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Caroline Horn

Caroline Horn is The Bookseller's Children's News editor. She will be blogging on issues and events in the children's book world.

Pricing children's books

19.07.07

Asda was being a bit disingenuous in accusing Bloomsbury of profiteering from Harry Potter 7 when it, like every other high street retailer, had demanded its discounts and clearly had no intention of selling the book at the full RRP of £17.99. The final retail price is up to individual booksellers and it's hard to find any bookseller, other than some hardy independents, selling Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at full price.

But does Asda have a point about the price tag? I can't think of any other non-illustrated children's hardback fiction priced at £17.99. The highest price for children's hardbacks today is £12.99, and those books also weigh in at a hefty 450 to 650 pages - so it's not about size. Ask any retailer if they could sell a children's fiction hardback for £17.99 and they all agree it would have to be something pretty special.

And that's the thing about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - millions of children and adults want to get their hands on the book. Let's face it, Bloomsbury could have charged what it wanted and perhaps it's been pretty restrained at £17.99.

But the debate has raised a more general issue around the pricing of children's books. Children's fiction may be getting more attention than in pre-Harry Potter days but it has taken publishers a long time to get the price of children's hardbacks up to the £12.99 mark. Adults, who buy most children's books, don't put the same value on children's reading material as they do on books they want to read. Most adult hardbacks fall into the £17.99 to £18.99 price range while their paperbacks carry a RRP of £12.99. Children's publishers have to bear the same costs as adult publishers but on much tighter margins, which impacts throughout the industry, from what authors are paid to how books are marketed.

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By Sharifa

I think If they bring price of the books so low It will become as something not being valubale. I read book If I pay for it. I feel that I'm investing into myself by buying books. I will stop to have feeling that I'm investing into myself if books are so cheap (not valuable).

20 Jul 07 10:39

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By GARY HANNAN

DO COVER PRICES BEAR ANY RELATION TO PRODUCTION COSTS & ECONOMY OF SCALE OR ARE THEY ARTIFICIALLY HIGH TO ALLOW FOR "DAY 1" DISCOUNTING BY THE BIG RETAILERS FROM WHICH THEY STILL MAINTAIN ADEQUATE MARGINS.

20 Jul 07 12:55

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By Simon

If 17.99 is a bit steep then what about the RRP of £40 for the large print version? Considering the relatively small number of copies involved and the huge amount of money Bloomsbury's made through HP, surely they could subsidise the price for fans of HP who need LP - and for the libraries that always buy these hugely expensive, terribly bound titles. Sign the petition at the No.10 website (searh for large print). And as for children's hardbacks, they exist to get reviewed and shortlisted, and to generate extra money. No bad thing really. Especially if borrowed from a library...

26 Jul 07 20:57

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By Kathryn Gray

I'm not an economist, (though I have been a book seller and a librarian) and I was staggered at the audacity of the price tag on this book. Considering the popularity of HP I feel Bloomsbury could have been radical and produced a dual run of Hardback (for collectors) and paperback copies, as they were assured of a bestseller before JKR had even penned the final chapter! It all smacks of greed to me - and the parents are left picking up the tab.

05 Dec 07 10:44

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