03:57 400% ( I did say more than that lol )

I miss when my mom could give me a $5 bill to get a book at the Scholastic fair :(

I used to walk out of B&N with so many books. I'd happily spend 50 bucks. But now I'm not walking out of te store with 2 books for almost 50 bucks.
I shop thrift and independent book stores where I live.

Guys, this is why we need Libraries and to support local thrift book stores...

You know what's crazy? DC Comics has been learning lately that TPBs are actually really good for sales. They have been bundling their popular "big" stories (Long Halloween, Death in the Family, etc.) into single arc, lower cost (and lower value), paperbacks that have been flying off the shelves. For ~10 bucks in a bunch of comic places you can get that beater, toss in a backpack, dog-ear pages, famous stories at entry level pickups.

Honestly, I think every problem in my life can be summarized as, "And then greedy executives tried to squeeze every last red cent out of a good thing until nobody could afford it but the rich." Books, video games, fresh food, housing, adequate medical care, education, nature, exercise, social bonds, dating, etc.

I lost my over 1000 book library to a basement flood and the loss was truly devastating. Rebuilding with the current prices is like a whole different kind of pain. I have been just buying used whenever possible and honestly have found great luck with Pango, which did surprise me.

I genuinely think it's trying to push consumers to ebook formats so that they can get in on the infinite license "you'll own nothing" gig that video games went to.

"buying books is becoming a luxury expense" physical books have been a luxury for my entire adult life. I've never been in a place where buying a physical book was a purchase I could make casually- were already there 😢

This affects libraries too. We exist to help low income families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford these books. But with funding getting cut everywhere and the cost of books going up, that means less books for those same families. Which then means less people going to the libraries since we can’t meet demands which leads to even more budget cuts.

Side note, as someone trying to de-amazon their life, dont buy ebooks from amazon. With a little searching you can usually find the same book from other sources who will email you the files and you will actually own them and can download them onto whatever device you want. Amazon keeps the files in their walled garden and can remove them from your library at will.
Personally I still pay full price for new hardbacks because I can. I donate them or give them away when im done. I have tons of ebooks as well but those are mostly for when im traveling or in waiting rooms. They will never replace physical books for me.

the ironic thing is that I would likely spend more money on books if the prices were cheaper. there are many series that I would like to own but I can't talk myself into the $200+ price tag for like 5 books. I can only commit to my absolute favorites at those prices. but if things were cheaper than i'd be much more willing to pick something up on a whim.

Quebec, being the only majority French-speaking province in Canada, has a specific law in place meant to help the book ecosystem in that province alive: large public institutions (like public libraries), have to buy their books from physical bookstores (not Amazon) within the province at full price. This allows smaller cities to have indie bookstores when they otherwise might not. It's not a solution to the problems you described, but it is related to keeping books accessible to the entire public.

It's almost like they don't want people to be educated and have access to information...

FYI,  not all booksellers get a 55% discount on books from publishers. I work at a small indie store and our discount ranges from 20% to 55% (and that’s rare.). At 20%, we don’t even make net profit on selling that title. Most commonly we see discounts between 40-46%.

As someone living in Canada, I noticed that as soon as the US Dollar increased in price compared to the Canadian dollar back in 2012/2013, the prices simply never went back down. Post covid, a new hardcover novel is almost $60 after tax in most major retailers. A paperback that is listed at $19.99 USD is $30 Canadian. It’s simply unaffordable to buy new physical hardcover books in the 2020’s in Canada.

One thing we neglect to consider when looking at the minimum wage is that this is your pay BEFORE taxes. Your actual take home will be significantly less and the realistic required hours to work to afford a new book would actually be essentially doubled.

My favorite quote from the creator of Ultrakill "Culture shouldn't exist only for those who can afford it". Feels more and more like all forms of culture is getting squeezed to be limited.

The idea of ebooks being updated without permission is just so scary it’s vile it’s why I genuinely feel piracy is so important. Stepping away from the big publishers. It has other downfalls but without pirates no one would backup this stuff.

its interesting that mass market paperbacks have died when publishers like dc comics has found success with basically making a mass market format for comics with their dc compact line