Book People Archive

Re: More On Book Price Inflation

David Feuer wrote:
> Am I the only one who doesn't know the difference between a trade
> paperback and a mass-market paperback?

No, you're not, because I often get it wrong too.  I usually think of the
difference in terms of size (mass markets tend to come in a standard size
that fits in wire racks found in various places in and outside of bookstores;
trade paperbacks tend to have a large cover area).  But those in publishing
say that the real difference lies in the distribution channels.

The FAQ for the rec.arts.sf.written group has an answer to this question,
which includes contributions from folks who are active in the publishing
industry, and also explain some of the differences in costs and pricing.
You can read it at

    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824/sf-written.htm#23

The rest of the FAQ is well worth a read as well, if you're interested
in science fiction and publishing.

Incidentally, there's no straight correspondence between cost and price
for many kinds of goods, including books.  Cost provides an upward
pressure on price-- you can't consistently sell below your cost and
expect to stay in business--  but the book industry doesn't have the
same sorts of downward pressures that consistently drive price down
to cost that you see in commodity-based industries, or the production
and sales factors in such industries that keep costs and prices consistent
across products.  (They *do* have downward pressures, but they're
not the same as the simple ones you see in the classical "widget industry" 
microeconomics models.)

There are a bunch of quirks related to selling
books, which I could comment on in more detail, but the folks on this
list who have been involved in bookselling are more knowledgeable about
them than I am (as are many of the folks who put together the FAQ I link
to above).  I will say, though, that some of these quirks work in the
seller's favor, but others work in the reader's favor, depending
on the kinds of books one is interested in.

John