Hardbacks and Paperbacks

Posted on February 27, 2008
Filed Under Scams

From the department of we-can-get-away-with-it.

Once an author becomes famous or has written a best seller, his or her next book will be eagerly anticipated. When this new book arrives onto our bookstores’ shelves you find that it’s in hardback. Anyone can tell you that hardbacks cost a lot more than paperbacks. And if you want to wait for the paperback you could wait up to a year.

The more you think about it, the stranger it becomes. That’s two separate print runs, two separate sets of distribution and two separate marketing campaigns.

Doesn’t it seem odd that even though hardbacks are more expensive and makes the paperback product look less appealing to our everyday consumer it’s actually a way of squeezing more money out of people who just can’t wait to read these new books and that usually means more money for the book sellers, publishing houses and the authors.