I like to read philosophy and some of the books published by academics are sold at very high prices compared to average layperson books.
I was wondering who is the target audience/customer for these published books. As the average reader is very unlikely to consider paying more than $20 for a book.
To give some example, many books from OUP Oxford.
The target audience is presumably other researchers. Researchers normally buy books from grant money or university money, not out of their own pocket, so they are not terribly concerned about the price.
Note that in many fields it's not terribly difficult to find these overpriced books online (e.g. on LibGen), if you're willing not to be too scrupulous about copyright law.
I have never written such a book myself, but I suspect that there are three target audiences for such books:
You can often find the intended readership on the book's webpage or a marketing flyer put together by the publisher.
Example:
Example:
If the price is high, it's a sign that the intended readership is narrow, and therefore that it is aimed at advanced level.
No book is or goes useless when it comes to readership. There are so many libraries (public or school/universities) that buy the latest editions of every types of books. I am from the STEM background, where every new book on technical subjects costs more than USD100. You can find readers of the books from every genre possible otherwise it would not exist. Paying or not paying for the book is a separate topic. I can talk about myself at least. Even though I am not educated in the field of interior design and architecture, yet they fascinate me a lot. And not only that I like to read such publications (books, magazines, etc). I don't like to spend money on things that have shorter lifespan and books are one of them as you read them once and they spend rest of their lives in a nicely decorated bookshelves. I find it unfair. So, I either head to library or ask in my local book circle if someone has or can borrow me or even sell at a cheaper price tag.
I was wondering who is the target audience/customer for these published books. As the average reader is very unlikely to consider paying more than $20 for a book.
Exactly: the target audience is not the average reader. The target audience is the scholar, professional (or advanced amateur) community. How the scholar community pays the books, it is another topic.
Let's make an example: you need a screwdriver, you can buy a random screwdriver for 2$ or a (brand starting with W and ending with urth Zebra) for 15$.
A 7x factor for a screwdriver, but I think we can agree the average layperson is very unlikely to consider paying more than 5$ for a screwdriver.
To add to the other answers, it may help to understand that these fees are often not paid by real working academics, but are passed on either to university libraries, or to grant funds, or to students (if the book is a textbook). Many universities also have programs where academics can order the book directly through the university library. So the researchers actually working in a field do not experience the cost directly. Unfortunately, that means the publisher can basically set the price to be whatever they want, without any major repercussions.
First, $60 is not really that much for such a book. These days, $20 (which you mention) is the price for a relatively small paperback book. For example, my most recent purchase is Reality is not what it Seems by Carlo Rovelli. This is a short book (c. 250 relatively pages) and it's in paperback and the price was $18 in a regular bookstore. Another is The Investigator by John Sandford. That one is a mystery and truly mass market. It's a very small paperback and about 400 pages. Price was $11.00.
Second, the economics of the book business are such that the author will get a relatively small portion of the cover price. I don't know the exact numbers (which will vary by book, author, and publisher) but I would guess that an author is lucky to get 20% of the cover price and 10% might be more likely. So, that's (say) $10 per copy of that book. And books in niche areas are unlikely to sell many copies. And they take many, many hours to write.
Third, others have mentioned some of the audiences for the book. But, for sure, they are not the "average reader". But I'd like to make another point. I also like to read philosophy. If you look at "price per book" they are indeed expensive. But if we look at "price per hour" they are not. The Sandford book I mentioned took me about 6 hours to read. That's $2.00 per hour. I haven't read the Rovelli yet, but I'm guessing it will take me about 5 hours, that's $4.00 per hour. An academic philosophy book? That will take many hours. They are typically quite long and often fairly dense. 20 hours would be $3.00 hour, and some such books take me longer than that!
I would like to add a much more extreme example:
This book is not intended for individuals at all. A very narrow range of organizations and specialized libraries are going to buy those books. When I was looking for a copy of the book for academic work, the only copy available through the library search system of my country was located in a library in the capital that is specialized on the general topic (defence) and was only available to read on-premise (unless you were an employee of certain government agencies).
Usually when you think of books, you think of them as a medium for mass distribution of information. But sometimes a book can also be something else, like a subscription to a kind of database in my example. Something which is expensive to compile and the information changes regularly, so before it spreads too wide it's already outdated and a new edition of the book has to be bought.
The target audience is as mentioned by others above. In my lifetime books are generally much cheaper in most arenas due to book price changes over the last 30 years.
However, specialist books - and there are fewer and fewer of these nowadays because of Kindle editions - have higher production costs and a more limited market pool. Hence the higher price relative to general book market.
Your saviour in the case of "classic" texts, i.e. on topics that will not become obsolete in a few years like many software technology topics - is the secondhand market. Check out not only Amazon, B & N, Alibris, etc but also EBay and your local secondhand goods portal websites. It is amazing the bargains you can get when the "book estate" of some professor or serious professional is sold off as a job lot.
I have found quite a few written-in-English gems on Amazon France/Germany/Italy/Spain.
Make your money work hard for you.
Anyone who wants them badly enough to buy them. That includes me. I'm a former academic and I read them for fun and enhanced knowledge. Learning from a textbook is sometimes also a cheaper way to learn than going back to university if you have the prerequisite knowledge and the self confidence to try, if you are picking up a related subject to something you already know. I have heard people refer to this, if it is relevant in any way to your career, as "continuing education", though often that involves a certificate or conference of some sort. But investing in your own knowledge, skills, and credentials is always worth the time!
