By Shaina Lucas, PPS Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic affected the world in every aspect: health, supply-chain demands, and inflation. We’ve seen costs rise on just about everything. But why books? Wouldn’t supply and demand keep the costs of books down since we are in a digital age with more books than anyone could ever read in their lifetime? One would think that would be the case, but the rising costs go well beyond just the book itself. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the world of publishing to find out just what exactly is driving the prices of our favorite reads.
What Factors Are Causing It?
While the average cost per book for printing has gone down, other factors have increased the final purchase price. During COVID, the world ran into a supply-chain shortage as many goods were not being made due to closed factories or a skeleton crew. Shipping also came to a near-halt, which meant goods were not able to go overseas to their various destinations. One supply affected greatly was paper. The significant paper shortage led to print delays. This caused an issue with printing costs going up to cover this and in turn caused publishers and independent authors to increase their book prices to allocate for royalties and licensing fees.
Licensing fees play a major factor in costs. There are rights that need to be purchased to create book covers, editors and formatters to pay for their services, and various marketing costs like ads and social media boosting. Authors and publishers also need to pay for the rights to use any licensed content in the book itself, such as art, song lyrics, or excerpts, as not all available content falls under the “credit given” copyright guidelines.
In 2021, Ingram Spark, a book publishing company, announced that print books increased 10% to 12% in 2021 as many paper factories converted to cardboard factories for online retailing, and shipping costs increased 50% to 70%. This in turn is what caused paper prices to increase, forcing publishers to drastically raise the cost of a book to the consumer.
Are Some Genres More Affected Than Others?
Certainly! Most fiction genres like romance and young adult have seen around a $2 to $4 increase in USD since 2022. Textbooks continue to fluctuate due to the costs of college tuition and market needs. In the United Kingdom alone, paperback books prices rose 84 pence from £9.54 in 2019 to £10.38 in 2022, and now prices are expected to continue to rise to around £12 in 2024. Revenue greatly increased in 2020 and 2021 during the height of the pandemic but then dropped around 9% in 2022 since people were getting back to work and the world started business-as-usual again. Prices of the same book can also vary across countries! A book in the United Kingdom can be purchased for £7.99 (about $9.75 USD), but the same book is being sold in the United States for $17.99!
Does This Include E-Book Pricing?
As of now, not so much. There has been an increase since editors and proofreaders have been raising their costs but not significantly enough to affect e-book costs. However, due to the recent changes Amazon has rolled out regarding their Kindle Unlimited subscription pricing versus author royalties, creating a separate issue in regard to e-book production.