Bitchin' Blog Posts
The Price of Books in Australia
by SB Sarah | by SB Sarah | November 07, 2012 | Wednesday at 9:15 am | 107 CommentsI went to Dymock's bookstore and took a zillion pictures of all the books in the romance section - which is separate from the paranormal romance section, interestingly enough - and of the sizes and prices of the books. When I got back to my hotel room, none of those pictures were on my camera. Where did they go? Is there some vortex that limits my ability to document the complete WTF that is Australian book prices? So went back again to take more, and funny enough I ended up with two sets of pictures. Oh, technology, you so weird.
Mind, the pictures of Louboutin shoes that I took earlier that day were all fine. My phone's camera has some very odd priorities that do not match my own. That said, the price extremity of Louboutin shoes vs. Australian paperback books are somewhat similar. Sticker shock might cause actual coronary emergencies in either case. So let's start with expensive shoes, one pair of which you could probably buy for the same price as all the books I'm about to show you.
Shoes or books? I pick books, every time.
Everywhere I see books, I see Fifty Shades and Bared to You - which has a different cover in Australia:
This is the other side of the pallet of 50 Shades & 50-shadesinalia. It was about waist high on me, and I'm 5'3".
Mary Balogh's books are in what I was calling "hardback-lite" size. Nearly as big as a hardcover, but paperback. Also, the heroines are all half-headless.
Each hardback-lite sized Balogh novel was $22.99 each.
Romance had its own section, and if you look in the background on the right of "True Crime", you'll see the Paranormal Romance section, which was larger, and separate.
Time to browse! Here's Jaci Burton's "The Heart of a Killer." Guess the price!
Survey says? $12.99. That's a slightly-larger-than-mass-market-sized book, I think.
Stephanie Laurens shared an end-cap with Debbie Macomber, Christina Brooke, and Nora Roberts. These were all "hardback-lite" sized.
The Australian cover for The Lady Risks All.
The US cover looks like this, and is $7.99 in mass-market sized paperback:
If you'd like the Lady to Risk All in Australia, that'll be $24.99.
Lisa Kleypas' novels have very different covers, and are hardback-lite sized as well.
More Kleypas novels, with covers I would describe as "drippy."
Ready to guess the price? $19.99 each.
Linda Lael Miller's Big Sky Mountain is a big ass book.
Whaddya know, the price is big, too!
Side-by-side comparison of the hardback-lite and mass-market size. Every so often I would find a US edition mass market on the shelf alongside all the jumbo books.
Three out of four Nora Roberts heroines agree: eyes are overrated.
The Donovan Legacy - 2 of Roberts' Donovan books - in hardback-lite size. Ready to guess how much?
Jill Sorenson's Crash Into Me (sorry for the glare) has an interesting cover.
This is one of three different covers I found for Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris:
Here are the other two covers, plus a bottle of Tru-blood drink:
The Anita Blake series has very interesting covers. Red frames around black and white images.
The covers for the Patricia Briggs' Alpha and Omega are very different in Oz. I don't recall Anna having a gun. Or two guns.
Two different covers for Michelle Rowan's Tall, Dark & Fangsome.
Here's one feature of some Australian books I really liked. This is the cover of Jeaniene Frost's Halfway to the Grave:
And check out the back: there's a checklist of features. A big red check (or "tick," as the Aussies say) means it's really gothic and action-packed, and the smaller black check means it's funny, sexy and romantic, but less so than it is gothic and action-packed.
Magic Bites has a different cover (and I'm not crazy about the look that model is giving me):
It also has the checklist of attributes. This book is more action-packed and sexy than it is romantic, gothic, or funny. I wonder if those are the only attributes used to describe paranormal romance or urban fantasy?
This is the back of Magic Burns, another Kate Daniels book:
I kinda wish these descriptors were on some American books! They're pretty handy, though as I've thought about it I'm not sure how accurate they are.
One more comparison: Karen Marie Monings Shadowfever, with massmarket on the left, and hardback-lite on the right.
And here are the back covers, with prices - and, in one case, plot descriptors - for $9.95 and $17.99. I wonder if it's a feeling of "YES! SCORE!" when you find the mass market size of the same book for $8 less.
Do you like the checkmarks of plot descriptions on the back? Do you think they could be applied to other genres successfully - or are they not entirely accurate or enough of a description here? I'm sort of torn. I like the quick-glimpse, but having read some of the Daniels books, I'm not sure I 100% agree. And do these prices seem high to you, or is this normal where you live?
Filed: General Bitching
Tagged: wtfery, make the burning stop, holy shit, dymock's, cover comparisons, bookstores, book prices, australia
Liz said on 11.07.12 at 09:55 AM • [link]
For general knowledge, since I just went and looked it up, current conversion rates are as follows-
$1.04 US = $1 AUS
$1.59 US = £1 UK
The prices seem insanely high. I hope Australia has an amazing library system, because living there I’d never buy any books. That said, depending on how you look at them prices in the UK aren’t great. For example, the first book, “Then Comes Seduction” is $22.99 AUS, but is also listed at £8.99, which converts to $14.40 US. That’s a fairly standard price for UK paperbacks in my experience, and it adds up quick! However, the expense is due to conversion rate, so I’m not sure it’s a fair comparison.
After 6 years living in the UK, I’ve got my solution down-pat. Whenever I travel back to the US I bring back a suitcase filled with books. Also, you can stuff as many books as you want into a carry-on without worrying about weight limits. Just be prepared for the security officers to stop you for inspection when the books are so dense that the x-ray machine can’t see through them…
Lostshadows said on 11.07.12 at 10:12 AM • [link]
I like the idea of the check marks, but they’d probably be too limiting unless the publishers were willing to use different sets of descriptors for books that set doesn’t work for.
Of course, things like sexy and funny are more subjective than action-packed is, so they’re also problematic that way.
Those prices don’t seem that far off current US prices. I’m seeing more and more $9.99 mmpb, and the last large pb I bought was $19.99. (And 850 pgs, so it balanced out a bit.)
Beccah W. said on 11.07.12 at 10:33 AM • [link]
This is worse than buying books in Canada! I grew up in Vermont, and often ran into Quebecois in the book stores because they just couldn’t stomach the prices north of the border. And to think that sometimes $7.99 is too much for me!
As for the checks…a resounding ‘meh’. I’m not sure how helpful they are as its a personal decision whether something is “sexy” for not. Am I right? They are also kinda tacky in my opinion, and nothing bugs me worse than an ugly cover. (That’s not really true - a TSTL Hero or Heroine is the most annoying thing!)
MissB2U said on 11.07.12 at 11:24 AM • [link]
I think we need to organize some sort of book sharing with our friends Down Under. Those prices are insane!
