Some Library-bound books are archival-quality, others are not. Either way, if you want to get the library binding, you’ll generally have to a.) go to a decent bookstore that has Books In Print on CD (B&N / Borders are fine, but not Waldenbooks) b.) Talk to someone who’s knowledgeable about ordering (so they don’t try to buy the wrong thing for you) c.) special order and pay through the nose (a reputable bookstore won’t try to gouge you, but Library Bound books are more expensive.
And you think that YOU have it bad welby. Try living in Aus where even a crappy p/b will set you back AT LEAST $20. Anything vaguely decent will empty your pockets to the tune of $40 and up!
I had to purchase a p/b book for uni last semester. Not a ‘text’ per se, but more a pop-oriented book about the way people make judgements and decisions. Even with the damn discounts offered by the uni bookshop, it still came out at $70…and it only ran to just under 200 pages (and small one’s at that…and not even any piccies to look at!!)
The ‘rationale’ behind the exorbitant prices is apparently that we have such a small population that it costs the publishers more to do limited runs. Plus we now have a GST (or VAT or whatever you want to call it) which bumps the prices up even more!
Be buggered, sez me. If they would make books more affordable, perhaps they would have a more literate and more enlightened society. Or perhaps they really would prefer us ignorant and sitting in front of the telly!
You’d think so, kambuckta. The fight against ignorant children is being lost in the pocketbook, and the publishing houses are to blame. After his first novel that was remotely popular, Cold Mountain Charles Frazier sold the rights to his next book for $8 million. That’s right, $8 million bucks for an idea!
That puts the publishing house $8 million in the whole before they ever read a word, much less publish or market the thing.
Bastards.
Thanks Some Guy, for the info.
Absimia
Publishers actually go out of their way to entice kids by offering them books at a significantly lower price than what adults pay.
Children’s books typically cost a couple of bucks less than equivilent adult books. Few children’s books are published using the hardcover/paperback model, and those that are–usually contenders for the big awards–are usually available for $6-10 less than major adult hardcover releases. This is if you choose to pay retail.
Most publishers of children’s books have distribution deals with either Scholastic (which is itself the largest publisher of children’s books), Troll, or both, and one or two other minor companies to sell books at a huge discount through the schools. You can typically get new paperbacks for around $2-4, and hardbacks for $6-8. It isn’t unusual to see classics for $1-2.
The most recent Newberry Award winner (A Single Shard) is currently available only in hardback, but can be bought directly from Scholastic for $7 (with no sales tax or shipping added).
absimia: Classics or bestsellers are often readily available in library bindin for direct order from the major online retailers (Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Buy). For major current bestsellers you have to special order through a major bookstore, as Some Guy said. There are companies that will rebind older books into Archival quality bindings, though the cost is more than the book probably cost in the first time.
That last paragraph should begin:
absimia: Classics or older bestsellers . . .
Number Six thanks for the info. I probably should have qualified my statement a bit. My kids are 15 and 16 years old, so they’re really out of kiddy book range and into the adult books. My son is into SF, which is fine because I’ve got a ton of those on the shelf. My daughter, however, is into romance and the occasional mystery, the former never making it onto the shelf, the latter in numbers so small as to be insignifigant.