This Is Why I Never Have Any Money

I just read a nice article at Salon.com about why books are so doggoned expensive these days. (Thanks to Uncertain Principles for the link.) Interestingly, it seems that when you adjust for inflation the price of hardbacks hasn't actually risen much since 1975. But paperbacks, as my wallet can attest, are another story entirely. "[T]he average price for mass-market paperback fiction has gone up a whopping 328 percent (from $1.35 in 1975 to $5.78 in 2000)," and "[a]djusting for inflation... the average price of mass-market paperbacks has gone up almost 40 percent," say the sources quoted in the article. Sheesh. What are us book addicts to do? Well, actually, the article does mention one of the things this book addict has certainly started doing: turning to trade paperbacks instead. Hey, when a regular "mass market" paperback costs $8 and the much nicer trade edition is $14, it often seems worth it to shell out the extra few bucks and feel like you're at least getting something for your money. Particularly when the hardback, which (for my purposes, at least) is only marginally preferable to the trade edition, costs you $35. Another thing I do, which the article doesn't address, is to buy cheap book club-edition hardbacks. They're smaller and more cheaply made than regular hardbacks, but they often cost about half the price. And, of course, as new book prices continue to skyrocket, I find myself increasingly turning to used books instead. I'm sure I've said it here before, but it bears repeating: thank goodness for library sales!