Amy @ Turn the Page said on 11.07.12 at 11:53 AM • [link]
I thought my book buying habit was hard on my account here in the UK! O_O
I wouldn’t get anything much at those prices!
Sarah {CEFS} said on 11.07.12 at 11:55 AM • [link]
I know the prices of Aussie books all too well, because I have an Australian fiction addiction (they are publishing some great books down there). Most of my Australian reader friends order books from the U.K., because prices make it prohibitive to consume books at the pace they’d like (or we do book swamps, but it’s definitely not a 1-to-1 ratio).
For what it’s worth, while I prefer to e-read, I love the “hardback-light” style books that are popular in Oz. They have the lightness of paperbacks but don’t have the tiny print and cheap-o paper of most American p-backs.
Beccah W. said on 11.07.12 at 12:02 PM • [link]
I find the cheapness rather endearing! Especially when I purchase books from the grocery store shelves.
shenzibanzai said on 11.07.12 at 12:05 PM • [link]
Egad, If that was the cost of a paperback, I’d probably have to mortgage my house to pay for university textbooks.
Jennifer Lohmann said on 11.07.12 at 12:05 PM • [link]
Oof. The prices are scary. However, I like most of the Australian covers better than the US covers. Not enough to make up for the difference in price. . .
The check system on the back would make recommending new authors to library patrons on the fly MUCH easier!
Jennifer said on 11.07.12 at 12:14 PM • [link]
oi! prices! however, yea for variation in cover design!
Re: the Daniels books—-Well, Kate likes to drink and Curran likes to grill, so maybe that is super sexy down under, eh?
Alex (A GirlBooks&OtherThings) said on 11.07.12 at 12:25 PM • [link]
Yeah, prices are big!
I just bought a paperback for twenty dollars. With discount.
Free shipping though! So YAY
and I had never really thought of it but the few Aussie books I have a pretty big, like, large-hardback size even though they are paperbacks.
Sandy said on 11.07.12 at 12:25 PM • [link]
I live in Canada and our prices are slightly higher than US. The retailers once explained it by saying the US to Canadian $$ difference but with the Canadian dollar now higher…it has made no difference. The books are still retailing for a higher price…and there are 2 distinct prices on the back of each book…
But in Canada and Australia, there is a Canadian/Australian content/publishing/broadcasting law.
For example: Radio and Television programming MUST contain a certain percentage of Canadian content..meaning the programs and songs/singers must be Canadian made, contain Canadian content, Canadian citizens etc.
As for the books, the Canadian and Australian laws try to keep an eye on the amount of US and international imports as it pertains to publishing, therefore allowing for Canadian or Australian published books some exposure….but most of our books are from US or international authors…..therefore, the price of the book is higher due to import fees and taxes…...as well as….a special fee applied to NON-Canadian or NON-Australian published books…the same is applied in Australia….In fact Australia has stricter laws on the import of non-Australian books and novels etc. I have a few friends who live in Australia and some of our more popular books take months to reach Australia. The ebook industry has helped a little in that department.
The problem is called Americanization and it affects Canada as well as the rest of the world. And this is significant when the countries involved are no longer considered individual but as part of the collective…in essence….we are all being assimilated…and resistance….is becoming…futile….(to quote the Borg).
Anne V said on 11.07.12 at 12:32 PM • [link]
The prices are appalling. The covers are much nicer and the checkmarks are superhandy, but eep, the prices!
Shiny said on 11.07.12 at 01:07 PM • [link]
In Israel the prices are similar. Regular English paperbacks are generally around the equivalent of $15.5, while the larger size are around $26, which is way more than I’m willing to spend. Every time I’m in the States I hit a used bookstore and stock up…
Dread Pirate Rachel said on 11.07.12 at 01:07 PM • [link]
Those prices are horrifying. I do think the covers are much nicer than USA covers. I especially love the Anita Blake covers. If I’m paying $20 or $30 for a book, though, it had better come with something more than a snazzy cover—like, say, a bottle of wine, a box of truffles, and a cone of silence.
Kerry Dustin said on 11.07.12 at 01:25 PM • [link]
We call those “hardback-lite” books trade paperbacks if you were wondering. More and more books are coming out down here in that size instead of a “proper” hardcover.
I’m in New Zealand rather than Australia and the prices are even higher here. Some of that is exchange rate, but I think they still work out higher. You’re unlikely to see any kind of paperback for less than $20 here.
This is why I buy ebooks not paper books anymore. If I really want a paper copy, I buy from The Book Depository, who charge me a reasonable price and have free shipping. I feel bad about not supporting local business, such as the wonderful specialty romance/sf/fantasy import shop that closed earlier this year, but I can’t afford the local prices. They had to add shipping and duty and customs to the basic price to cover their costs and they couldn’t compete when I could buy the book at the base US price as an ebook. (Okay, there’s that VERY annoying geographical restrictions thing, but I either find a way around it or buy something else.)
It’s interesting to me, that the more I buy ebooks in US currency, the more my opinion of prices has shifted to match the US mindset, rather than the NZ one. At first, I would consider the NZ price and think, oh US$9.99 is still so much cheaper than it would cost me in paper here, and so I’d buy it. Now I look at the higher ebook prices and think, oh, that’s too much, I’m not paying that, and I leave it and go find something I feel is more reasonable.
Andrea said on 11.07.12 at 01:50 PM • [link]
I know about the book prices in New Zealand because my sister lives there. They are really similar to the prices in Oz (she had a paperback for NZ$ 27!). So naturally I was appalled (she’s not a reader, so it doesn’t really matter to her). Then I thought, okay, can’t compare prices directly, you have to take into account what people earn and how high or low living costs are. Unfortunately, even when taking those into account, the book prices are still prohibitive there. I would be one unhappy camper if I lived there!!
Prices here in Germany are fortunately more or less the equivalent in € of the US prices because for some reason US mmps are exempt from the fixed book prices (found that in the dict so I don’t know if it is the correct term, it means that prices are set and sellers can’t change them except in special circumstances like remaindered books) which makes me happy because that means that in general US books are cheaper than the translations.
Another nice thing here is that there is a reduced sales tax rate on books - don’t know why but love it! :-)
Daisy said on 11.07.12 at 01:53 PM • [link]
The prices are high, but I was even more impressed by the size and chiselling on the man-titty on the cover beneath the Mary Balogh books.
Ren said on 11.07.12 at 02:04 PM • [link]
Big no on the checks.
a) Is any of the “men’s fiction” marked with a key that looks like something you’d find on reading material for second graders, or is it just grown women who need simplified visual cues to direct their decisions?
b) Decent cover art and cover copy should reflect tone and content of the book. Publishers shouldn’t be encouraged any farther down the path of lazy, generic packaging than they’ve already proven they’re happy to go.
SB Sarah said on 11.07.12 at 02:32 PM • [link]
How sad is this: I know exactly what book that is. Maya Banks’ Sweet Possession.
<img alt=“Sweet Possession” src=“http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0425239071.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg”>
SB Sarah said on 11.07.12 at 02:33 PM • [link]
Ren, you make a very good point. On one hand, it was kind of interesting to see a coded key to guide one around the very, very large paranormal romance section. But you’re right in that a similar code key wouldn’t be so easily provided if the section were targeted towards men. Thinking about what would be on the “men’s fiction” list of attributes has been VERY fun, though.
Tam said on 11.07.12 at 02:34 PM • [link]
New Zealand is even worse for book prices, and when I lived there, I had to pay to get books at the local library. Not all books - classics or children’s literature were free, I remember, but I’d be paying $2.50 for a new-release romance, so when I was a broke high school student, I used to ‘shoplift’ them from the library and smuggle them back in two weeks later. Never mind BUYING new books, I couldn’t even afford to borrow them from the library…
I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s actually a big factor in where I choose to live nowadays - can I afford my appalling book habit here? (Answer: US and UK, yes. NZ, no.)
Sarah {CEFS} said on 11.07.12 at 02:57 PM • [link]
I totally get that, actually. Though whenever I lend out one of my cheap p-backs, it comes back worse for wear, the others can handle handle quite a few more reads. Though, maybe I just have friends who are book destroyers. ;)
RosieH said on 11.07.12 at 03:09 PM • [link]
We have a wonderful public library here is Brisbane (Australia) with romance well covered. I am also grateful for my e-reader and being able to buy on line from overseas suppliers. I wish I could buy locally but the prices are prohibitive.
Kerry Dustin said on 11.07.12 at 04:02 PM • [link]
Tam, where were you that you had a pay at the library?
We actually have a very good library system here in Auckland and only pay for audio-visual items, but as I hardly read in paper any more, it doesn’t help me much.
That said, I have an 8 year old son who is turning out to be as avid a reader as his mother, but he reads chapter books that he can finish in less than an hour. There’s no way we could possibly afford his book habit (even children’s books cost around $15 each). I am ever, ever, ever so grateful for the library.
Ebony McKenna said on 11.07.12 at 04:22 PM • [link]
Australia has wonderful libraries, both public (funded by local councils) and school ones (get your kids to borrow books out for you) and big ones that are reference-based and non-lending, like the the State Library of Victoria. (Where I’m from)
As for buying, more and more people are bypassing the bookstores entirely and buying on line. I could buy three Anne Gracie novels online for the price of one here. She’s a local author, but published first in the USA.
Malin said on 11.07.12 at 05:09 PM • [link]
By the looks of it, a lot of the Australian covers are the same as in the UK. Frequently I prefer the UK covers, but on a lot of paranormal, they’re not really great in either the US or the UK. The books are also WAY cheaper in the UK, at least in my experience, from when I lived there. Now of course, I buy most of my books online, and pick the currency that makes the book cheapest. Very convenient.
Katie Topping said on 11.07.12 at 05:19 PM • [link]
Yes, prices here in Oz are ridiculous. Book Depository was a godsend, until it was bought by Amazon and the time to ship increased exponentially. I do most of my reading now via ebook, but even they are more expensive if you have to buy from an Aussie retailer due to the publishing rights issue. I think I’ve paid $22 in the past for a recently published ebook. Bookshops are closing daily here, and with prices as they are, its not really suprising. Even ‘discount’ books at Target or Kmart are $20.
kate schneider said on 11.07.12 at 05:27 PM • [link]
This is why I bought an ereader. I got sick of paying so much for books. Now I can get books for a quarter of the price I’d pay in the stores. I also get books from the book depository but it started taking longer for them to arrive in the last year (usually 2 to 3 weeks) so mainly I stick to ebooks.
MaryK said on 11.07.12 at 05:41 PM • [link]
Wowzers! And to add insult to injury some of them have the, much cheaper, UK price printed on the back. Are the Australian published books, like the Parry and Marchetta, equally pricey?
Vivienne said on 11.07.12 at 05:46 PM • [link]
Wile the price of books in Australia are clearly too high, in their defence the quality of the paper is much higher. Given a choice between a US or a UK/Australian edition, I will always go for the second option even if it’s a little more expensive. And while I use e-books and the Book Depository, I make sure to spend some of my money on books at shops at home. Helps to keep Australians in jobs.
Maree said on 11.07.12 at 05:48 PM • [link]
I’m in New Zealand. I read on average around 15-20 books a month and the prices of books here are insane. I’ve just checked Whitcoulls online:
Hardbacks start at $39.99 and go upward (way upward!) from there.
On special paperbacks (e.g. mass market 50 Shades) $14.99
Average paperbacks start at around $19.99 and upward.
I checked out Charlaine Harris’s book Deadlocked, just out of curiosity. The hardback is $41.95, eBook is $19.99 (excuse me while I die laughing). The mass market paperback of Dead Until Dark is $22.95.
Bricks and mortar stores have similar prices.
Honestly, I can’t afford to buy books at these prices. I wait till the book has been out for a while and it’s discounted, then compare prices on the Book Depository, Fishpond, The Nile, and Good Books International. Most have free international shipping, so I expect to pick up a m/m paperback for around $15. If it’s something I’m dying to read, I’ll order it in from the library to read immediately (or in a few months if it’s a popular new release), then wait for the lower prices to roll in before buying the paperbacks. That’s the only way I can afford to keep buying series books for my keeper shelves. I also buy a lot of Kindle books—again I wait till they’re discounted and snap them up. I feel horrible that I can no longer afford to buy full-priced books for myself, but I do buy them as gifts for other people.
And while we’re on the subject of horrendous prices: Cost me $15 each at The Book Depository to buy trade-paperbacks of my Secrets print anthology so I had some print books to give away for prizes. Yay. What’s not so yay is the cost to post those suckers to overseas winners—$19 postage last time I posted one to the US. Yikes. So even giving away print copies of my book has become a luxury I can barely afford.
Book pricing (and postage!) sucks the big kumara. If not for the library and free international shipping, I’d be a very unhappy little Kiwi.
Tam said on 11.07.12 at 05:50 PM • [link]
I was in a small town near Palmerston North, and this was in the ‘90s, so I imagine they’re charging more for library books now.
The Other Susan said on 11.07.12 at 06:20 PM • [link]
Interesting post and comments. I wonder if there are lots of used bookstores in Australia & NZ? And if so, will e-publishing also cause them to go out of business?
