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Reports on rising publishers costs, which get passed on in the form of higher prices to their customers, for 1989. Specific costs; Paper market; Stabilized bookbinding prices; Re-forecasting the future.

This article focuses on publishing and digital media. The article explains that because the Internet enables publishing without the use of paper, publishers have adopted creation of both print and digitized copies of material. Also included are the marketability of electronic versions of material and ways they are being utilized.

The article presents an outlook on changes in book prices in the U.S. from 1987 to 1992. The costs of the inputs into the production process determine the price. In the book publishing industry, these inputs include paper and ink. Yet despite decreases in the prices of paper, producer prices of books remain high. The producer price index for books increased 6.2% in the first eleven months of 1990. This gain comes on the heels of a 6% rise in 1988 and a 6.6% increase in 1989. In contrast, general inflation stands above 5% at an annualized rate. The gross national product growth of 4.5% in 1988 added pressure to prices and justified the Federal Reserve Board's fight against inflation. Over the past three years, when book prices increased at an annual rate of 4.3%, consumers' prices rose only 2.5%. The rising number of discount bookstores contributed to this difference in price gains. Since the middle of 1990, consumer book prices began increasing and headed for a 6.4% gain for the year. Real consumer spending on books increased in an average 4.7 per year. This trend is expected to continue as the aging of the baby boom population, the increasing educational attainment levels, and the boom in export activity boost demand for books. The producer price index for books is expected to increase 6.2% in 1991 and 4.8% in 1992. Prices of professional and technical books rose 3.1% in 1990. Prices of trade books increased 4.2% and prices of general reference books increased 2.6%. Book buyers face more of the same in 1991 before book prices ease in 1992.

This article presents the U.S. library market outlook as of April 1990. Reflecting the mounting inflationary pressures throughout the economy, book prices soared in 1989, 4.8 percent above the year before. Consumer prices also saw a double-digit jump in January 1990. Book publishers continue to pass along their higher supply costs in the form of higher book prices. It is important to note that the category of books that saw the greatest price increases is of little concern to librarians; textbook prices rose an average 6.6 percent per year from 1984 to 1989. What accounts for the price variance between different types of books? In some cases, the greater the demand for the type of book, the more a publisher can pass along the production costs to the customer. More importantly, however, is the grade of paper and technical aspects of the production process that determine the price of a book. Due to an oversupply situation, paper prices fell steadily in the last quarter of 1989 and will remain soft through at least the first half of this year. Cahners Economics expects paper prices to decline in 1990 before rebounding in 1991. This easing in paper prices should take some pressure off book publishers and their prices.