I bought Stephen King’s ‘IT’ (2017 softcover) for ~$10 last year. The Dark Tower box set (8 books) for ~$75 which comes to about $9.50 per book. Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit pocket edition set (4 books) for ~$25 which comes to about $6.25 per book. These were all softcover btw. I also only buy 1-2 book sets a year but I did get all of these sets brand new from Amazon.

It might depend on which edition you’re buying and how popular and/or mass-produced the book is. The Hobbit for example is one of the most sold (non-religious) books of all time so I can easily find a cheap edition at any book store whereas the first book in a popular new series that just released may have inflated prices if it’s harder to find a copy.

I was a kid in the early 2000’s and remember softcovers costing around $6-$8 and hardcovers around $12-$18 back then. I think it’s just that EVERYTHING ELSE is more expensive nowadays which makes new books SEEM more expensive since we have less money to spend on them.

Sorry for the excessive rambling btw. This post unearthed some old memories of going to scholastic book fairs with my parents every year.