Inflation and fine press collecting

I've noticed that very recent releases have been more expensive (for example, the Folio Spring Collection and Centipede Nova). While these may not be "fine press" books in the way some use the term, this is a harbinger of prices for upcoming fine press releases, which given that they were already more expensive than the aforementioned offset machine made books, will likely result in sticker shock for some. So what will the effects of increased prices and decreased disposable incomes for some (due to increased prices of other goods), mean for fine press collecting? Fortunately, given the lag time from ordering to publishing, most of us paid pre-(recent) inflation prices for many of the books that will actually be released this year.

For collectors, will you:
Change nothing?
Limit your purchases of new books?
Sell more books from your collection (noticed some of this happening already)?
Focus more on secondary market purchases of older books?

For presses/publishers, will you:
Change nothing (besides increasing prices as necessary)?
Decrease limitation numbers?
Try to limit price increases by using less expensive materials?

>1 punkzip: That is a question that we have been looking at for the past few months and as a publisher it is concerning, everything is costing more and availability is getting problematic, especially with good paper, and shipping costs are downright scary. What to do? Trim down costs to keep them as before? Don't use metal type, use polymer? Have less colour work? Don't have as much leather and use paper? Use cheaper paper? It is a problem, when, as you do, you make a book to be as best you can make the book be, I'm not sure how we can charge so much, because it will be expensive with cheaper materials, for a book and have that little voice at the back of your head saying: that's not how it could have been?! I'll make it again later the way it feels like it should have been...? And can the collectors afford the output we have planned for the next three years? And should we pay for those very expensive rights that we've been negotiating for ages now?

>2 marceloanciano: This will be a challenging issue for the entire fine press community. As a collector, I would prefer to pay more rather than pay the same amount for less. But the question is, how many collectors are willing to pay more, if disposable incomes are shrinking? One thought would be to decrease the limitations when prices increase - these might make these editions more attractive despite the price increases. But can presses/publishers actually decrease limitations and still make a reasonable profit?

>1 punkzip: While prices of materials *have* been going up, I haven't seen them rise at a higher-than-typical rate, at least here in the U.S. The biggest price jump has been shipping. As Marcelo said, it's scary. Thank god for the USPS and its "Media Mail" rate, which keeps domestic shipping rates for books artificially low.

I think there are two simultaneous trends which actually affect prices more:

1. Many fine/private presses were started in the past few years which lowballed the price of their initial publications. Always happens. Subsequent publications may *appear* to have jacked up prices, but really it's just a correction. There are dozens of "hidden costs" which aren't considered when setting prices, so as presses age, they account for more of these hidden costs in pricing.

2. Demand for fine/private press books is increasing more than supply. Simple as that!

>1 punkzip: As a collector, I don't expect to change much though I did coincidentally spend much of the past two years selling off most of my rare / signed trade editions, and now am considering doing the same with a fair deal of my antique books to focus in on contemporary fine presses.

I realize inflation is a major strain for individuals & families with already tight margins (at least here in the US) but, without getting into specifics, it's very artificial and I have a lot of hope it's short-term and primed for correction.

>1 punkzip: Virtually all of my fine press purchases are from active presses, as part of my interest is in keeping the art of the book alive. So in answer to your question as to how I will respond to pricing changes, it will most likely be purchasing fewer books in total, though the budget allocated for them is unlikely to change. It just won't go as far as the prices escalate.

>1 punkzip:
Prices charged by Folio Society and Easton Press are easy to follow because they publish so many books, and I will find a new hobby if they are copied by smaller publishers. I received notice just this morning of a new signed edition from EP, without any illustrations, for $144, a book that would have sold for less than $100 a few years ago. And this increase is in spite of a current annual inflation rate in the U.S. of only 7.9%, most of which is attributable to food and fuel, following several years of very little inflation.

Whatever the justification for such huge increases, collectible books are simply not worth it to me any longer.

>3 punkzip: That is the question, we, at Arete, usually make as many copies of an edition that feels right price wise, less copies cost more

Yes, material costs have gone up considerably while somehow having fewer choices. TWitW is the most expensive book I've produced so far but it was specced as I wanted it with lots of color and custom paper, cloth and leather. Add in labor costs (I pay my helpers well so they come back) and the cost of big books especially can quickly escalate quickly when you only get 2 folios/sheet and 8 good spine pieces/skin. I'm lucky to get one good full leather binding out of one goat at 22x17 inches!

I don't think I'll change anything in my production but it will be awhile before another really big (size) project and my edition sizes are already comparatively small. It's important to keep standards high and choice materials are a big part of that.

I've drastically reduced my folio buying and think most of the books now are far too costly for what you get but maybe that's also of being spoiled for so long with their prior large sales. As for other presses I will keep up my subscriptions for now but am wary of branching out for more. I think the hard part aside from inflation is traveling and where to spend extra funds. With covid it was easy as it will be if there is another lock down but if things continue to open up as they were prepandemic I think fewer books and more adventures - I have many unread books that will last me years, likely a lifetime, and am at peace and consider myself blessed with what I have collected as a meaningful hobby.

Fortunately or unfortunately, inflation is not increasing at similar rates around the world. This means that sadly, while prices in the US might be going up considerably, my income here in Japan is not growing at the same rate. I'll probably cope by being more selective in my purchases from overseas, and reading the books I do have again and again.

In my day job, I manage (extremely not fine press) print production. The cost of paper has gone up astronomically in the last year, and the shortages are intense enough that we had to suspend one of our periodicals indefinitely because all of our printers told us that they could not procure the paper to do the job at any price. I feel for the fine press world, and I suspect prices will get worse, not better, in the coming year, as presses use up any paper they've stockpiled or prepaid for.

I haven't seen paper price increases yet, though some popular papers (like Zerkall or Crane Lettra) are very hard to obtain at the moment. Hoping my particular paper stockists don't raise prices...

I was surprised not to see an option in >1 punkzip: for collectors planning to increase their level of book buying.

I presume that the typical buyer of frivolous luxuries like thousand-dollar books is fairly high in the income distribution and probably saving/investing quite a lot. Normally, when inflation bites you would expect such individuals to bring forward planned consumption and reduce saving temporarily, especially where consumption is in durable goods that are likely to hold their value over time.

That's my excuse, anyway.

>14 Mrfaann: Not sure what your question is here, the costs are always a balancing act, (and we try and sell them at a good value to cost of manufacture) books are often made over a year or so, and, especially now, costs are increasing by the week, the pre-orders come in well before we have finished a book and costs are becoming more than when we initially budgeted for. Profits come down, and it has started to have an affect on ongoing future projects. Love to know how other publishers are finding it all.

>16 marceloanciano:

You and Areté Editions should consider taking reservations with a disclaimer that the prices given are estimates and are likely to change (increase) by the time a given book is published. The reservations can be secured with a deposit (typically about 1/3 of your price estimate) and the remaining 2/3 balance paid just prior to publication when the final price can be firmly established. This will avoid the problem and profit loss that arises from taking full payment during the planning stages of a book, 1-2 years before it is actually published.

This is the model used by the Barbarian Press and their need to do this arose prior to the recent bout of inflation. Rather, it was related to the wild currency swings between the Canadian dollar and the US dollar and this policy minimized financial risk and loss if the US dollar appreciated substantially against the Canadian dollar during the course of a given book's publication.

I stopped buying books until better economy and may be lower prices. I was blessed to accumulate significant amount of fine press books and now have to stop for good. Inflation is huge part of it as well. When things are going down economically, I'm not willing to give my money to buy books. Done for now.

>17 dlphcoracl: Yes I did this to secure the deluxe Bordering The Sublime. Other presses - e.g SJPP - asked for a smaller percentage deposit (but the final amount was fixed). However, I would imagine this is financially worse for the press than getting the full amount in advance, even if there is inflation in the interim. I think if that a press has a capability to ask for the full amount upfront for a preorder they will always do it.

>17 dlphcoracl: I think that is a good idea, however, as a collector and buyer, those models freak me out as I just don't feel comfortable not knowing a final price. I think the solution is to add 5-10% contingency and see whether the price one comes up with for the books 'feels' fair after all the quotes come in.

>20 marceloanciano:

Marcelo:

Not knowing the precise final price is not a problem for many collectors, including myself. We are aware that prices for critical components, i.e., fine leathers, hand made papers, may rise quickly and precipitously, and we factor that into our purchasing decisions. If the final price is within reasonable proximity to the pre-order estimate it should not be a problem. Clearly, if it is more than 25% above the estimate that is problematic.

I'm not at all in the book publishing business and after years as a collector, I still don't fully understand the costs. I am fluent in a variety of small and large businesses and am currently working my way through the inflationary environment with everyone else.

I understand that costs increase for fine presses as they do in every business and in highly inflationary times, such as now, the cost of inputs may be significantly higher than when planning 1-2 years ago. That assumes that the inputs were purchased recently compared to when the book was originally sold. That's where I get a bit lost. If the book is sold well in advance of publication and money is taken at that time, aren't the inputs purchased at that time? I hope I don't sound argumentative. I want to understand.

Shipping should always be charged at cost when the book is shipped. That's fair and ensures the press wouldn't lose money.

As a fan of fine press, I wouldn't want to see any reduction in quality by the presses I support. There are limited levers to pull to improve profit. My though is make sure you have enough profit built into the system so that when there are shocks to the system, they aren't fatal. That may not be the reality of the fine press world but that has been my observation in other businesses.

EDIT: I also agree that a 5-10% contingency is fine as long as it isn't every time and has an explanation. Otherwise, just bake it into the price. Maybe this isn't a good example but I don't think anyone would have balked at a 5-10% higher price for Death and Honey, Stardust, WITW, and so on.

>22 SDB2012: That assumes that the inputs were purchased recently compared to the sale of the book.

And that is where it does unravel, Phil doesn't have the room to store paper for a job which may not get printed for months (if using polymer plates) or many, many months with metal type, which can take 8-9months for proofing, foundry etc. So, once we get the type sorted, the paper is ordered. Same with materials like leather, it is now many months after pre-order, everyone has been working for ages, and then the printed paper goes to Ludlow Bookbinders, the leather we used before is now in short supply and so new leather has to be ordered, ages after we were first quoted. That's life, and people like Ludlow's also tend to swallow additional costs (to their wonderful credit) what is moving so fast is cost of goods movement and materials and new trade barriers, a couple of years ago, prices were not so volatile and much easier to work out.

>17 dlphcoracl:

I'd definitely have a problem with buying books (or other things, for that matter) not knowing the actual / final price.

Some publishers have dealt with this issue by moving the pre-order period much closer to delivery. (In the case of Centipede Press it now seems to be weeks at times.) But it's safe to say that this can only be done if the press is already on solid feet and can afford to advance this kind of money as well as be sure of people buying their books.