People often complain about the cost of books in Australia, and it is true that we do seem to pay more for our reading material than other countries. Since becoming an author I have learned that there are several reasons for this - http://greataussiereads.aussieblogs.com.au/2012/06/10/book-prices/ - gives quite a good explanation. But that isn't really the point of this post. What I want to talk about is how we value the entertainment gained from books as opposed to movies. I am going to generalise quite widely here when I say the average person might take six hours to read a book (obviously this will vary widely person to person but I think it's a fair average). If you pay between $20 - $30 for the book (again just an average), that equates to around $3.50 - $5 per hour. A movie ticket ranges between $10 - $17 for about 1.5 hours which makes between $6.50 - $11 per hour. A new release DVD averages around $25 for about 2.5 hours (including extras) so that is $10 per hour. You could also factor in the extra costs associated with seeing a movie at the cinema - petrol/fare to and from, snacks etc.
So, my point is that a book (even at the higher end of the price scale) is better value for money that seeing a movie. And let's face it with the increasing lack of quality movies (2012 must be one of the worst years for movie releases EVER), we need the humble book as it remains one of the cheapest and most satisfying forms of entertainment around.
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