Why do books cost so much?

me ^ | November 19, 2001 | Me

[JoeSchem]

Anyone else notice that the price of books is getting absurd? I mean, a paperback that sold for $.50 in the seventies will now go for $7 or $8. That's way out of line with the general inflation rate.

Then you've got the 'trade' paperbacks, which run to $14 on average. It's been a long time since I've bought a new hard cover, but I believe they're going for $25 on average.

It's the free market -- or is it? You would think that the Computer Revolution would drive down the cost of publication, but it seems to be going the other way!

[The Truth Will Make You Free]

How about your average $100 college textbook?

[elenchus]

Did you ever notice that virtually all publishers are liberal Democrats and further to the left? I thought Republicans were greedy, and liberals were in every way virtuous and generous, caring nothing for money.

[dogbyte12]

It's the market place. I have heard there is some funny collusion going on in the music industry, don't know about the print trade. As we all know, it costs under $1 to produce a CD, yet a CD often costs $7 more than a tape all across the board. There should be one company to break free from this and say, charge "only" $2 more for a CD, but it really isn't happening.

[eno_]

Free cheap enough?

[Dat]

I pay more for books than tuition here in Canada. $101 for a junior level marketing text!

[Senator Pardek]

It is the free market. The demand for books is rather inelastic. Folks who love to read will pay through the nose to own a book - it's not like videotapes or music CDs at all.

[warchild9]

Friends of mine in the book publishing business explain that a hundred layers of corporate parasites stand between the author and the reader, each with his/her hand out. Authors receive only 5%-15% of the cover cost of the book, the retailer receives 40%, and all the rest goes to Time/Warner/ConHugeCo. The computer revolution will dismantle this arrangement, and shorten the distance between author and his audience. Reading from the Internet has reduced my bookstore buying to one-tenth of what it once was, and it's their own d****d fault...the Kid

[Senator Pardek]

At least the campus bookstore will buy them back for $2.50.

[Senator Pardek]

LOL - thanks for proving my point at #7!

[CatoRenasci]

Far worse than the increased prices are the decreased availability of scholarly books. Many classic historical and philosophical works, which were widely available in paperpack at reasonable prices in the 50's through the early '80s, are now out of print and hard to find.

I was recently looking for some things in the Columbia University bookstore and some bookstores right around Columbia and could not find such classics as Edmund Wilson's Axel's Castle or Ernst Cassierer's The Philosophy of the Enlightenment. I could find no criticism of T.S. Eliot -- I mean I know he's not at the height of his fashion, but nothing....?

[dogbyte12]

I had to take a philosophy course in college back in 1991, and the only class that fit my schedule was taught by a guy who had "his own" book out, that was the required text. Basically, it was a compendium of essays by the great philosophers, broken down into chapters, with italicized commentary from him before each chapter, consisting of one paragraph, to up to a page. He perhaps actually "wrote" 10 pages out of the 300 page text.

Cost for the book was $67, that was 10 years ago.

[garyhope]

And CD's are cheaper to make than tapes! I buy a lot of "used" CD's.

[Lizzy W]

Yall are getting off cheap. My science texts cost $150 - $200 per book. It's such a friggin racket.

[JZoback]

Because you are willing to pay that much

[MistyCA]

I have been buying a lot of books recently and they have ranged from 39 for a cheapy to 89 for one that I really wanted. What do you think when people like Hitlery hold up the store for 8million bucks, followed by Slick for more than that! Someone has to pick up the tab on that! You know it isn't going to be someone buying either of their books.

[Fraulein]

You're right. Books have gotten very expensive. You might want to shop Ebay or check with your local used bookstores. Or perhaps you might want to get books from the library.

[RaceBannon]

Because of the numbers bought. High prices make up for the lower sales.

[Nitro]

How about $3 or $4 for a cup of soda at a movie or a ballgame? It can't take more than a few cents worth of syrup and and a splash of seltzer water. That is a hell of a mark-up!