Perhaps you have thought about it when buying new books. The shelves in libraries are not bottomless, you won’t take more items on vacation either, reading electronic books is more convenient. But how is it possible that they cost almost the same as paper ones? Sometimes it can be just an appearance. “The base price recommended by the publisher is usually 30-35% lower for most e-books. However, the selling prices of both versions are sometimes close in online bookstores thanks to more frequent or larger discounts on printed editions,” Josef Žák, sales manager of Albatros Media, told Blesk. “Within those, there is more competition and sellers therefore cut their margins more,” he said, adding that e-books, on the other hand, can be significantly more advantageous during discount events.
According to the National Library of the Czech Republic and the Institute for Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences, a total of 19% of Czechs over the age of 15 read books in electronic form at least sometimes. | Freepik
So what determines the prices of print and e-books? Book preparation costs such as license deposit, translation, editorial preparation, etc. “They are reflected in the prices of both formats. It is not the case that everything is paid for by readers of printed books, and an e-book can be even cheaper,” said Žák. “There is also the cost of proofreading, typesetting, envelope and investment in marketing,” said head of e-commerce at Knihy Dobrovský Adam Pýcha. “Although the cost of printing is eliminated, it is only a small part in the long term,” he added. Additional costs of electronic books were revealed by Daniel Kádner, head of the B2C section of Palmknihy.cz. “Someone has to manufacture them, store them in a data warehouse and run the distribution infrastructure. The price then reflects the fact that the book is not only about the form, but mainly about the content,” he told Blesku.
It’s mainly passion
As Kádner revealed, in recent years one of the most popular genres in e-books is erotica and romance. They thus joined the traditionally strong detective stories, social novels and fantasy. “In addition, the share of e-books and books sold is very interesting for them. While the share of e-books for social novels is calculated in units of percent, for erotica it is more than half of all sales,” he said.
Reading was boosted by bookstagrammers
Bloggers, influencers, bookstagrammers. What or who is it? Simply people, especially young people, who recommend or talk about books and rate them from social networks and blogs. “People ask me if there is a lot of reading in the Czech Republic. I answer yes,” says one of the most famous book influencers, Lucie Zelinková. Through the Internet, people recommend books, borrow them, and establish reading clubs. Thanks to this, 60% of people buy at least one book every year!
