‘An integral part of our emotional lives’
What’s a Book Worth? is asking readers to film themselves talking about a book that means a lot to them and share those thoughts on 28th September, using the hashtag #WhatsABookWorth, the title of the book and its cover price. It is also encouraging readers to write a short blurb about a book that they love and share it on social media.
My colleague Sarah Shaffi at The Bookseller is writing about a campaign launched by the author and historian Mathew Lyons “to encourage discussion about the emotional worth of books.”
Shaffi’s article is in today’s edition of the magazine, and her interview with Lyons brings into focus one of the most elusive — often frustratingly so — elements of the bookish kasbah: the question of a value that trades in currencies beyond the cash-and-carry noise of the industry! the industry!
In interview, Lyons says to Shaffi:
A good book represents absurdly good value for money. As low-cost, premium items they are in a strange, perhaps even unique, position in the marketplace. Paperbacks are priced at an almost disposable level—the same as a couple of cups of good coffee, say, or a couple of magazines.
If you buy someone a book as a present, you can spend nearly as much on wrapping paper and a card as on the book itself. But books aren’t casual purchases for most people. We all have books that mean a great deal to us, books that have changed our lives. So why don’t we talk about that fact more? Why not celebrate the extraordinary value they bring to our lives?
Well, Mathew, you’ve asked the right people now.
We can talk about that fact, and will do so, in #FutureChat.
There’s more to this story: Read the rest
By Porter Anderson Follow @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: #FutureChat today: What’s a book worth?
Read the full post at: TheBookseller.com/futurebook
