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Publishers Killed the Paperback, Then Blamed Readers
(jacobin.com)
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this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2026
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According to AmortizationTable.org, 25 cents in 1939 is equivalent to $5.79 today, adjusted for inflation.
There are very few new books available for less than $6.00 these days, let alone the convenience of a Pocket Book format. I was lucky to grow up during their peak of popularity, buying and reading a dozen or two each year. A whole book at the cost of two or three chocolate bars, when I was young.
With all the improvements in technology in the past 50 years, it is difficult to understand how the cost hasn't come down. But instead, it has gone up. These days, if I find an interesting new book for under $60, I consider it a bargain.
I worked at a used book store for years, and I'd say that $6 was the threshold for a decent book that there was some meaningful demand for, and ~$3 was a good median price for a regular shmegular paperback, with a little bit more or less depending on level of demand. Used books was an interesting business to be in, because you were checking against market demand every single day. If a book hadn't been selling, you marked it down and charged less for the next one. If you priced a book and it sold within minutes, you knew you should charge more for the next one. If publishers and retail bookstores can't be bothered to pay attention to what customers want and what they'll pay, then they deserve to not make sales.
The cost of books has gone up bc paper has gotten more expensive in general. Now that less people use paper because of the Internet, all of the forests that were used/replanted to create paper and the companies using those forests no longer exist so the resource is more specialized and hard to come by
Why are ebooks so expensive?
The fairies that move all the electrons unionized
imho unionized fairies would be cheaper because they would be given a living wage instead of being denied piss breaks and humane conditions while the profits went to bezos.
There is one silver lining: Shadow Libraries. I used to buy ebooks, but removing DRMs was a headache. I buy a physical copy if I really buy the book.
The article addresses this:
Hardcovers use more paper than paperbacks. They're usually larger and the cover contains cardboard, which is several layers of paper. Even if the risen cost of paper plays a role, the difference in inflation between the two formats should not have been this big.
But most of the cost of a book is not paper. What about the author's fee, storage, marketing, and typesetting? How much more paper does a hardback use than a paperback - not that much. Have there been any changes in how hardbacks are produced since 1939 that may contribute to a narrowing of the prices? I believe they are often glued, not sewn, now, for example.
In my part of the world, fewer people are visiting bookstores now that social media dominates nearly all aspects of life, but at the same time, some cities have ordinances requiring the use of paper bags.