An Open Letter to Academic Publishing Houses

Subject: An Open Letter to Academic Publishing Houses
From: Mr. Zero
Date: 4 Apr 2015

Dear academic publishing houses,

Why are your books so effing expensive? What's with paperbacks that cost 50 bucks? What's with hardcovers that cost 75 or a hundred bucks? What's with Kindle e-books that cost forty or fifty bucks? They're electrons, for crying out loud! What's with medium-important books by medium-important philosophers going out of print all the time? (Even On The Plurality of Worlds was out of print throughout the late 90s, and that’s an important book by an important philosopher.) What's with a lot of books costing over 200 bucks used?

I realize that there's not much demand for these books, and that there are a variety of costs associated with producing them, and stuff, but come on. You look at these prices and it's hard to think they're set by someone who wants to the books to sell. They're the prices you'd set if you didn't want a buyer. Maybe you like having them around the warehouse.

Yours most sincerely,

Mr. Zero