Sycorax said on 11.07.12 at 06:29 PM • [link]
Mostly I think Australia is a pretty awesome place to live - decent gun laws, universal health care and the like - but oh, the book prices. I didn’t even realise until a trip to the US five years ago.
I generally buy books during sales or from second hand book shops or op-shops (which I believe are called thrift stores in the US) and I buy an awful lot of ebooks.
Keziah Hill said on 11.07.12 at 07:03 PM • [link]
The Book Depository and ebooks are my main vendors of choice. Which is sad because I have a couple of wonderful independent bookshops in my neck of the woods. I just can’t afford to support them.
Bronte said on 11.07.12 at 07:25 PM • [link]
This is a big reason why I stopped buying books at home. I would buy ebooks if they were available (before the onset of geographical restrictions) and then later I would save for when I when I knew I would be in the US and then buy like mad. If I bought 3-4 books a month, I would save somewhere between 400-500 per year - thats a third of a plane ticket to the US during low season. I think I know what I’d rather spend my money on….
ShellBell said on 11.07.12 at 07:45 PM • [link]
I’m in NZ too, and this is one reason why I started buying eBooks too!
Most of the books sold in NZ are the UK editions. It was always cheaper for me to buy the US edition paperbacks from Amazon.com than the UK edition from an NZ bookshop. Even with postage costs from the US! Amazon would also frequently send out new releases early and so I would receive new books before the US release date so that was always a bonus. The majority of the eBooks I buy are DRM-free as the nuisance of geographical restrictions made me drop quite a few of my favourite authors.
Kerry Dustin said on 11.07.12 at 07:48 PM • [link]
Tam, really? I lived in PN in the 90s. Was it the PN libraries or your smaller local one. I don’t remember charges at the PN libraries, although I admit I didn’t use them much because I was buying US imports by mail order.
MarieC said on 11.07.12 at 08:18 PM • [link]
Geez, with these prices for new books, I imagine used book stores must do well!
CutMyTeethOnKleypas said on 11.07.12 at 08:41 PM • [link]
I need to bookmark this post for the next time I whine about our U.S. prices/covers. :(
22.99?! Jesus, that makes my no-no hole pucker.
Kylie said on 11.07.12 at 08:46 PM • [link]
Australia has something called “parallel content” restrictions- which mean that if a publisher operating in Australia has the right to publish a book here, no one can import a copy from somewhere else. We often do get both the UK and American versions of books otherwise. I don’t know exactly how the restrictions work, other than that they periodically come up for discussion and the argument against disposing of them is that prices will go up.
This is of course horse-puckey- they removed similar cd restrictions a decade ago and prices dropped.
As an American who has spent a fair amount of time living in various countries and close to 2 decades in Australia- the prices made a lot more sense when the exchange rate was 50 cents to the US $- $20 for a paperback was the normal cost then too! And I found it really depressing that it was cheaper for me to buy English books in Japan then here (and they were more expensive than the local books). Basically the book trade here got used to a particular price point then failed to adjust when the exchange rate shifted. Actually most of the retail shops failed to adjust, which has led to many Australians buying large quantities from overseas and much woe from the local chains.
Ebooks do help- but they are still more expensive for Australian residents and are often highly restricted. Strangely enough there is a fair amount of digital piracy in Australia – tv, movies and books. No idea why….
One last thing- for “popular” authors, the solution is to buy books at Big W, Kmart or target – they are usually much cheaper than the book chains- so I saw there is a new Laurens book, I will not be paying more than $15 for one of the trade paperbacks. People do work around the prices. Good independent bookstores have done better than the chains, because they do pass the changed exchange rate benefits on.
And sadly, used book stores are dying here- but Brisbane does have the Southern hemisphere’s largest 2nd hand book event twice a year
Castiron said on 11.07.12 at 09:10 PM • [link]
Yep, scholarly texts are even worse; I’ve been on Bowkerlink looking at information on a monograph that sells for $40 in the U.S., and the Australian price is more like $100.
Ohana said on 11.07.12 at 09:23 PM • [link]
The other thing to keep in mind is that in Australia, a fairly hefty VAT is added to the cover price on books, but sales tax is not added to the US price. This does not account for all of the price difference, not by a long shot, but it is about a 20% add on.
Sarah said on 11.07.12 at 09:32 PM • [link]
We have an *OK* library system, and it varies from council to council.
I mean, we have some FANTASTIC libraries, but you can wait months (at my libraries at least) to get ‘new release’ titles in the library catalogue. Some are better than others, and… well I guess it’s the same all over? :)
Guest said on 11.07.12 at 09:37 PM • [link]
The ‘hardback-lite’ as you named it (very cool name, which Australia should totally get on board with!) are called TPB (trade paperbacks) here. A book doesn’t really have a ‘hardback’ life in Australia. It’s too expensive. But you will find that some of your ‘big’ authors, such as Matthew Reilly, Bryce Courtney, etc will initially be released in hardback.
We also don’t really have a ‘cheap’ paperback (much like America does). They tried to introduce it about 10 years ago (they were slightly smaller from the normal paperback and produced on cheaper paper). The problem was they were only $2-4 dollars cheaper. For that money you might as well spend it to get the better quality book. So that died our pretty quickly (they were called PB A, while they ‘mass market’ you would have seen in the store is our PB B, the trade paperback or ‘hardback-lite’ can also be called TPB C… yeah).
You’ll find the number one reason behind the price difference between Australia and the US is one of people. There are 22 million people that live in Australia. There are over 300 million in the US. No matter how ‘popular’ a book in Australia is it will never ever sell anywhere near what a ‘popular’ book in the US will. The prices you see on Australian books is a price that (barely) has them making money.
I also find Australian publishing is extremely conservative for this reason. We don’t have great variety. The publishers can’t afford to take risks so they go with tried and true.
Australia lives in a different retail climate to the US. I don’t know if you noticed, but if you went into one of our department stores and went to by make-up, you would have seen that the prices were double (sometimes triple) the prices in the US.
Sarah said on 11.07.12 at 09:38 PM • [link]
This is VERY true. But the prices of our Australian books in Australia are the same as the US/CS/UK ones. I paid $25 for a new release trade paperback Melina Marchetta (AU author) novel the other day—the same as I’d pay for a new release trade paperback copy of… well, actually *more* than I’d pay for Laini Taylor’s (US author) new relase Trade Paperback Days of Blood and Starlight which is being advertised for $15 at the moment.
I’m *really* curious about how these laws actually do effect pricing. It’s *strange*
Lynnd said on 11.07.12 at 09:40 PM • [link]
Of course, if a Canadian author (Michelle Sagara/Michelle West, Mary Balogh for example) is published by an American publisher, Canadians still have to pay higher prices than in the U.S.
