# Pricing of books...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pricing-of-books/105087>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 23, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pricing-of-books/105087 "2002-04-23T01:31:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chekmate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/46a35a/32.png) [@Chekmate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chekmate)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pricing-of-books/105087/1 "2002-04-23T01:31:13Z")

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I had to buy [this book](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/015507038X/qid=1019524789/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_5_1/102-9752483-8495329) for my intro to social science class, and I just got to thinking, what is it exactly that makes an uninteresting, 160 page paperback book cost 28 damn dollars?! It’s outrageous!

Another question, is that why, when I go to a public school for free, they buy all my textbooks for me, but when I pay $24K/year for a private university, I have to buy my own books? For example, this term, I had to buy $500 worth of books! How do they expect me to afford that? I am a poor college student. Yeash!

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**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\
**Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pricing-of-books/105087/2 "2002-04-23T01:49:39Z")

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> [@](#):
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> what is it exactly that makes an uninteresting, 160 page paperback book cost 28 damn dollars?

In the case of a college textbook, the main culprit is its limited sales potential. In book publishing a lot of the cost is fixed, and low expected sales volume practically guarantees it’s going to be expensive.