How come hardcover books are more expensive than paperback books?

Question

i mean, i know that they are harder, but how come they are more highly priced?

Answer 1

There are two reasons. Hardcover books are more expensive to produce partly because of the cost of materials and partly because of the machine required to bind the book. The machine costs nearly a million $ to purchase and comes from Germany. Not every bindery is equipped with one and those that have the equipment are very busy.
Also, hardcover books are much more collectible. They appreciate in value as time goes on and they become harder to find. For example, there is a Stephen King book called Eyes of the Dragon. It is so rare and hard to find that it is worth nearly $1000 for a first edition in mint condition, and it's less than 30 years old. That might seem like a long time, but in terms of books, it really isn't.

Answer 2

They are more expensive to produce. But as a NY Times Best Selling author I correspond with told me the other day, it is more likely to find errors in the hardcover editons which are corrected in the paperbacks which come out later. That is unfortunate since we pay a high price for hardcover books.

Answer 3

Both of the above answers are correct. Also, hardcover books have the pages folded and sewn together before they are glued to the binding. This makes them much more durable than a paperback, where all the pages are cut individually and glued just on the edge of the paper. Many more steps to assemble a hc book than a paperback. Machines and materials and labor are expensive.

Answer 4

The binding, cover, larger sheets of paper, and the backnig all cost the printing companies extra so they charge more.
Plus they know that some people will only buy the hardbacks for their collections and paperbacks to actually read the books.
My cousin does that........