Jess Dee said on 11.07.12 at 09:41 PM • [link]
It’s been a long time since I’ve purchased a print book in Australia, which is quite a feat, seeing as I live here.
But as Sarah has pointed out, the prices border on absurd.
If I buy a print book, it’s from the Book Depository. (Free postage is a huge attraction and the prices are usually 40-50% lower that Aussie prices.)
Ebooks are of course a huge attraction. They’re way cheaper than print.
But please, don’t be fooled into thinking we buy ebooks at the same price as the US, because we don’t.
Mainstream ebooks are priced differently (read: way higher) here than in the US, and all too often, they are “not available for purchase in Australia”.
BTW - thanks for posting the images of the Aussie book covers. Since all of my book purchases are now made online, and Borders has closed down, it’s been a while since I’ve spent time browsing through a bricks and mortar bookstore. I’m only familiar with the overseas covers. (Wow, that sounds really pathetic, doesn’t it?)
Kat said on 11.07.12 at 09:48 PM • [link]
Now you understand why we almost tackled you to the ground when you brought free books for us! :D
For the interested, here’s a summary of parallel import restrictions in Australia: http://bookthingo.com.au/paral…
It’s the reason why you see, for example, Anna Campbell or Stephanie Laurens titles in C-format (aka hardback-lite) instead of the cheaper A-format (aka mass market) foreign edition in most bookshops. Technically, readers must special-order the foreign edition.
Also GST is only 10%, not 20%.
I think a lot of the bricks & mortar romance-only shops such as Ever After also sell secondhand books. The only secondhand bookshop in Sydney dedicated to romance and sff books closed down earlier this year. Queensland has at least a couple with a good selection of romance titles.
I believe Australian booksellers consider Book Depository as a greater threat than Amazon at the moment. What most people don’t realise is that not only does TBD have the advantage of not being forced to sell C-format books or charging GST, the postage rate they pay is less than the postage for local booksellers. Bookseller+Publisher has an explanation of how the Royal Mail deal works here: http://www.fancygoods.com.au/e… Australia Post has said that it actually makes a loss with every TBD delivery.
This isn’t to say that readers shouldn’t find the best deal, price-wise (I do it all the time!) but in many cases the system works against the local industry, too, and if you talk to booksellers, especially the indies, many of them just as frustrated as the readers.
Kaetrin said on 11.07.12 at 10:06 PM • [link]
Now you understand our pain Sarah!
This is why when I buy paperback, mostly I buy from the Book Depository. And it’s why I love ebooks.
Shannon Peters said on 11.07.12 at 10:27 PM • [link]
Hm, this could be why so many Oz bookstores have to close their doors - they’re pricing themselves out of the market. If only we could compare how many hardcopies are bought in Oz, vs how many are bought online and shipped in…
Tam said on 11.07.12 at 10:42 PM • [link]
Feilding. Horrible little place with a very expensive library! I remember even the second-hand books being fairly expensive there compared to the UK.
Kate K. F. said on 11.07.12 at 10:48 PM • [link]
Oh Dymocks, that brings back a lot of memories. I lived in New Zealand for three years and lived in Dymocks in Wellington. Though I didn’t buy a lot of books there, instead I got most of my reading material from libraries and the amazing sale bins in bookstores. I think it was W.H. Smith that had the best sale bins, books for US prices. That’s where I discovered Lindsey Davis’ Falco books and then caught up with them at the library.
I was in New Zealand when the last Harry Potter book came out and I bought it at the Dymocks in Wellington. I still have the purple reusable bag that it came in somewhere. I want to go back and I love the checkmarks on the books. That would be useful especially with romances and fantasy as I find they can be the worst for covers telling you what’s in the book.
Ohana said on 11.07.12 at 10:49 PM • [link]
Also GST is only 10%, not 20%.
...Interesting. I’m a Harlequin author, and the cover prices that Harlequin quotes in my royalty statements for the book are 20% lower than the price listed on the cover. They claimed the difference was VAT, which I don’t get paid royalties on.
So. Yeah. That falls in the category of “interesting.”
Kate K. F. said on 11.07.12 at 10:51 PM • [link]
When I lived in New Zealand a number of years ago, there was a cost to take out best sellers at the Dunedin library in the South Island. I remember this because I paid five dollars to read The Da Vinci Code and it was a complete waste of my money. Though I never came across that at the Wellington Public Library, it might be a way to support buying books, but I never found out why.
Kylie said on 11.07.12 at 11:03 PM • [link]
One thing that helped was that Australia doesn’t seem to have the front cover returns system the USA does, so unsold books were sent to remainder stores where they were usually 1/4 the price that the bookstore charged.
Provided one was willing to wait (and I got to the point where I knew the timeframe that applied) you could pick up newish books for much less. I think I got a nice trade pb of carl hiassen’s Sick Puppy for $4.99 about 6 months after it was released(would have been $22 or so then) and that made me realise what options were available.
They weren’t comprehensive, and you did have to know what they specialised in, but it did make a lot of book purchases possible.
There seem to be significantly less of these now than there were a decade ago though, so it is online ordering and ebooks for me.
And the library system is ok, but they have a nasty habit of selling off their older (3 years old) books so that you have the second half of a series availalble but not the first book.
One of the reasons retail in Australia is so expensive is that the importing wholesalers charge a higher price than is charged retail overseas. That includes the manufacturers as well. So while there are factors driving up the price of some things,one of the main factors is a very high profit margin for the manufacturer/retailer and an acceptance by the big chains. A standard kitchen aid mixer costs $750! I have been eying one off for the last 5 years, and yet cannot bring myself to reward the bloodsucking importers
Loni said on 11.08.12 at 12:02 AM • [link]
I’m an Australian but one of the things I have found -thanks to one of my dear friends- is a specialty romance bookstore in Melbourne that imports direct from the US, so same price as everywhere else but they get it in time for the American release dates, and if I’m lucky they sometimes have it a couple of days before the release; and so for example I once got a copy of one of the Ilona Andrews books a few days early.
I have also received emails from them that contain a photo of a newly opened box revealing the latest Nalini Singh novel to tell me it’s in, which of course made me so incredibly happy.
I have also never seen that checklist thing on a romance novel in Melbourne.
Martsmoons said on 11.08.12 at 12:50 AM • [link]
Prices seem so high. I’m surprised people don’t boycott.
Eneit said on 11.08.12 at 01:09 AM • [link]
a big factor in books being cheaper in the US and UK than in Australia is we don’t print out quite the same amount of copies, therefore pushing the publishing price per unit up. Population-wise, the US has 314,731000 according to latest statistics, UK has 62,262000, and Australia has 22,805832. So a big print run over here is nowhere near what it is for the US or the UK, and the US, and we don’t have the same high percentage of published books being pulped every year as the US, which I believe is approx 40%. So we pay high prices for a) still having a publishing industry in this country, and b) we don’t kill as many trees to get that lower per unit price.
