Books pricing themselves out of reach?

[Ranger REG]

True enough. How about ads scattered through the book? Would you buy a book that had ads for those sword making companies or collectable card games?

I don't like advertisement, even if it promotes one of their company's products. I'm not going to spend $20 with a single page devoted to advertisement, when it could have been used for table of index, at the very least.

 

[BobROE]

It's a pain, if D&D books were $30 Cdn., I would probably spend substantially more money on them than I have so far.

I recently bought Lost Empires of Faerun here in Toronto for $32 (plus tax) so the price is getting close to the american.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

In other words, these things are not overpriced, for what they are. They may not be affordable by you, but that's a different matter entirely.

It's not that I can't afford it. I can, I just refuse to pay that much for something I can easily do without.

 

[MerricB]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

Now, this may be a legacy of living in Australia, but the newest Stephen Donaldson hardcover (The Runes of the Earth) cost me more than Complete Adventurer.

Checking online, the undiscounted price is $26.95 (US). Complete Adventurer is $29.95 (US). Due to the different places I bought them at, CV actually cost me less money than RotE.

The price of novels has significantly increased in the past few years. Chainfire by Terry Goodkind, is $29.95 (US) in hardcover. Mass-market paperback is cheaper (around $8 US?), but that's still a significant sum, especially comparing it to previous years.

So, when I compare the price of books in general with those of RPG books, and how both have been increasing of late, I don't think it's exactly a problem of RPG books alone being "too expensive" - whatever that is.

Cheers!

 

[Maliki]

Yes.

 

[The Gryphon]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

Now, this may be a legacy of living in Australia, but the newest Stephen Donaldson hardcover (The Runes of the Earth) cost me more than Complete Adventurer.

Checking online, the undiscounted price is $26.95 (US). Complete Adventurer is $29.95 (US). Due to the different places I bought them at, CV actually cost me less money than RotE.

The price of novels has significantly increased in the past few years. Chainfire by Terry Goodkind, is $29.95 (US) in hardcover. Mass-market paperback is cheaper (around $8 US?), but that's still a significant sum, especially comparing it to previous years.

So, when I compare the price of books in general with those of RPG books, and how both have been increasing of late, I don't think it's exactly a problem of RPG books alone being "too expensive" - whatever that is.

Cheers!

Only one thing you're missing Merric. We might receive our RPG books from the US, but the majority of our novels come from the UK and the price for the same book (especially in paperback) isn't much different in basic numbers but it is a big difference in exchange rate.

Example (MMPB): A paperback that costs $6.99 (USD) will generally cost £5.99 (GBP). If we directly convert USD -> AUD it costs ~$9.00 but if GBP -> AUD it costs ~$15.00.

Example (HC): A hardcover (Chainfire) costs $29.95 (USD) and £18.99 (GBP). So again directly convert USD -> AUD it costs ~$38.50 but if GBP -> AUD it costs ~$47.50. Just to round it out (The Runes of the Earth) costs £16.99 (GBP) so would cost ~$42.50 (AUD).

That's a big difference and doesn't even include any shipping costs which would likely only make the difference between US and UK prices larger.

 

[Swiftbrook]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

Cheers!

That's absolutely a non-issue for me. With an RPG that I need, I need it here and I need to purchase it. With a novel, fantasy or otherwise, I simply check it of at the library. Cost to me, $0.00! I purchase very few novels, then at library book sales and rummage sales for 25 or 50 cents each.

-Swiftbrook

 

[JRRNeiklot]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

Now, this may be a legacy of living in Australia, but the newest Stephen Donaldson hardcover (The Runes of the Earth) cost me more than Complete Adventurer.



Cheers!

I don't buy hardback novels anymore either.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

I didn't realize the price of novels till recently. I'm reading through Dune now and each paperback is $9 a pop. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I remember buying novels at $4.50 a piece.

 

[Gez]

I look at this a slightly different way. For me, the question is Are fantasy novels pricing themselves out of the market?

I only buy novel in pocket book format. Typical large size, soft cover price: 35€. Typical pocket format, soft cover: 7€.