As of: February 21, 2024, 10:25 a.m
By: Sven Trautwein
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In Germany, fixed book prices are required by law in order to provide special protection for books as cultural assets.
However, it is not easy to understand how exactly a book price is determined.
The value of a book is difficult to measure.
Is 36 euros appropriate or too much for the new Ken Follett (“The Weapons of Light” – Kingsbridge Volume 5), which will be released in September?
The material value of a book may be very low, but the ideal value is individual for each reader.
Most books are a loss-making business for publishers.
But why are hardcovers so expensive?
The prices of books are rising.
How is the price for a hardcover determined and what is the fixed book price?
© Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa
“Books are way too cheap!”
Publishers usually say that books are far too cheap.
For example, if a book costs 24 euros, only a little more than half reaches the publisher.
A large part of what goes away is the discount that is given to the dealer, according to an article at
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
.
This is usually between 30 and 50 percent.
The booksellers make their business from this discount.
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This means that for a book that costs 24 euros in stores, around 12 euros are left over, which ends up with the publisher and which has to cover the costs of producing the book.
How much does a book cost?
Pressure
binding
Paper
Author's fee
Distribution costs
marketing
Editing
Press work
Printing costs in particular have risen enormously in recent months.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, printing costs for books rose by around 21 percent in May 2022 compared to the same month last year.
In December 2021 it was still 3.8 percent.
In June 2023, wholesale selling prices for paper rose again by around 5 percent compared to the same month last year.
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If you deduct the above costs, only a small amount remains with the publisher.
According to
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
, the price of books has no longer depended solely on production costs for several years.
Publishers base themselves on the prices of their competitors, because books are fundamentally interchangeable to a certain extent.
If you have too many books, you can give them away in bookcases, for example.
What is fixed book prices?
Fixed book prices is a legally required system in Germany that serves to regulate and protect the price of books.
It is intended to ensure that books, as cultural goods, are not sold at dumping prices and thus maintain the diversity of the publishing landscape.
Fixed book prices apply to all printed books, regardless of where they are sold - be it in a bookstore, online shop or supermarket.
Publishers set the price for their books and are not allowed to undercut it.
This is intended to ensure fair competition and strengthen independent booksellers.
Fixed book prices also enable smaller publishers to publish their titles without price pressure and thus offer a wide range of literature.
For buyers, fixed book prices mean that they purchase books at the same price, no matter where they buy them.
However, there are also critics who call for the fixed book price to be lifted in order to enable more market freedom.
Despite discussions, fixed book prices remain a central instrument for strengthening book culture in Germany.
Other forms of entertainment, streaming services or smartphone use are taking over from reading.
Competition is getting tougher and fewer books are being published.
Very little of the income goes to the authors who write the books.
Making a living from writing remains a pipe dream for most authors.
Exceptions, such as best-selling author Sebastian Fitzek or Ken Follett, confirm the rule.
For publishers, books are subject to mixed costing.
In the end, many books end up on the flea market or are pulped.
According to best-selling author Donna Leon, old books belong in the trash.
Very few books are suitable for investing.
Hardcover: More expensive than before?
Before last year's Frankfurt Book Fair, an article appeared in Die
Welt
that books had to become more expensive.
It said that the hardcover is the loser of the euro changeover, which has been going on for several years now.
If you compare the prices from publishing programs in the 1980s and 1990s, the book industry is still sticking to half the DM price.
At that time, the new release “Death in the Andes” cost 49.80 DM, while the “Violeta” novel by Isabel Allende, which was published last year and is similar in scope, cost “only” 26 euros.
The old threshold of ten euros for paperbacks and 20 euros for hardcovers is finally history.
Christian Schniedermannr, commercial director of Piper Verlag
The discussion about fixed book prices remains.
There are many critical voices on social networks.
Likewise those who pay almost any price for the books of their favorite authors and also emphasize that without fixed book prices there would no longer be any small bookstores.
When it comes to mass-produced entertainment literature, small price differences are often the decisive factor in purchasing.
A higher price, on the other hand, conveys the value of a book, especially if the book has higher quality features, such as different paper, ribbon bookmarks or color cutting.
The topic will continue to keep the book market on tenterhooks.