BRNZ said on 11.08.12 at 01:42 AM • [link]
Another Kiwi here and I can definately tell you that books are even more expensive here, mostly to do with the exchange rate, but also the extra distance of shipping and the fact that we have very limited almost monopolies controlling the bookselling in NZ.
I started buying off Amazon back when we got Internet in 1997 and switched to Book Depository a few years ago. I allow myself about $100 every 6 months to get the books I *must* have in print, usually HB for the latest editions, but yes I have a Kindle and loving it to bits (but HATE HATE HATING the stupid region restrictions publishers put on them - I can buy the print version in the shop, why can’t I get the ebook????)
We do have a pretty good library system in NZ, its free to join and generally free to borrow. I reserve a lot of new releases and they cost me $2 a book and they also offer Best Sellers you can have for $5 for a week as another option. They are also good about ordering stuff in, esp if its series and my local library has a really good selection of SF and Fantasy and urban paranormal stuff because a few of the librarians read it.
It totally sucks how expensive books are, reference books are HORRENDOUS - I enquired of a local specialty bookstore for a torchon lace book and they quoted around $90 and I got the same book from BD for about $25. And it gets worse!
Thankyou for highlighting the plight of overly expensive books here in the Outer Reaches of Here Be Dragons!
Sarah said on 11.08.12 at 03:31 AM • [link]
Ohana, that is VERY interesting. It’s definitely called GST (Goods and Services Tax) on Au, and it’s 10% AND it’s included in the cover price—all the stickers SB Sarah listed included tax. I’m… Mmmmmm. Very VERY interesting :S
Damon Cavalchini said on 11.08.12 at 04:10 AM • [link]
And yet, Australians are the highest per capita consumers of books in the English speaking world.
http://www.bookmarket.com/stat…
I still wish books were cheaper but have become accustomed to their price.
Lauren Castan said on 11.08.12 at 04:47 AM • [link]
My local romance bookstore in Sydney also direct orders from the US. So it’s a real pleasure to go in there and have a chat about what’s new, what we’ve been reading etc. I really prefer to buy books in this genre because I enjoy lending them to friends and vice versa. If I had to pay the sticker prices shown in the photos, I’d never buy any.
Echo November said on 11.08.12 at 06:26 AM • [link]
I agree with Damon. I do wish the prices were cheaper - thank goodness for digital editions now! - but I’ve grown accustomed to the steep cost of my beloved books. I figure that if my only real vice is an abundance of reading material, then so be it.
Nicole said on 11.08.12 at 07:04 AM • [link]
There is no VAT in Australia, the sticker price quoted includes all taxes (10%GST).
Nicole said on 11.08.12 at 07:10 AM • [link]
I’m Australian but lived in the US for several years, then I moved home and haven’t shopped in Aus for anything other than food or electrical items since! I can’t bring myself to pay triple the price I know an item can be bought for in the US. If only I could find a way to combine American shopping with Australian food….
Aurora said on 11.08.12 at 07:40 AM • [link]
I hope Australians earn a lot of money to buy those books…and here I thought Half Price Books stores were sometimes expensive…and with prices like that, it’s really discouraging to have books and reading as a hobby.
http://sveta-randomblog.blogsp…
Kerry Dustin said on 11.08.12 at 02:37 PM • [link]
The population thing is indeed a big factor, and it’s worse in NZ as we only have population of just over 4 million.
Someone mentioned boycotting - I guess that’s what we are doing, those of us that buy ebooks and from Book Depository. I hadn’t thought of it that way as I was just maximising the number of books I can buy for the budget I have.
Sandy said on 11.08.12 at 03:00 PM • [link]
Taxes in Canada vary by province ....
for example 5 provinces have the new HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) and it ranges from 8% to 15% ...13% in Ontario
Many of the other provinces have GST and PST…making a combined sales tax of between 7% to 14.5%
All books shipping to a Canadian address are subject to GST (Goods and Services Tax) but are NOT charged PST (Provincial Sales Tax).
“No PST” is applicable to educational audio books only.
GST is now 5% for books.
This also adds to the price especially if there is a delivery charge…the tax is once again added to the delivery
for example: $20 book + $5 shipping + GST =
I find the price with The Book Depository a better deal-usually the book is less expensive and there is NO delivery charge or sales tax. The only problem is the time. But if I really want or need a book…ebook is the way to go.
Again…there is sales tax applied to all ebooks ordered from Canadian sites..e.g. Chapters/Indigo (KOBO) or Amazon.ca.
PhyllisLaatsch said on 11.08.12 at 03:05 PM • [link]
Seriously expensive! And isn’t the “hardback lite” size paperback called a “trade paperback”? Even with taxes included, some of those are still 3x the US price. Insane!
samantha said on 11.08.12 at 03:08 PM • [link]
Back when we had our Used bookstore one of our best customers was a man from Australia. He would raid our MMPB section and ship the books back to Australia via boat. I think he then sold them to used bookstores in Australia. We always gave him a good deal and I think they were selling them used for the US cover price. Even with the shipping costs I think he was making good profits. I think the high price of the Aussie books was one reason he did this, but I think it was also because our selection of titles and authors is better here.
Sandy said on 11.08.12 at 03:23 PM • [link]
Here are some prices in Canada==e.g. The Mark of Athena
THE MARK OF ATHENA by Rick Riordan
Hard Cover Copy
Costco Canada: $11.99
Chapters: $19.99
Independent: $19.99
Amazon.ca: $14.43 plus delivery (minimum $5.00 unless free shipping with a minimum of $25 order)
The Book Depository UK: $18.00 Canadian
KOBO (Chapters ebook): $12.99
US PRICES
Amazon.com: $10.98 plus delivery
Books a Million: $10.99 plus delivery
Interesting Info: for BAM to ship to Canada $4.00 per order PLUS $13.99 per item
Lynnd said on 11.08.12 at 03:36 PM • [link]
In Ontario the full HST (13%) applies to ebooks, but it does not apply to print books. Only the old GST portion (5%) applies to print books. This is what makes agency pricing even worse here. Also, our HST/GST is not included in the sticker price of a book - it is added on at the time of purchase.
Of course, none of this compares with the prices Aussies and Kiwis have to pay for books. If we had to pay those prices, our bookstores would likely have closed long ago.
Julaine said on 11.08.12 at 05:15 PM • [link]
I seriously wonder if it would be more cost effective to send my cousin a new ereader every few months with all the books she wants loaded onto it than to have her pay the prices they charge for books in Australia. I understand what drives the price up of physical books but some of the prices they want for ebooks are crazy and geographic restrictions don’t make as much sense as language editions when you are talking about digital books so that is just another example of the publishing industry lagging behind actual market needs, once again.
