I read Joel Miller's Substack (not sure how I got started) because he does thoughtful book reviews. Here is one worth reading:
If you can't get to it, essentially he defends the costs of new books (especially in retail stores) because they have stayed below inflation for other things in the market. He uses the costs of the original To Kill a Mockingbird and The Fellowship of the Ring in the early 1960s: $3.95 and $5.00. Today a hardcopy of TKAM is $27.99, but if it had followed inflation rates for everything else, it would be $43.00.
He then presents a clear argument about what you're getting for that $19.99 or $24.99 you pay for a new book. As a writer, I appreciate this. As someone who works closely with a small publishing company, I appreciate it even more.
However, he misses some key points.
First, books are available other ways now: mostly used bookstores and libraries, and we need not bring up the River (or race of mythic warrior women) in the room. Yes, a book is a deal at the "first-run" prices if you consider what it is. A year of more of a writer's time. The work of dozens of people in a big publishing company. Paper and ink. I get it. But getting the book at a much reduced price is very easy if you are patient or a good shopper.
The second problem is not about costs. It's about space. I am looking at ten or more boxes of books in my study/family room. There are more elsewhere. I have chosen not to spend money on a book shelf and put them up for display. I need to cull and give away about half of them. They are books from teaching, books from grad school, books from my youth, books bought recently. A lot of them need to be on my lap and read, once or again. The boxes are ugly and I could put them in a storage shed, out of the way. Their presence here reminds me they need to be dealt with sooner than later. I am not the only person with this albatross of hundreds of books we don't want to part with.
The third issue I have with Miller's essay is more about macroeconomics. In the early 1960s most Americans spent little money on what I would call "communication." The monthly phone bill for the black box somewhere convenient and central in the house. A subscription to the local paper. Books. What else? There was literally no cable TV. Beyond that, Internet service? Streaming? Subscriptions to websites? That was science fiction.
Today, the costs of electronic devices and their use--cell phone bill, cable, Internet service, annual subscriptions to magazine or newspaper sites--take up a significant part of our budgets. For me personally, close to $400 a month, maybe more sometimes. That's not much less than we pay for food and eating out, and we are cheap about those things. I don't even have cable.
Relatedly, since inflation is so high, a bigger chunk of the average person's budget is taken up with necessities. I won't say books are a luxury, just that new ones at full retail price are. That's why anyone who buys one of my books has my undying gratitude. I don't take it for granted they have chosen to buy and read my work rather than someone else's.
Finally, people who are given to reading books might very well not be as wealthy as those who don't. I mean teachers, college professors, and knowledge workers don't always make as much money as investment bankers. Not saying investment bankers don't read books . . . what would I know? I'm just saying a lot of us who would love to have those glossy new titles on our shelves aren't the world's biggest wage earners.
Those services provide a good bit of my reading material, as my ability to read Joel Miller's article shows.
Point: his argument is apples and oranges. We live in a totally different information consumption ecosystem. If I buy a new book, it goes into the already high category of "communication/information consumption/access." To say nothing of the fact that I am friends with a number of authors and feel a bit of obligation to buy their books, too. I am unlikely to succumb to the desire for that shiny new cover or the title that the podcast talked about.
That said, I do have $380 worth of Barnes and Noble gift cards!
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