Well said Isabelle. Wouldn't it be great if Indies could find it easier to get into mainstream bricks-and-mortar bookshops too. Some Waterstones now have a 'remainder room' or section; what if they had an 'Indie Room' too where they were constantly cycling Indie-published books...
Funnily enough I’ve just had a similar conversation with a group of old university friends. We were discussing the price of magazines… At £5 plus for a weekly we agreed we hardly ever bought them anymore. Someone said you might as well buy a book. But how much would you pay? It came down to quality of production and quality of writing. Which can obviously be subjective. I agree that books are ridiculously cheap in this country compared with say the US or Australia. It’s a matter as you say of valuing each stage of the creation of a book. If you can pay £20 for a meal, £30 for a theatre ticket(a cheap one!) £15 or £20 for a good novel is fair, and reflects the effort that goes into the whole process.
Yes it's the perception we'd need to jump over - unfortunately changes can't be gradual if we want 'fair' pay for all, as inflation has risen so much, but consumers would baulk at a fast increase - though i often wonder how people pay £25 for a hardback!!
Well said Isabelle. Wouldn't it be great if Indies could find it easier to get into mainstream bricks-and-mortar bookshops too. Some Waterstones now have a 'remainder room' or section; what if they had an 'Indie Room' too where they were constantly cycling Indie-published books...
Indie room would be a lot of fun - new browsing crowd for them!
Funnily enough I’ve just had a similar conversation with a group of old university friends. We were discussing the price of magazines… At £5 plus for a weekly we agreed we hardly ever bought them anymore. Someone said you might as well buy a book. But how much would you pay? It came down to quality of production and quality of writing. Which can obviously be subjective. I agree that books are ridiculously cheap in this country compared with say the US or Australia. It’s a matter as you say of valuing each stage of the creation of a book. If you can pay £20 for a meal, £30 for a theatre ticket(a cheap one!) £15 or £20 for a good novel is fair, and reflects the effort that goes into the whole process.
Yes it's the perception we'd need to jump over - unfortunately changes can't be gradual if we want 'fair' pay for all, as inflation has risen so much, but consumers would baulk at a fast increase - though i often wonder how people pay £25 for a hardback!!