Valhalla Island

This afternoon I was at a store, Big W in fact. The kind of store that sells food, DVDs, televisions, towels, clothes and books, everything. I wasn’t planning on buying a book but being someone that loves to read and loves to buy things like books, I stopped and I contemplated a book purchase.

My first preference was hardback for quality reasons but I had to drop that option after finding out they started at $40. Yes, four oh, forty dollars, 4000 pennies.

I should mention before I continue. I read a lot but I don’t think I have ever purchased a book. My parents have a lot of books, I get given books as gifts and I go the library often, I never buy books so I may seem a little naive.

OK, no big deal, I can’t afford or justify the purchase of a hardback, I’ll just buy a paperback. The quality difference between a hardcover and a paperback is stark. The type is smaller, the cover is thin and flimsy, once opened for a long period of time it will never shut properly again but the most notable difference is in the paper.

The paper sucks. It feels like crap, it’s raw, it sucks up too much ink, it’s hard to gain traction on with dry hands, it’s easily torn, it all-round sucks.

So I’m perusing the new release paperbacks. Judging every book by it’s cover. At this point, although I hadn’t consciously recognised it yet, I had decided that $15 was a reasonable price to pay and that if they were less, I may even purchase multiple books.

I picked up a small book with a bright cover, it was $25.

I put it back down.

After picking up and putting down four or five paperbacks, I realised why the prices were stuck to the back and I left the store bookless.

I realise that writers need to make a living, I realise that there are production costs (albeit low judging by the materials used in paperbacks), distribution costs and promotional costs. But would publishers prefer me to spend $15 or nothing?

This argument may seem contrary to my stance on freelance work. In the world of freelance low paying jobs are not worth your time. The difference with books is the work has already been done, all that’s left is the selling. A book unsold makes no money, a book sold makes money.