Price of books

[billybob476]

I just bought Death Star off Amazon for the book club. It cost about 20 dollars. I remember when I was younger going to the book store and having hard cover books cost 30-40 dollars. Has anyone else noticed that the price of hardcover books have gone down substantially ion the past few years?

[Rico]

I've been a member of the Science Fiction Book Club for a long time and haven't bought many hardcover books in stores.  The paperback prices I know have gone up a fair amount.  I can remember the days of paperbacks for $1-2 new!  Now they start at around $6-7. 

[Ktrek]

I have been a collector of books most of my life and I certainly would not say the price of books has gone down. The average retail price of a Star Trek book 15 years ago was around the $18.00 price point. Today the price average is around $25.00. Now that they release one or two Star Trek hardcover books a year it's not so significant. I remember the days when they were releasing four a year! When I was kid growing up in the 60s and 70s the average price of a book was from 75 cents to $1.50. Now the average price is $7.99 and I have heard talk about that being raised soon to $8.99. It's a fact of life that as salaries increase so do the cost of products. What we hope for is that salaries will increase at a greater rate than products so  we can stay ahead of the game and have a little extra. For most though it likely doesn't work out that way!

Kevin

[billybob476]

Hm, I guess the difference I'm seeing is prices between brick and mortars and online stores.

[Ktrek]

Hm, I guess the difference I'm seeing is prices between brick and mortars and online stores.

Well, a brick and mortar store cannot charge over the retail price and that is the prices I was giving. I never, or at least rarely ever, paid full retail. These days I do most of my book shopping on Amazon, and pre-order if I can for even more savings, because usually Amazon can beat any local distributer even with postage costs added in. Not to mention what it costs for gasoline to get to a store and back home. Deep Discount.com is also another good option. Especially with their 20% off sale going on right now. You could probably have saved a few bucks over the Amazon price.

Kevin

[Boothanew]

yeah but i usually just go to the library for books :D

[Jen]

I think the clerk at Hastings (where I bought Death Star) significantly undercharged me. I only paid 16 dollars for it, and it was marked 25. I asked about it and he shrugged. Yeah, they're pricy these days, but you can buy used novels on Amazon for a lot less. And most of the time they're in great shape.

[Boothanew]

I tend to go to half priced books...because I like scifi from the 60's and that's hard to find in normal stores...not to mention I pay like $1-$2 a book. :D
or not to mention all my Piers anthony books were like 95 cents.