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India vs South Africa
I was interested when I read your article and I fully agree with it. And this is the exact reason why I have not bought any "new" books in forever.
A few years back I lived in India, and found books so affordable that when I packed them up to come home, I realised the bulk of new possessions I had acquired while there was books.
Some books are priced with a disclaimer that read: "For sale in the Indian subcontinent only." The low cost included all the latest novels and bestsellers, not just older titles.
India encourages education and reading is part of that, and I am not sure if there is a subsidy or some similar system in place which makes books affordable to the majority of the population and encourages everyone to read.
When the Alchemist and the Kite Runner had internationally launched, the exchange rate from the rand to the rupee was approximately 7:1, so these two books cost me the equivalent of about R28 and R39.
If it can be done in India, surely this could be done here.
Perhaps someone could look into this? – Gail
Going the distance for a fair price
My husband buys my books for me, because like you, my salary does not cover my favourite luxury.
There are two places I pick up books for really cheap and that is Readers Warehouse, as far as I know they are countrywide book store and the one I use is at Hillfox power centre in Roodepoort and another is Max Warehouse in Crown Mines or in Fordsburg.
Anyway at Readers Warehouse, I can pick up a soft cover for anything from R45 to R150 and I even got a double pack once (hardcover + soft cover combo) of Nora Roberts for R150.
I recently bought The Shining Girls (awesome book) for R90 at Book Lovers and at Macs, my hubby spoiled me with seven all soft cover books for R450.00. I know it’s a bit of a drive for some, but it’s worth it.
Text books on the other hand are madness, I am third-year student and am about to get my degree, but my text books are extremely expensive. – Chantal
Let's fix the problem
I fully agree that books are way too pricey, but buying secondhand just isn't the answer.
Publishers and writers don't get paid for secondhand books and will soon lose all incentive to produce our books.
Fact is that getting that manuscript printed costs a fortune, then bookshops want a discount of up to 50%, to which VAT is added. Considering this, the high book prices are, unfortunately, quite realistic.
Maybe we could start by asking the paper people like SAPPI to produce paper locally, so the price will come down. That would be a big step forward.
No VAT on books would help tremendously, while bookshops should be willing to take a smaller cut.
With the current exchange rate overseas books just aren't an option anymore, so let's try to fix this locally.
It's not impossible. – Mary
Where do you buy your books from and why do you choose to shop where you do? Are you happy with the prices of the books? What do you think should be done?
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