Alex (A GirlBooks&OtherThings) said on 11.08.12 at 05:16 PM • [link]
I get you on the shipping, it’s really a killer once you venture out of US and Canada. That’s why I’ve sworn eternal love to Book Depository, sometimes I even rather buy the books in pounds because the currency we have now is like 13.4 pesos to the dollar. Totally insane.
Pharazyn_ said on 11.08.12 at 05:45 PM • [link]
I’m in New Zealand and these seem pretty average. Books are insanely expensive Downunder, because of shipping I think.
Arienette said on 11.08.12 at 06:25 PM • [link]
I’m in NZ too, and book prices are horrific. I used to work at a book store, and even with staff discount it was way cheaper to buy them off the internet (which I felt terrible about, but was necessary as a poor student). I can save over $100 per book sometimes by buying my medical textbooks off bookdepository instead of at the university bookshop, which I obviously do, but I think is really sad.
Maree said on 11.08.12 at 10:43 PM • [link]
So far as I know, libraries only charges on borrows of selected new releases—the main stand I see at my small local libraries in Auckland indicates a charge of about $5 (I think that’s right) for a new release hardback. That said, I’m often high on the waiting list for new releases and I haven’t yet been charged for any of the ones I’ve borrowed. Not sure of the how or why on the charges. Maybe it doesn’t apply if you’re ordering them electronically? Must ask next time I go in. And check with my in-laws in Palmerston North, too.
Maree said on 11.08.12 at 10:49 PM • [link]
Oh, I LOVED Busy Bee when I last visited Wellington. I came out with a huge bag full of used books, including a stack of Georgette Heyers…. because I was so gutted about not being able to purchase the discounted eBook re-releases at ARe and Sourcebooks due to those heinous regional restrictions.
Kerry Dustin said on 11.08.12 at 11:13 PM • [link]
Maree - as I understand it, the charges are if you want to jump the queue and take them off the shelf right away. If you request them in the normal order of things, you just go through the queue and get them when you get the top.
DesLivres said on 11.09.12 at 02:03 AM • [link]
I’m Australian, and I rarely buy a book here. I get them from Amazon who think I live in Oregon (I have Amazon prime), other ebooksellers in the US or from bookdepository. I did buy a book published here a couple of years ago, and haven’t recovered yet. Every now and then I glare at it and think “that cost me $27.99!”
Books are an extreme example - but most of our retail goods have been overpriced for a long time. More and more of us are buying stuff on the net now for that very reason.
Lillian Grant said on 11.09.12 at 04:11 AM • [link]
We have some sort of protectionism going on down here, hence the high prices. The Government was on about changing it buy publishers and authors got upset. I don’t get it. I’m an author but I refuse to buy books from stores down here in South Australia. I buy them online or with my Kindle. If I travel to the US I travel with an empty suitcase to fill with books. If only you could bring Corona home in your suitcase as well!
Bess said on 11.09.12 at 08:36 AM • [link]
Someone mentioned to me the price of books is higher but we pay our staff more. Was surprised and sad to hear how little shop staff get paid in the States. Can it be true people work for less than $10 per hour? I think even juniors here get about $14 and uni students usually want and get about $20 per hour for menial jobs. Pls correct me if these figures are wrong,
Christina Auret said on 11.09.12 at 09:30 AM • [link]
These prices are about the same as what we pay in South Africa. Which is why I bought a kindle*. Even a new Nora Roberts at $17 is still about R50 cheaper (about $6) than I would be able to get it in a book store. A big added bonus is that I also have much faster wider access to books with the kindle. It can take a few months for new American releases to make it into South African book stores.
*Ok, lets be honest: I had to choose between buying another bookshelf and buying a kindle and I simply did not have space for another book shelf.
Laura Iseman said on 11.09.12 at 06:31 PM • [link]
Possibly, I am in Australia and my Uni textbooks ranged from $95-$120 each. 8->
Elisa said on 11.09.12 at 08:11 PM • [link]
I’m in Australia (the lowest point being Tasmania) and we have 1 major bookstore and the rest are small family owned stores. I find that paperbacks are huge and expensive and at the rate I read I would need to own a library just to house the books I bought. I got a kindle a little over a year ago and have over 400 read books on it. Not only are the books better in price but I have all the space I need for them.
Sarah Bridge said on 11.09.12 at 11:52 PM • [link]
I’m Australian and buy my books from thebookdepository. Otherwise I may last minute buy a book at Dymocks. They also have a member’s card and it’s a pretty good points system. But, of course, you need to buy the books first.
FranW said on 11.10.12 at 02:55 AM • [link]
Small world! I’m a Yank who used to shop at Dawn Treader in AA, now living near PN in NZ. We live rural, not in PN, so we have to pay to use the Palmy public library—I think it’s $2 for an ‘old’ book and $5 for a new release? Can’t remember as I’ve never availed myself of the offer.
But yes books are ungodly expensive here, though the cover price does include NZ’s 15% sales tax/GST. It’s why I have an ereader and buy almost exclusively ebooks from the US now.
girlygirlhoosier52 said on 11.10.12 at 06:10 AM • [link]
Hey… you all have a great basis for a used book online trade…. here in the USA there’s paperbackswap where you list books online and for every one requested and mailed from you - your account receives one credit… which allows you to request one book.. essentially, you get a used book for the price of mailing one… I’m sure it’s trade marked etc…. but an interesting idea for those of you who want to swap some books…
ThingsAlySays said on 11.10.12 at 01:15 PM • [link]
I live in a non-English speaking country in Europe and the book prices are also insanely high. Also, the editors only release mass-marked paperbacks. No pocket-sized paperbacks or hardbacks.
You’d probably think “Oh the book prices are high in your country because they have to translate them!” but it’s not so. Even books written in our own language are the exact same price.
You can’t buy any book here for less than €18. It doesn’t matter if the writer is a nobody or a super popular one. Even the worst romance novel ever written would have the same price as the best ones.
This is why I stopped buying books in local bookstores. For the past 5 years I’ve ordered my books online through TheBookDepository. I can buy 4 books there for the price of 1 in a bookstore.
Of course, that means that everything I read is in English, but it doesn’t make any difference to me. Plus, the people who translate books in my country must be insane (or maybe forged their diplomas) because the translations are SO BAD it’s ridiculous. It’s another reason why it’s hard to pay so much for a poorly-translated book.
Maite said on 11.10.12 at 02:02 PM • [link]
I’m from Chile, and I’ve practically stopped buying books new. Why?
