Starting Over with Logos - Purchasing Strategies?

Howdy there!

I first purchased Logos back when it came on 3.5" floppy disks but I got so fed up with it that I gave a large original languages collection away just to get it out from under my roof. I recently purchased three inexpensive resources and am considering getting a decent library built back up. I use Accordance and BibleWorks as well. Are there any gotchas involved in a purchasing strategy such as not being able to include some credit previously purchased references when upgrading to a package that it might be good to be aware of before plunking down my loot?

As well, it's plainly evident that if you lift a finger to even contact a sales representative at Libronix/Logos/Faith Life, they are going to offer you a 15% off deal on a package. Can you do better?

Since I transferred all of my library to another entity, the question of purchasing someone's licenses that may be looking to sell them has spun around inside my skull. Is there a secret forum someplace that these kinds of deals take place?

Any other timely tips on getting bang-for-the-buck would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Kent

You could always try here:

Logos Resales

777

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754736#Comment_754736

You could always try here:

Logos Resales

Thanks for that, Kent. I do not have a FaceBook account, but perhaps I can give that a twirl.

David J. Wilson

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754739#Comment_754739

You might want to be aware that Zondervan do not seem willing to allow credit of previous purchases when purchasing any of their bundles:

https://community.logos.com/forums/p/113414/751479.aspx#751479

(ie: Dynamic Pricing does not work with Zondervan titles apparently)

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754744#Comment_754744

Now applies to NELSON books as they are under the arm of Zondervan now. For example. I own 31 of the Spirit Filled Life titles, Logos is offering a pre pub (no longer prepub but live now) Spirit-Filled Life Treasury (40 vols.) But i am not going to pay $209 for the privilege of owning the last 9 books. If the set id broken up I may purchase the remaining volumes, but HarperCollins short short-sightedness has cost them one sale. Indeed I doubt I am the only only unwilling to pay again for books I already own.

-Dan

777

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754744#Comment_754744

Thank you, gentlemen, for the information regarding our inability to use dynamic pricing with Zondervan and Nelson titles. I'll red flag those, and if I absolutely need a resource that they market, I'll be sure to try to side-step their Christian practice of essentially charging you multiple times if you purchase subsequent bundles that contain product that you have previously purchased.

Are Zondervan and Nelson actually owned by Christians, or are they perhaps not so and just market products for Christians to consume?

Thanks for the 'heads up' on this.

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754781#Comment_754781

Are Zondervan and Nelson actually owned by Christians, or are they perhaps not so and just market products for Christians to consume?

These are imprints of the HarperCollins group. Zondervan had been there for years. I am not 100% sure with Christian publishers but basically all publishers are owned by one for 5 publishing conglomerates. "HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the world's largest publishing companies and, alongside Hachette, Holtzbrinck/Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster, is part of the "Big Five" English-language publishing companies." courtesy wikipedia.... A few years ago there was six, it is really a sad state of affairs but these 5 companies control most of the english language book market. Smaller ones like tenderly house and a few other larger Christian publishers are still independent but i think over the years many of the christian publishers have been acquired into the big 5.

-Dan

777

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754786#Comment_754786

Are Zondervan and Nelson actually owned by Christians, or are they perhaps not so and just market products for Christians to consume?

These are imprints of the HarperCollins group. Zondervan had been there for years. I am not 100% sure with Christian publishers but basically all publishers are owned by one for 5 publishing conglomerates. "HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the world's largest publishing companies and, alongside Hachette, Holtzbrinck/Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster, is part of the "Big Five" English-language publishing companies." courtesy wikipedia.... A few years ago there was six, it is really a sad state of affairs but these 5 companies control most of the english language book market. Smaller ones like tenderly house and a few other larger Christian publishers are still independent but i think over the years many of the christian publishers have been acquired into the big 5.

-Dan

Hi Dan,

Thank you for this info. I'm very wary of where I take my spiritual meat from. Philadelphia and Smyrna were the only two churches that Jesus found no fault with and I'm staying aligned with those. Gotta make sure that Jonadab is not up in your chariot with you.

Mark Barnes

The days when you coupd get 25% discounts on base packages seem to be long gone, so if you don't qualify for academic discount 15% is probably the best you'll get.

There are a number of resources that are heavily discounted if you buy them at the same time as a base package (particularly bundles, but several others as well). You'll get offered these during the checkout process when you attempt to buy a base package. It's worth going through that process now (without making the final "Finish and Pay" click, of course) to give yourself an idea of what's available. Depending on your needs, it might be cheaper getting a BP plus other discounted items, than buying secondhand.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754802#Comment_754802

Your best bet for getting a good deal is to find a salesman and befriend him. Situationaly I've gotten better than 15% on a number of things.

Just depends on what he's allowed to do and when. Any way, I always recommend Rusty.Davidson@faithlife.com for BP purchases. Tell him Ken sent you;) - you may not get a better deal, but it'll make him smile.

Also remember that deals up an above the advertised prices (if I had to guess) likely come from their commission. (so take that into account when you push for the best possible deal).

Rusty is a great guy, he's even responded to emails mid night and put the sale through.

