Publishing Madness - Book Review Costs A Whole Lot More than the Book
Sometimes you come across examples convincingly showing that the publishing world has gone insane. I came across the suggestion of an interesting book - “How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education”, and decided to check at Amazon. It costs $25, but you can buy almost new used copies for $10.
Before hitting the ‘buy’ button, I decided to check for online reviews and came across a review by John F. Covaleskie in a journal. Strangely, the review costs $40, on top of which you will have to pay bunch of other taxes like VAT !!
Anyone with understanding of free market would expect that a review from 1999 to cost a lot less than the used book. So, the above demonstration suggests that ‘free market’ does not exist in the publishing market. Is it monopoly pricing (cartel pricing) or something more?
