When I was in my early teens, back in the early 1980s, every summer I used to mow yards in my neighborhood for money. A lot of yards. I charged ten dollars for most yards, maybe fifteen or twenty bucks if it was a really big yard, and most weeks I was rolling in from $150 to $200. That was a lot of money back then for a young teen. Heck, there are times I'd like to have that extra money now.
But what did I spend all my money on?
There was a shopping center about a mile from where I lived then, and usually at least once a week I would walk down there. I was quite frugal, but I gave myself a spending limit of $20. In fact, I enforced that by only taking $20 with me.
With maybe the exception of a soft drink or a burger, I kept my purchases down to three items: a video game cartridge, a music cassette and a book.
Most of the video game cartridges were for my Atari 2600, though sometimes I'd pick up a game for my Intellivision. Game cartridges in those days usually cost more than $20, at least the new ones did, but I could usually pick up a game on sale for $10 or sometimes even less.
My taste in music in those days was just beginning to grow, but I could pick up a cassette in the cheap bin for $5 or a little more.
Most times when I got around to buying a book, I had $5 or less to spend. In those days I was mostly reading fantasy fiction, usually by writers like Terry Brooks, Robert Asprin, J.R.R. Tolkien (of course), etc. For a while I got into reading men's action fiction, specifically Don Pendleton's The Executioner series of novels about the vigilante Mack Bolan who waged a personal war against the mafia and later against terrorists.
Anyway, that was quite a haul for a young teen back then. I'd get a quality game, some cool tunes, a fun read, maybe something to munch on and slurp, and quite often I'd still go home with a few bucks or at least some pocket change in my pocket.
How the times have changed.
Sure, I'm older now, and the economy has moved on and the world has moved on. Yaddy yaddy. I realize I sound like one of those old guys going on about "how things were better back in my day."
But I don't mean to.
It's just ... well, I remember when I officially hit the work force as a grocery store clerk in the mid-1980s, I was making the minimum wage then of $3.35 an hour. Sounds like chump change, right? It would be today, and it wasn't great back then, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds today. Minimum wage never is, because it's just that minimum wage.
Still, making $3.35 an hour, I could go to a book store and pick up one of the shorter adventure novels, usually no more than 250 pages at most, for $1.25 or thereabouts. For a thicker novel, I might have to pay up to $3.95. Hardbacks and brand new hot books were obviously out of my price range, usually because they cost anywhere from $12.95 to $19.95.
In other words, for one hour's worth of work, I could still go out and buy a novel than would give me hours of reading fun. If I got short novels, usually the 80s equivalent to pulp-like fiction, I could get two novels.
I don't see that being possible today. And this is my whole point.
The current federal minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25 an hour. When I go to one of my local chain book stores, I never see a new novel for less than $7.99. Sometimes you can find something in the bargain bin for $5.49 or thereabouts, but that's pretty rare, and it's often garbage no one is really interested in reading anyway.
And what gets me is that despite the constant barrage of media and online messages that fewer and fewer people are reading, it's a heck of a lot easier today to find books than it used to be. It used to be quite the challenge, and sometimes even fun, to have to search for a book you really wanted.
Of course we've got ebooks and e-readers today, like the Kindle and the Nook, and it is easy to find cheap or even free literature in that market. But even there the new ebooks are as expensive as their paper versions, or you have to wait for months upon months because the publisher holds off on releasing the electronic version of a novel.
And then there's the price of new hardback books. Easily the price ranges are $40 to $60. Which is just silly. A consumer willing to pay that much for a book that isn't a signed collector's edition or isn't some kind of antique is just being foolish with their money. But to each their own.
To recap, I don't mean to be the old fart grousing about "how the days or yore were dipped in gold compared to the slime of today," but I just believe the price of books has risen above the level it should be.
And let me add, it's not the authors' fault. Sure, Stephen King makes millions, but he's not the one who fixes the prices on his books. His publishers do that. Most authors don't make enough money to make writing their full-time job.
And I'm tired of hearing publishers moaning about how they're never making any money, and about how they are always losing money. I'm sorry, but someone is making money in the publishing industry. There are more books readily available in today's world than there ever have been, so someone is making money. The whole book publishing industry is feeding authors, publishers, editors, agents, printers and whole slews of other people while remaining in business. Publishers might not be rolling in millions of dollars with each book they put out, but they're making money.
What do I think could be done about all this? The consumer has to take charge, because they're really the ones with the power. Stop staying up all night in line waiting for the latest, greatest Whatever novel that's coming out. Harry Potter will get along just fine without you if you wait until his latest book appears at the used book store in a year, and it's not as if author J.K. Rowling needs to money. Start going to those used book stores. Start buying the cheap books for 99 cents on your Kindle. Let your pocket book speak for you.
Eventually publishers will take notice. They'll change. They'll adjust. And your favorite author will continue to make money. It's that simple.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
1. Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin