D&D General D&D Book Prices Are Going Up

WotC announced today that D&D books will be increasing in price this year.

Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants will be $59.99 as a preorder and $69.99 thereafter. These will apparently come as physical and digital bundles, so you won’t need to buy the D&D Beyond version separately.

This space is dedicated to communicating clearly and transparently with our players- even when the topic isn’t particularly fun. Since the release of the 2014 D&D core rulebooks, we’ve kept book prices stable. Unfortunately, with the cost of goods and shipping continually increasing, we’ve finally had to make the decision to increase the price of our new release print books. We're committed to creating high-quality products that deliver great value to our players and must increase our prices to accomplish that.

This will go into effect starting with Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants and new releases after Glory of the Giants. Digital pricing is unaffected by this MSRP (manufacturer's suggested retail price) increase, as digital products don’t need to be printed or shipped. The increase also doesn’t impact backlist titles. While we can’t promise that there will never be a change to the prices of digital products and backlist titles, we have no plans to increase either.

Players who purchase the Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants digital-physical bundle through Dungeons & Dragons store can get the bundle for $59.95 for the entire preorder window, which is consistent with our current digital-physical bundle pricing. After the preorder window closes, digital-physical bundle prices will go to $69.95.

 

[Velderan]

I would assume that physical printing is probably one of the smallest expenses related to publishing a book. Shipping, handling, storage all add up quickly.

Yep, sometimes it makes sense for a company to literally dump $30m in inventory due to storage costs.

 

[Parmandur]

For preorder yeah.

...? The MSRP for a hardcover is $59.95 now, , my FLGS has it available for $54 with a preorder sale. Amazon will be cheaper. There is no $20 increase.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can see the page count and cost increase tying into marketing so that next year we are already used to the new prices. This way they can come out and show us that are being reasonable when the new books now a larger page count at the same price compared to what is coming out this year. Now, see how they are looking out for us.

Yeah. Basic trickery.

 

[Parmandur]

Which version do you have, standard or FLGS?

FLGS cover for Golden Vault. It's been hit or miss when I've spot checked in the past, most of my books are printed in the U.S., with a handful from China.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I would assume that physical printing is probably one of the smallest expenses related to publishing a book. Shipping, handling, storage all add up quickly.

Physical printing can also be expensive. But the the more copies you print with offset the lower the price (and WOTC deals in pretty high volume).

Prices for everything are going up which is driving prices for books up too. The cost of oil for example is a big factor that makes everything else increase. But overall prices have just gone up.

Either way not something to celebrate, as it costs people hard earned money in a time when it seems like wages aren't keeping up with the costs of goods. But unfortunately publishers do have to raise prices to make revenue. I don't know WOTCs specific situation though. I think the question these days isn't so much will book prices go up, but is a giving company raising them too high. I recently had to raise prices too which I was resistant to doing but there is just a reality of what these things cost to make and you aren't just dealing with your own company but companies you work with who also have to make money. And even then the profit margins are extremely narrow for most companies

 

[Vaalingrade]

I hate to say it but many people outraged about this will go see a sensory overloading mind numbing super hero movie AND get the popcorn.

6.95 Matinee with a can of Pringles concealed in a pant leg.

And I didn't have to rewrite all the dialog.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

6.95 Matinee with a can of Pringles concealed in a pant leg.

And I didn't have to rewrite all the dialog.

There’s your price increase counting the pringles.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Physical printing can also be expensive. But the the more copies you print with offset the lower the price (and WOTC deals in pretty high volume).

Prices for everything are going up which is driving prices for books up too. The cost of oil for example is a big factor that makes everything else increase. But overall prices have just gone up.

Either way not something to celebrate, as it costs people hard earned money in a time when it seems like wages aren't keeping up with the costs of goods. But unfortunately publishers do have to raise prices to make revenue. I don't know WOTCs specific situation though. I think the question these days isn't so much will book prices go up, but is a giving company raising them too high. I recently had to raise prices too which I was resistant to doing but there is just a reality of what these things cost to make and you aren't just dealing with your own company but companies you work with who also have to make money. And even then the profit margins are extremely narrow for most companies

I doubt they're extremely narrow for WotC however.

 

[Vaalingrade]

There’s your price increase counting the pringles.

So... a total of $8.95. Still not comparable to a $60 book.

I mean, I get really wanting to take a swipe at the superhero movie genre; every internet critic has been salivating for it since 2007, but this really has little to do with the price hike or the feeding frenzy that was created when some economist said the 'I' word, giving half an excuse for it.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I doubt they're extremely narrow for WotC however.

I agree. I am not endorsing their price increases