[Darth-Apple]

Personally, I've always felt that the better reading out there has always been the classics, and those are usually very inexpensive. Then again, textbooks, "learn to program" guides, etc... Have become surprisingly pricey for what they are.. Often many exhaustive or expansive references are also very expensive, certainly charging much higher prices than what the cost to produce would warrant.

So the debate is, do you think books cost too much? Be sure to vote in the poll!

[Acko]

I think it depends on these factors:

• Quality
  
• Targeted audience
  
• Date of publication
  

For example, I believe children's picture books should cost less than an entire novel about your midlife crisis. I also think classic novels should be waaaay more valuable than they are. And textbooks I think are overpriced.

[Darth-Apple]

I would agree. I think that classic novels are some of the most valuable works we have available. However, since their authors are dead, it really makes no sense to charge a fortune for those books since the profit only goes to an individual publisher.

Textbooks are outrageously expensive today. Paying $250 for one texbook that probably costed maybe $5 to print simply isn't right, but since their competitions are doing it, individual textbook makers get away with the high prices. I suppose a significant part of that also has to factor the time taken to write the textbook as well.

[Towncrafter]

Hmm, I'm the only one to vote yes.
I love to read and I read mostly Orson Scott Card, Star Trek, and Doctor Who.
Doctor Who books are pretty thin and cost twice as much as I would like to pay, but I still pay the price they are.
Star Trek books have gotten pretty rubbish and the good ones are very few now. I'll gladly pay $8 for the good ones, but the bad ones I would want to definitely pay under $4.

Orson Scott Card's Ender series. The books are around 450 pages and the paperbacks cost $8 and that to me is extremely good value. Card is such a great author and his science fiction novels are such great quality that I don't mind paying over $20 for a hardcover.

[Darth-Apple]

I've found that many of the older books can be found for really great prices at used book stores. Sometimes that doesn't help for newer books, but for the classics you can get real steals easily if you don't mind some worn pages.

[simlink]

Buying textbooks every semester is just plain depressing. Good bye over $600...

[Darth-Apple]

Agreed. Textbooks are way too expensive these days.

[titanicbuff]

Let me put it this way- I've read all my books on titanic at least 15 times and I need more- WAY too pricy- plus what the heck is wrong with a decent regular book- I don't like the digital book idea either.

[Darth-Apple]

I feel the same way about classic CDs too. I like electronic copies too, but I stare at a screen too much as it is. I enjoy just reading a normal, paperback book at night as well, and I hope that physical printed copies of books don't disappear long term.

[earlybird]

I get my books from garage sales and thrift stores. Only when I am looking for a specific book do I ever go to the bookstore--and our only bookstore was a borders! So now we have three used bookstores, and no other bookstores. I think Borders was overpriced, though.

[Darth-Apple]

Used books usually are priced pretty well. Borders is nice, but I feel like they could have a better selection for those prices.

If I'm just picking up a book out of interest and want something good to read, a used book store is a great place to stop though. You can get some incredible deals for a great price at those places.

[earlybird]

Used books usually are priced pretty well. Borders is nice, but I feel like they could have a better selection for those prices.

If I'm just picking up a book out of interest and want something good to read, a used book store is a great place to stop though. You can get some incredible deals for a great price at those places.

Yeah, our Borders didn't offer very much.
And then it went out of business.
And now we are left with garage sales and used bookstores.

[Darth-Apple]

Used books usually are priced pretty well. Borders is nice, but I feel like they could have a better selection for those prices.

If I'm just picking up a book out of interest and want something good to read, a used book store is a great place to stop though. You can get some incredible deals for a great price at those places.

And now we are left with garage sales and used bookstores.

Neither of them will really help you find a specific book you need either. Textbooks, etc... are hard to come by in used stores.

At least there is amazon.

[Tyler]

I don't shop for books usually because I don't read but aren't they anywhere from 10$ to 25$ or something? Same price as a movie or video game (used video games) but even saying that video games can be like 60+ right so.. I think a book being 20$ or something is fine and it usually lasts a little while unless your a crazy fast reader lmao. but if your really into reading those prices aren't that bad imo. I like movies so I'd pay that much for movies even though I usually buy used ones

[earlybird]

Used books usually are priced pretty well. Borders is nice, but I feel like they could have a better selection for those prices.

If I'm just picking up a book out of interest and want something good to read, a used book store is a great place to stop though. You can get some incredible deals for a great price at those places.

And now we are left with garage sales and used bookstores.

Neither of them will really help you find a specific book you need either. Textbooks, etc... are hard to come by in used stores.

At least there is amazon.

But on Amazon you have to pay shipping and handling.

[Darth-Apple]

Yeah that's true, and it's pretty expensive to pay shipping if you actually want your books shipped in a reasonable period of time.

[Agandl]

It is true that on the face of it books are not cheep but it is all comparative. When I started out on my 1st career, 40yrs ago or so each text book cost my about 1/2 a months salary (I earned about £30/month and text books were £12 - £25) Now I am starting out on a new career and find that by giving up a daily newspaper I am able to afford about 1 text book a month just from that.

There are also libraries where you can access books 'for free' and get good information on the internet - plenty of peer reviewed stuff free or at a very reasonable price.

I read plenty of fiction too and by combining new and second hand I always have access to more than I need at a reasonable price.

One also has to consider that the authors need to earn a living so best sellers will always be available at a good price where as books prepared for a niche market will inevitably cost more just to cover cost let alone something over for the writers and researchers.

So no, on balance, I would not say books are over priced.

[3DWaffle1]

Books are massively overprice. It is not even fair to student making minimum wage or student loans. Ultimately, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.