one of my classes only requires one volume from a set or that's all I can afford.

I deeply desire to apply all book purchases through Logos, but these two issues seem to be hindering that and forcing me to go to print both for availability and price.

I'm interested in hearing how others are working through this.

To answer your first question, it depends on the commentary collection you buy. For example there were some recent additions to a couple of commentary sets I own and I had to purchase the additions on pre-pub. There is another set being developed right now Evangelical Exegetical Commentary and the additions will be downloaded as they are completed. I think that the former situation applies more often than the latter.

As for the second question, I cannot speak about the resource you mentioned specifically, but I have read that there are some pretty good academic discounts. If you are a seminary student I would think you qualify. I would suggest calling Logos sales on Monday and talking with someone about what you are interested in and see what they can offer you.

Mark Smith

Jason,

Welcome. Yours are good questions.

As new books are added to that same set that I already purchased, are they updated into my library too or am I locked into that past set and now have to buy the books individually? If the newly available books are added to that set, can I even get them individually?

New books will be a separate purchase. Sometimes these are bundled together for an extra discount. Many appear on Pre-Pub where purchasing them is less expensive that it would be after they are released.

What happens if I am only looking for an individual book out of a collection?

Not all collections are currently available as individual volumes, although Logos has been 'unbundling' books more than they once did. Sometimes there are restrictions that copyright owners put on books that Logos has no control over.

Logos does have sales, and if you are buying a number of resources at a time it is always a good idea to talk directly to a sales associate for the best price. You should also qualify for Academic Pricing which will save you a good bit.

Jason Hauser

Thank you Fred and Mark,

I really appreciate you both taking the time to address my questions. It helps to have a better idea of it all but it still sounds like I'm at the mercy of what Logos has setup when I need to make my time sensative purchases. However, I will definitely be keeping a closer watch on the prepub lists, march madness deals, and of course calling them direct to see if I can ever get some specific help or a discount.

I am very aware of the student discount but in many cases outside of my main Logos package purchase, it seems to just bring the pricing down making it comparable with Amazon pricing. I know there's extra work on Logos' part to beef up digital print for integration with their software, but you'd think similar to how kindle purchases are less than print purchases, logos would be able to have better pricing than what one can get the same book for in print online.

I guess worst case scenario I can always get print books when necessary and then resell them online down the road, putting my money then towards a Logos version when they finally get the book digitally, unbundle it, or have a sale.