Why are BBT book prices generally so high?

mishra

not very conducive to mass book distribution, isn't?

phani

[i'm speculating here, and stand ready to learn if others have more accurate information.]

book-prices aren't fixed arbitrarily, they're based on some calculation: how much it costs to print the books, distribute them, store them. then there's the organizational overhead, including programs that sponsor education of ISKCON youth to train them as translators / editors, teaching them sanskrit in the process, paying for their whole maintenance. (i didn't see this program's details, but matsyavatara pr. fromm italy may have something to do with the financing of that.)

there's also the possibility that somebody in the book-chain gets filthy rich on the side. presonally i don't think this is likely, because what i've seen from the BBT in india, and from the two or three BBT trustees i personally know. still, if somebody is sufficiently clever and evil, that could be done.

i'm sure the higher-level managers pay themselves decent salaries, though. they're living in the west and don't, far as i know, come from an ex-hippy environment, used to living in and around orange- or book-boxes. cutting these salaries might diminish book-prices somewhat, but most of these managers would find it necessary to look for outside work to substitute their meager allowances, having less time o spend on their service, obviously.

anothe way could be that devotees sponsor some of the main, or all, books so they can be distriburted for cheaper street prices. sastradhana does that, but this could also be done for 'normal' book distribution.

last AND least, it might help if all of us paid for our folios ... :-)

VEDA

Here in CZ our books are about 1/2 price (or less) of similar-sized commercially published books. Can you give any examples where our books are more expensive?

mishra

I am talking about wholesale price, what book distributors and temples pay.
Imo, BBT high wholesale price is what impacts most negatively BD around the world. Any wholesale prices you can quote?

VEDA

We don't sell to bookstores (with few exceptions in the past) so I can't say. I just know printing prices, 'grhastha' prices (with various % of profit) and street prices. E.g. our BG street price is about 9 Eur, while printing price is about 3,5 Eur. Average salary here is below 700 Eur, while most people earn only 250-500 Eur.

mishra

and temple/grhasta wholesale price?

VEDA

for BG:
107,1 Kč 0% from profit, printing price
122,5 Kč 10% from profit
145,7 Kč 25% from profit
184,3 Kč 50% from profit
260,0 Kč 100% from profit, street price

abhiram

phani:
[i'm speculating here, and stand ready to learn if others have more accurate information.]

...but most of these managers would find it necessary to look for outside work to substitute their meager allowances, having less time o spend on their service, obviously.

how is that a service is they are getting paid for it? I call that a job not devotional service.

mishra

sorry VEDA what is this Kč mean?

VEDA

Czech money (crowns, koruny). 1 Eur ~ 28 Kc

mishra

I made the conversion to euros:

3.86 euros printing price
4.41 10%
5.25 25%
6.64 50%
9.37 100% street price

and US dollars:

5.27 cost
6 10%
7.20 25%
9 50%
12.8 street price

3 questions here:

how does that match with the printing cost of another similar karmi book?
is the profit the BBT makes already added in the cost figure?
does "street price" match the media donation an average devotee actually obtains from sankirtan?

I am interested cause when I wrote an article on sankirtan, http://www.oldchakra.com/2002/01/14/sankirtan.for.grhastas I got many devotees complaining about BBT prices, so they couldn't practically engage in book distribution as grhastas.

VEDA

Our books have generally much bigger runs so they come out cheaper.
BBT profit is included in the printing price.
temple profit = street price - (printing price + devotee %)
Donation = street price

adikavi

Mishra Prabhu, there is a very simple answer to this question. Yes the books are much cheaper than the cost to the temples. And Srila Prabhupada did say that the devotees shouldn't have to pay a lot for the books but that wasn't brought up.

But Srila Prabhupada himself set up the formula for the book prices. I don't remember exactly how it goes, a BBT person would know, but say a book costs $1 to print. Right away the book price is doubled, making it $2 before the temples even get a chance to buy it. Out of the $2, $1 goes back into the cost of making the book and the other $1 goes to the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust to be used for funding projects in Mayapura, the Bhaktivedanta Institute, loans to temples and so on.

Then the temple buys the book for $2 and tries to sell it for $4. But like someone else said the retail price should be even higher for similar sized books, who give money to the author and other things I don't know about.

govindas108

Hansadutta das has his own BBT! http://hansadutta.com

Also krishnabooks.org Bhagavan das+ krishna Kant Desai...

Any others...?

abhiram

those sites are quite ugly.
:s

mishra

Ugly with the BBT rights looks like

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion