wix-data insert( ) with inputs elements

I've got a simple bit of code I can't get working. It creates an entry into my Collection but the field values are empty - and the text input fields are filled in before submitButton is pressed.

import wixData from 'wix-data';

let toInsert = {
 "title": $w("#title").value,
 "region": $w("#region").value,
 "price": $w("#price").value,
};

$w.onReady(function () {
    
});

export function submitButton_click(event) {
 wixData.insert("Collection", toInsert);
}