1) New releases are only from the top of the bestseller list (There are like 50 copies of every 50 Shades book, but not a single Loretta Chase book),
2) Cost is between US$27 and US$41.
3) My favorites are Speculative Fiction and Romance, and the only way too know if they are good is to read at least 20 pages in, and bookstore people look at me in a seriously weird way when I do that (Okay, so they look at me weird from the moment I start laughing at the books on display, but I dare you NOT to laugh reading the back reviews of 50 shades). And there’s so little market for them that a book that costs US$16 goes up to US$47 in translation.
4) One bookstore has started importing books from the US, which means I see how much extra is added to books. With ASOIAF, the books in english where US$19. Spanish translations were US$43.
5) In each bookstore, there is one person who actually knows books, and that I have to avoid like the plague whenever I have cash. The rest? I know the titles they are selling better than them. I don’t mind “Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters” on the classic section, but they have no idea what half of their main display is about.
6) There’s no discount rack. I didn’t even know discount racks existed until I visited the NYC’s Barnes & Nobles and had to be physically dragged away from the place. Since then, I’ve discovered that they do “unload extra” elsewhere, but there are no fixed dates about that.
7) The next bookseller that tells me that Dan Brown is worth buying at fully inflated price is getting a really long diatribe about why, even though his books are entretaining, I’d rather the tree was still planted.
Used bookstores, on the other hand, let me read on site, always offer discounts if I’m buying over three books, tend to have some notion of what they sell, and prices are decent to begin with. And then there’s the variety.
Ngaire said on 11.10.12 at 06:26 PM • [link]
These are typical prices for Australia across the board.
That’s why I have a kindle or order books online.
Bec said on 11.10.12 at 06:53 PM • [link]
I live in Sydney & love the George St Dymocks (almost as much as I love Kinokunya - did you get there? It’s just up the road), but I very rarely buy books from bookstores anymore, a) because of the price and b) because of he limited range - especially in children’s books.
I teach year1 (first grade) and tend to buy most of my books from the book depository because I can always find books that match the units of work we’re studying. It’s actually almost impossible to find quality non-fiction children’s books anywhere in a mainstream bookstore here.
Bec said on 11.10.12 at 06:58 PM • [link]
Continued from my previous comment. Sorry, Comment box froze…
I buy most of my personal books as e readers because of the pricing unless its part of a series I already have on my shelf. I feel bad when I hear about stores like Borders closing and Angus & Robertson restructuring but… I can’t afford their prices (I can buy children’s books on the BD or $3-$4 compared to $10-15 in a bookstore and I tend to need to buy about 10-15books for each unit I teach!) and they just don’t sell what I need.
Fifi said on 11.11.12 at 12:17 AM • [link]
What bothers most Canadians is the US price vs. the Canadian price. Our $ is worth more than th USD and we pay more for the book!!? Even when the $ is at par, we still have a Cdn. price listed.
Something is rotten in the state of publishing
ammy said on 11.11.12 at 07:58 AM • [link]
As an aussie i tend to buy my books at book depository. There’s alws in Australia to “protect” the publishing industry hence why the prices are set so high; but it seriously backfires.
Alexmac said on 11.11.12 at 12:40 PM • [link]
I’m in Palmy right now! The prices at stores are accurate, and to check out a new book it’s about $3, I think? Enough for me to wait. Putting them on hold is $1 (I figure, I’m a student not paying any taxes, so a small fine is fair). No way I’d buy anything, though. Don’t get me started on textbooks- I carry about 20lbs of books in at the start of every semester, and save about $200-300 doing that.
Andrea said on 11.11.12 at 03:57 PM • [link]
What kind of an ereader does she have/would you buy? Because it might be an idea to get a Sony (or another reader) with the ability to use SD cards/some kind of memory thingie and then just mail new SD cards/memory thingies… Those are fairly cheap (at least here) and if you have two, your cousin could mail the “used” one back empty and you could “refill” it…
Joel Naoum said on 11.11.12 at 06:10 PM • [link]
Prices for books in Australia are mostly about the costs of printing and distribution and economies of scale. Physical size of Australia is similar to the US but the population is 20 million versus the US’s 300 million. I know they seem ridiculous, but this is the cost of keeping books on the shelves with a sale or return model!
Susan said on 11.12.12 at 10:06 AM • [link]
I’ve never used the Amazon ebook lending feature—can the books be loaned internationally? I know there are some FB lending groups, so maybe the Down Under readers could take advantage of that?
Kat said on 11.14.12 at 08:43 AM • [link]
This is something I’ve thought of possibly starting (at least informally among friends), but posting one mass market single title would cost $6.50—sometimes you can get brand new releases for cheaper from TBD. So the only way I can see a postage-based used book system working is to obtain specific out-of-print titles, and I’m just not sure we’d have enough of a critical mass to even get that off the ground.
Lush said on 11.14.12 at 10:55 AM • [link]
And yet Australians are massive book fans & do indeed buy loads of books. Mind you with Book Depository and free postage things are changing.
kristen said on 11.16.12 at 06:36 AM • [link]
And this is why I borrow from the library and buy from the Book Depository. Apologies to independent Australian booksellers, but I can’t afford you.
Not to mention I HATE the ‘hardcover-lite’ size. They might as well bill them as large-print. Complete waste of paper and money. Mass-market is indeed a score if you can find them.
Upstart1 said on 11.18.12 at 05:11 AM • [link]
Funny you should mention that. Australia does have an amazing public library system. I read websites like this for reviews, then log onto the local library site and reserve the book I want. More often than not it’s available or I might have to wait a bit. As far as book prices go, yeah, it’s ridiculously expensive down here.
Upstart1 said on 11.18.12 at 05:15 AM • [link]
Our libraries are fab. I would like to buy more books though and I’d like to support the local booksellers rather than buying from OS but who can afford that? The only time I buy books locally is when (for some reason) I’m buying someone a gift
Lynn Holley said on 11.18.12 at 08:19 PM • [link]
Yes, books here in Australia are expensive, but you can get better prices if you know where to go. Dymocks is always pretty expensive, as was Borders when we had it and Angus and Robertson. QBD is much cheaper, although can still be quite high depending on what it is - for example, the Avon romances I devour are $12.99-$15.95, which is crap compared to the US $7.99, but still better than most other places.
Everything Harlequin/Mills & Boon can be bought from a Target for roughly 20% below RRP, from a K-Mart for 35% below RRP and from a Big W for 40% below RRP. K-Mart and Big W are also the way to go for new releases from Australian authors (as they have a 25%-35% discount from RRP) as well as new releases from worldwide authors such as Patricia Cornwall, James Patterson, Stephen King etc. It’s painful, but when it comes to books I’m determined to get the best price lol.
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