How Much Should Books Cost?

by Erin Mitchell

I’ll tell you right now: I don’t know the answer to the question above. But that’s never stopped me from having some opinions…

Way back in 2009. John Grisham talked about changing book prices on the TODAY Show (video at the end of this post). He said something that has stayed with me:

A book is worth $24. It’s a fair price.

I agree with him. I also remember a time not a million years ago when all the book I read came from libraries and thrift stores, with the occasional new paperback purchase. This wasn’t because I didn’t want to buy new hardcover releases, but I wasn’t prepared to forego paying the electricity bill to do so. Then came ebooks. I figured ebooks had two primary benefits: First, they would be cheaper, making new releases accessible to more people. Second, they meant that I would never have to run out of book on a bus or plane again.

Well, I was right about the second.

A couple of years back I heard about a young woman who loved to read (yay!). And she would only read books that she got for free on Kindle (boo!). Look, I’m as much a fan of deals as anyone. I love saving money. I always check for coupons before buying anything online. I wait for sales.

Except when it comes to books.

When I get a galley of a book that I read and enjoy, I preorder at least one copy—usually more. I’m tickled that I can afford to do so, and sharing a good book is one of my greatest joys. But I know there are still a lot of people out there who can’t afford to pay $24 for a book, even though, yes, a book is worth that much. Definitely.

At the same time, I think we can all agree that publishing is not the single most efficient industry in the world. As such, the price of books is probably inflated somewhat, regardless of their form.

Back in 2009, Mr. Grisham was talking about the phenomenon of online retailers selling physical books as loss-leaders. Unfortunately, this seems to have become the norm. We, as a society, now seem to think that a book is worth $2.99.

Think about that for a second. That’s a fraction of a movie ticket—even if you get the Senior Citizen rate at the cheap show. And a movie only lasts 2 hours. People always compare stuff to the price of a cup of coffee…I have no idea whether Starbuck’s sells anything that costs $2.99. People Magazine has a cover price of $4.99. John Connolly recently got right to the point on Twitter:

Something has gone very wrong if we'll pay $5 for a greeting card, $3 for gift wrap, but resent paying more than $2.99 for a book.

— John Connolly (@jconnollybooks) July 4, 2014

So to get back to the original question: I think a hardcover book should cost about $15 and a paperback or ebook should be in the neighborhood of $10 (see…told you I’m cheap). I also think libraries should be properly funded and supported and books should never, ever be destroyed because there are plenty of thrift shops that would take them and make them available to people who want to read.

What do you think?

Here's the video I mentioned back at the start:

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Comments

[Kristopher]

I agree with you Erin - even if I do think that the hardback price in the range of $20 is more than fair.

Like you, I buy lots of books. Way more than the average person. So yes, I do sometimes use Amazon (because I am not made of money and if I am going to give a book I love to everyone I know, I can't typically do that at full price.) But I also routinely buy books at independents (at full price) and at conference bookrooms (at full price) and have never one thought, "wow is this book worth this price?"

John Connolly got it exactly right. People are willing to pay for things they love, so why should books be any different? I stopped giving greeting cards long ago (as I would rather write a short note of my own and save those $.) I don't go to the movies much, because I think it is too expensive (it's only going to last for 2 hours). But a book is going to be with me forever! Of course I will pay more for it.

(I do think that the mark-up on most things is why higher than it needs to be however, books included.) But the greed of big business is a topic for another day.

[Kate]

I'm also willing to spend $$ on hardbacks, if I can't get the book in paperback or it's something I want a really spiffy copy of with a dust cover. And I don't mind spending $10 on an ebook. Occasionally, I do see some ebooks that are priced almost as much as their hardback counterparts, which irks me. With a physical book, part of what we're paying such a high price for is the experience - that new book scent, pages flipping between your fingertips, etc. We don't get that from an iPad screen, so I do think ebooks should be on the lower end. But I'm definitely willing to pay more than $2.99 for it. I'm lucky, though, in that I have the resources to buy hardbacks and ebooks at higher prices. Not everyone does, so I can see why spending so little on books is so popular.

[Mario R.]

"I think a hardcover book should cost about $15 and a paperback or ebook should be in the neighborhood of $10 ..."

On the whole, I agree with you, but (and I am not going to be popular for saying this) unless and until there is an absolute guarantee that an e-book, once bought, will continue to be available to the buyer, on any device now or in the future, it is not reasonable to expect the reader pay as much for an e-book as for a print book.

When my PDA died, I lost the entire library on it; the PDA company no longer exists, and I was unable to convert my archived e-book files to a Kindle-readable format. Bye-bye books bought at near print-book prices. (I'm not even going to mention the whole VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray business, but the analogy is obvious. I have tapes that have deteriorated beyond playability, and are not replaceable because the films have not been released to DVD, much less to Blu-Ray. Not that I have any plans to pay twice for the same films to get them on the new media, mind you.)

I agree the $2.99 (or below!) e-books should only be regarded as loss-leaders to lure readers into taking a chance on a new author, or to hook them on an established author's series, but charging the same or nearly the same for an e-book as for its print version is not fair to the buyer.

[Lynne Patrick]

Thank you so much, Erin. You just gave a breath of fresh air to struggling small publishers who cover their eyes in despair when they see books priced at 99p (or c). Even a second hand book is worth more than $2.99.