Mikael S

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754802#Comment_754802

"Bundles" are the "Topical Bundles", those ones tend even to be small. On the other hand several of the "Feature Collections" - a pretty confusing name btw, are very large and I can't understand how to afford one without getting a payment plan + they barely discount them at all (I'm waiting for a coupon code that can be used on a Feature Collection purchase). As the Feature Collections are just books I suppose Faithlife is just testing what kind of customer base there is for them as negotiations with publishers were needed. All of these are prone to change with every new version, (during version 5 there were two different versions of them, the first, and after that the second with added books in each bundle):

There are a number of resources that are heavily discounted if you buy them at the same time as a base package (particularly bundles, but several others as well). You'll get offered these during the checkout process when you attempt to buy a base package.

777

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754802#Comment_754802

The days when you coupd get 25% discounts on base packages seem to be long gone, so if you don't qualify for academic discount 15% is probably the best you'll get.

There are a number of resources that are heavily discounted if you buy them at the same time as a base package (particularly bundles, but several others as well). You'll get offered these during the checkout process when you attempt to buy a base package. It's worth going through that process now (without making the final "Finish and Pay" click, of course) to give yourself an idea of what's available. Depending on your needs, it might be cheaper getting a BP plus other discounted items, than buying secondhand.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for that tip. I'd have to go with Gold/Platinum to get any sort of original language resources that would start to cover my needs. Perhaps I can shoot lower on the package and squeak up the original language content at checkout. I honestly do not need a lot of the fluff that many packages offer anyway. The fluff strikes me as neither the milk or the meat of God's Word, but maybe something more like the Chicken McNuggets that have been under the infrared light staying warm for a couple of weeks too long or perhaps like the old rolling hot dogs that were seemingly seldom purchased at the movie theatres.

abondservant

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754810#Comment_754810

777 I agree that some of the base packages (and if you can't tell from my signature, I love base packages) contain a fair amount of stuff I don't care for.

HOWEVER, my strategy is to look at a BP, evaluate its contents. Decide which items are the ones I need. Calculate the cost of those items individually vs the cost of the base package. IF the BP is the same price or cheaper than the items in the BP that I want, I buy the BP, if not, I buy the items I care about separately.

However I don't worry about the "fluff" too much because things I count as useless now, are sometimes in total or part gems. I've found a number of titles that looked to be junk initially were valuable to me in the long run for various reasons.

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754786#Comment_754786

tenderly house

Tyndale House was what i typed by the computer thought it knew better... I wanted to give an example of a publisher not directly under the big 5 (although the presses they print on may or may not be of the big 5, that I cannot say. Even titles from OUP will occasionally state printed in India, leaving me to wonder if it is contracted out work.

-Dan

777

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754820#Comment_754820

I do certainly thank everybody for the help. If any further tips come down the pike, I'll take them into account as well.

I made a FaceBook account to check the Logos resales and then permanently deleted the same account even before I had sent in the confirmation code that they emailed me. [:D]

Thanks again!

Jonathan J Watson

Do you mind some advice from a long-time user turned employee?

I was personally excited to get Logos 6 Gold. In addition to the Logos 6 base package features, it includes New American Commentaries, New International Greek Testament Commentaries, UBS Handbook Series, Black's New Testament Commentaries, and the Pillar New Testament Commentaries. (Can you tell I'm a commentary geek?)

You can do the math yourself. But those 5 commentary series alone cost nearly double the base package. If you're looking for bang for your buck, a base package is the best way to go, IMO.

Finally, if you're looking for more inexpensive resources, the Free Book of the Month is a great place to start. I get to help pick the resources we offer, so I'm by no means unbiased. But you definitely can't beat the price. [:D]

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754853#Comment_754853

All the Gold packages are pretty good deals... and all gold packages offer the complete datasets.

-Dan

Keep Smiling 4 Jesus :)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754858#Comment_754858

I was personally excited to get Logos 6 Gold. In addition to the Logos 6 base package features, it includes New American Commentaries, New International Greek Testament Commentaries, UBS Handbook Series, Black's New Testament Commentaries, and the Pillar New Testament Commentaries.

Logos wiki has reviews of UBS Handbook Series (Key concepts to translate plus cross cultural comments and textual criticism):

=> UBS New Testament Handbook Series

=> UBS Old Testament Handbook Series

Logos Blog has an article => Quickly Access the UBS Handbooks (works in Logos 4, 5, and 6)

Original Language resources to consider:

Apparatuses => https://www.logos.com/products/search?Resource+Type=Apparatuses&start=0&sort=bestselling&pageSize=30

Grammars Collection => https://www.logos.com/product/51515/grammars-collection

Textual Variants Collection => https://www.logos.com/product/53129/textual-variants-collection

Logos 6 Greek Studies Bundle XL => https://www.logos.com/product/46185/logos-6-greek-studies-bundle-xl

Logos 6 Hebrew Studies Bundle XL => https://www.logos.com/product/46189/logos-6-hebrew-studies-bundle-xl

Logos Now subscription includes Greek Grammatical Constructions => New Feature: Greek Grammatical Constructions Guide Section

By the way, Logos Wiki also has Visual Filter examples (freely shared, but does need appropriate resource licenses for use)

=> https://wiki.logos.com/Extended_Tips_for_Highlighting_and_Visual_Filters#Examples_of_visual_filters

Keep Smiling [:)]

Mark Smith

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/754861#Comment_754861

All the Gold packages are pretty good deals... and all gold packages offer the complete datasets.

For your interest in original languages I think Standard Gold plus the following make sense:

NA28 with apparatus
BHS
BDAG/HALOT
Louw-Nida

With a 15% base package discount and the new package discount offered on three of the above you'll spend $1,680. I see no value to you in purchasing Platinum over this custom-made bundle.