Cookbooks via Supermarket

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Last week, The New York Times reported on the rise of hardcover books at supermarkets as if it were something novel. "Supermarkets, long the domain of paperback romances, pulp thrillers and astrology guides, are the new frontier of book selling." In fact, this is not a new frontier at all. As Melani McAlister reports in Epic Encounters: Culture, Media, and U.S. Interests in the Middle East, 1945-2000, Ben Hur (1880) sold over a million special edition copies via Sears & Roebuck, a number that would still today make any publisher slobber and drool. Catalog sales were the precursors of giant department stores and supermarkets. "Eye-catching displays of new hardcovers are sprinkled throughout the stores, encouraging impulse purchases" -- most of us have witnessed this ploy. How often you seen cookbooks by Ina Garten and Martha Stewart in Costco? Many times, you answer, but have you asked yourself why they are there? The New York Times focuses on the benefit which publishers see going to retailers. They report HarperCollins's Josh Marwell as saying, "Supermarkets are definitely taking a bigger share of our business... Hardcover bestsellers have become more of an everyday commodity." They also note the high mark-up price for supermarkets as retailers, higher than typical supermarket food products. Left unsaid there is a discussion about product costs and price from the consumter perspective. Ever pick up a hardcover these days and wonder whether you've got a lightweight paperback in your hands? Publishers have found ways to reduce the weight of both binding and paper that goes into hardcover. The result is a less expensive book -- after years of rising paperback prices. Publishers are betting that we consumers will not notice this decline in hardback quality but that we will note the closing price gap beetween discounted hardbacks and reglarly priced paperbacks. Which do you prefer, if the price is relatively close: a hardback or a paperback? Take Paula Deen's new cookbook, Paul Deen & Friends (click here for superchefblog's review) retails full-price for $25. You can buy it online at Barnes & Noble for $20 ($18 for members) and Amazon.com for $16.50. Or, you can buy it on impulse at Costco for under $15 -- and have the book in-hand immediately, no waiting. Best of all, publishers push hardcover sales back up, where profits are higher than paperbacks -- and test out which books are so popular that they will make for great paperback sellers. And let's know forget that at a bricks-and-mortar store like Costco you can still have a live appearance, from mega-names like Hilary Clinton. Hardback sales may only be a fraction of overall general interest books sales, but their sales have risen 50% over the past three years, as The New York Times notes. And, yes, bookstore owners should be scared of this trend, as publishers find yet another way to sell best sellers in big volumes, robbing from the relatively poor independent bookstores (and even biggies like Barnes & Noble) and giving to the ever rich mega-chains, from Walmart & Co. (which are emerging as supermarkets + department stores in the Mid-West) to supermarkets like Kroger. Previous reviews: Mother's Day Gift: Finding Betty Crocker The Sensual Language of Baklava: Diana Abu-Jaber Paula Deen & Friends Roland Mesnier's Dessert University Puerto Rico: Grand Cuisine of the Caribbean Don Pintabona: Shared Table Annabel Karmel: First Meals Nigella Lawson's Feast Cook Like a Kyrgyz Personal Favorites: The Chefs of Las Vegas Anne Willen: The Good Cook Gale Gand's short+sweet More Food from Alton Brown Manju Malhi's India With Passion SOS: Baking from the Heart Madhur Jaffrey: Our Lady of India, CBE Amazon UK's Steamy Xmas Chefs All Hail Alfred Portale Agassi's Star Palate: Celebrity Chefs --> back to superchefblog