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Re: Price of picture books
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From: Jane Jorgenson <jajorgen_at_scls.lib.wi.us>
Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:35:25 -0500
I think the difference in spending $12 to $15 for a trade paperback that I'd buy for myself and buying a hardcover picture book for a child is that I'm pretty sure that I'm going like the book I pick out for myself. I'm not as convinced of that when I pick a book for a child. They may sit patiently (or not so patiently) through one reading for ten or twenty minutes and not like it at all, or they may hear it once and want it read to them over and over. That becomes a more risky purchase then the book I'm buying for myself, or even one I might buy for another adult whose taste I know pretty well. I buy picture books as gifts, and love to do so, but I know that there's every chance that the child I am picking them for may have no interest in them whatsoever.
Where this ties back into the original article is that this risk factor in the purchase could be having an impact on shoppers who are dealing with an economic downturn. The lessening of sales that publishers are noticing could simply be because people are choosing which risks to take in their book buying and deciding against buying as many picture books.
Jane Jorgenson MPL Madison, WI
On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 3:31 PM, Sarah Prielipp wrot e: As I was cataloging a trade paperback (adult fiction) today, I thought ab out the fact that I regularly spend $12 to $15 for a paperback book that I wa nt to read, but I rarely buy hardcover picture books for my three children because they are “expensive” at $15 to $16 each. We most oft en pur chase paperback and board books, choosing to get our hardcover picture books fr om the library.
Received on Sat 06 Nov 2010 02:35:25 PM CDT
Date: Sat, 06 Nov 2010 14:35:25 -0500
I think the difference in spending $12 to $15 for a trade paperback that I'd buy for myself and buying a hardcover picture book for a child is that I'm pretty sure that I'm going like the book I pick out for myself. I'm not as convinced of that when I pick a book for a child. They may sit patiently (or not so patiently) through one reading for ten or twenty minutes and not like it at all, or they may hear it once and want it read to them over and over. That becomes a more risky purchase then the book I'm buying for myself, or even one I might buy for another adult whose taste I know pretty well. I buy picture books as gifts, and love to do so, but I know that there's every chance that the child I am picking them for may have no interest in them whatsoever.
Where this ties back into the original article is that this risk factor in the purchase could be having an impact on shoppers who are dealing with an economic downturn. The lessening of sales that publishers are noticing could simply be because people are choosing which risks to take in their book buying and deciding against buying as many picture books.
Jane Jorgenson MPL Madison, WI
On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 3:31 PM, Sarah Prielipp wrot e: As I was cataloging a trade paperback (adult fiction) today, I thought ab out the fact that I regularly spend $12 to $15 for a paperback book that I wa nt to read, but I rarely buy hardcover picture books for my three children because they are “expensive” at $15 to $16 each. We most oft en pur chase paperback and board books, choosing to get our hardcover picture books fr om the library.
Received on Sat 06 Nov 2010 02:35:25 PM CDT
