Belletrinsic

What is a book worth?

That’s a question often discussed at work when trying to decide how much a reader is willing to pay for a book. Sometimes we go back and forth, thinking and rethinking the perfect pricepoint for a title. Not too much that people won’t be willing to purchase the book, but enough that the publisher and author can get a good return on the product.

More than price, though, is the idea of value. For people to willingly spend their money on an item, it must have value for them, either perceived or real. So what do you value in a book?

I value quality content and writing, especially in fiction. I value quality photography in visual books. I value quality recipes (and an adequate number of them) in cookbooks.

So let’s look at books where (in my opinion) value exceeds price, and on the opposite spectrum, where price exceeds value.

The Notebook Girls by Julia Baskin, Lindsey Newman, Sophie Pollitt-Cohen, and Courtney Toombs. 2006, Warner Books.

I purchased this book tonight, though it had caught my eye before this. The reason for my hesitation in purchasing was the price tag: $22.95 is a bit steep for a paperback young adult book, though it is admittedly hefty at 352 pages. The main reason I broke down and bought the book tonight was content. As the shared journal of four teenage girls, I have yet to find another book (either fiction or, like this one, nonfiction) that has anything close to this content. So, in the end, there was enough value in the book for me to purchase it despite my earlier reluctance to spend that much on a book.

Flight of the Phoenix by R.L. LaFevers. 2009, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

This book attracted my attention immediately. I’ve read and enjoyed other books by this author, and the topic feels fun and interesting. The problem? I cannot bring myself to pay $16 for a 144 page book. The price is increased slightly because it is hardcover. And though there are illustrations, they are black and white, which doesn’t cost nearly as much to produce as if it were color. For me, this book is overpriced, and I will not purchase it. Instead, I will likely request it from my library so I can read it without spending anything.* Then, if I really enjoy the book, I might consider buying it.

My last example is a book at the extreme end of the spectrum. The Wine Opus, scheduled for release in 2010, will sell for $1 million. That’s right. A book is selling for more money than I’ll probably ever see in my life. But—and this is a big but—included with the book’s purchase is a case of wine from each of the 100 vintners listed in the book. As of August, 25 of the 100 books have been preordered. For the buyers of this book, the value meets or exceeds the incredible price tag. So although no one I know would consider such a purchase, there are people who find this worth the cost. (For more details on the book, see this article.)

So what does this mean for publishers, for writers? That is the big debate at the moment. With the price wars the big box retailers are currently fighting, the price of popular new hardcover titles have been reduced to $8.99, which is significantly below the cost of producing the book. The retailers are taking a hit on this one, but who knows how this will affect book pricing in the future. (For a more detailed analysis of the battle, see this article in Time.) That and the increasing prominence of e-books are causing everyone in publishing to evaluate how much a book is worth.

Realistically, writers have no control over the price of their book, but it is important for them to consider the implications of a book priced too high or too low. The bottom line on this affects everyone who will benefit financially from the book’s success.

*Admittedly, Amazon has changed much of the way we think about cost and value with its deep discounting. In the example of Flight of the Phoenix, the book is priced at $10.88. I would willingly pay that much, and a few dollars more, for this book.