medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
We university librarians tend to look first at what we perceive to be
the academic quality of the book plus whether it matches the needs of
faculty and students. The price enters in, though, as we try to figure
out what we can afford with our limited book budgets. Personally, I
would rather buy a good book that fits academic needs but is expensive
book than a low-price one of low quality. Also, I would prefer buying a
good book in another language rather than a bad one in English. (Of
course, the number of our patrons who agree on the latter point seems to
be limited to humanists.) But I can afford to do only so much..
I believe much of book pricing is based on projected sales. If you
compare a book on the US Civil war with a philosophy book of the same
length and physical quality, the average price of the former will be
lower. Projected sales, as far as I can tell.
Tom Izbicki
John Briggs wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Dr. Gordon Arthur wrote:
>>
>> ...because the market will stand current book prices. Now if buyers
>> started objecting (libraries?)...
>
> Well, only 20% of the cost of an academic-type book goes to paying for
> the physical production of the book.
>
> John Briggs
>
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