Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
It's pretty well understood that the margins on hardcovers are substantially higher; in fact, the "paper" part of the process generally constitutes far less of the costs of publishing a book than most people realize (~12% or so). It probably only costs 50¢ extra per book to make a book in hardcover form.
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The margins are higher, but (and I can only really comment on the UK here) the sales are tiny in comparison to paperbacks. Also in the UK the discounts are now very large on hardbacks (up to 50% in some cases), and (going by discount/returns shops) the return rates must be quite high. The UK and the US are obviously very different markets (there's a far bigger demand from commuters). In the UK it often seems counter-productive, as most of the hype from reviews is for hardbacks. By the time a paperback comes out (which is all most people are interested in buying) a year can have passed.
Why don't publishers just charge more on new books? If you can't wait for the latest book then you pay more?