Many things have gone up in price during the recent cost of living crisis, and books are no exception. This can make it harder for readers on a lower budget to access the books they want. However, there is one easy way you can help to reduce the cost: avoid hardback books.
There is a common misconception that nobody buys hardback books anymore. However, according to Nielsen BookScan, hardback fiction books make up £70m of book sales per year, so this is clearly not the case. One reason hardbacks are still popular is due to the UK’s custom of publishing new releases as hardbacks first, while paperbacks tend to come out between six months to a year afterwards. If people have already been waiting years for their favourite authors to publish another book, they understandably don’t want to wait another year – sometimes more – to read it. There are also other selling points to hardback books: they are more resistant to wear and tear than paperbacks, while their large size makes them more eye-catching on bookshelves and coffee tables. However, the benefits of the hardback come at a cost: in 2022, the average Recommended Retail Price (RRP) of a hardback fiction book in the UK was £20.25, while a paperback was almost half the price at £10.38. Although this may seem unfair to booklovers who can’t afford to read these anticipated new releases straightaway, hardbacks are crucial to publisher profits. According to Dinah Dunn, the extra revenue generated from hardbacks allow publishers to pay the all-important expenses of producing the book in the first place: shipping, printing, distribution, plus the author’s advance. In this view, hardbacks can allow more books to be published, ultimately giving the consumer a wider range of books to choose from.
It is worth noting that highly anticipated books such as Boris Johnson’s Unleashed and Jamie Oliver’s Simply Jamie have a far greater RRP than the average hardback, both at £30 respectively. Despite this, both books are being sold for £15 each on Amazon, even though it has only been a month since their publication dates. This suggests that most customers are unlikely to buy these books at such high prices. However, the allure of hardbacks doesn’t only apply to newly released books. Penguin Books has a ‘Clothbound Classics’ collection, where titles ranging from Pride and Prejudice to Nineteen Eighty-Four are available in exquisitely patterned hardcovers. Although these books would look beautiful on any shelf, a ‘Clothbound Classics’ edition of Pride and Prejudice costs £16.99, whereas the Penguin Classics paperback version is nearly a third of the price at £5.99. Even though people are paying triple the money for essentially the same text, the trend of ‘aesthetic’ bookshelves on social media means that the additional price is worth it for some. Penguin understands this, and they continue to release hardback versions of books that have been in print for centuries.
Image: a ‘Clothbound Classics’ edition of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Zoe via Unsplash.
So, how can you make the most of your budget to buy as many books as possible? The most important thing is to be patient. Waiting a year for a book to come out in paperback could mean you’re buying it at half the price compared to when it was first released in hardback. If you can’t wait that long, big book retailers will sometimes slash their prices of hardbacks after just one month. When visiting a bookstore, avoid being tempted by the decorative hardbacks near the front doors and instead head straight for the many shelves of paperbacks further in. If brand-new paperbacks are too expensive, some charity shops sell books for only a couple of pounds – an absolute steal. Finally, if you would rather not pay anything for a book, there is always the option to borrow it from your local library. These books are also likely to be hardbacks, as libraries buy them for their durability. If your library doesn’t yet have a newly released book, you can ask them to order a copy for you. That way, you can read the new release as soon as it comes out without having to spend a penny!
Even though book prices are rising, that doesn’t have to mean you’ll get less for your money. The trick is to avoid hardbacks, no matter how beautiful they might look on your shelves, and wait for the paperbacks instead.
Featured image: Nick Fewings via Unsplash.