Yesterday’s mail brought copies of my new book, Globalization (Greenwood Press, 2008). (It’s not only "my new book"; it’s my first book.) It’s now out and in-stock. Globalization makes a great Christmas gift for all those nerds and anti-globalists on your shopping list!
Quite seriously, I wrote the book so that it can be understood by non-economists. I did my best to minimize the use of jargon, and to explain globalization — its whys and its consequences — as clearly as my modest talents allow.
Share
{ 28 comments }
184 pages for $55? Is there an edition for the have-nots?!
I do apologize, but I don't set the price of the book. That's totally out of my hands.
I've noticed that Greenwood Guides to Business and Economics tends to price their books as if they are intended to be supplemental books for college courses. They had the same pricing scheme for Alan Reynold's book as well.
Suffice to say, the price is a bit steep for pleasure reading. Perhaps a paperback edition will be forthcoming in the future?
I have enjoyed Don Boudreaux writings over the years.
I qualify as the targeted audience being that I am unquestionably economist illiterate.
So I just bought the book.
I’ll write a short critique when I’m done. Which to be honest will probably amount to either “I get it” or “What the heck?!?” lol
$55 for a book? Yeah, great gift idea. It will go great on my brother-in-law's jewel encrusted book case.
Just kidding, and good luck with it. I'll probably wait for a lower priced edition, though.
The "Right Wing Authoritarians" forum on Amazon linked to the book features some serious hysteria. Reading it made me appreciate our own Muirgeo.
I'm sure the book is great.
John and I must think alike. The high price/page was my first thought.
Don, when you're good, you are very good, but when you've got nothing, you're "Al Gore invented HAW HAW HAW the internet HAW HAW HAW." Sort of like Frank Zappa, who was a masterful composer and orchestrator who found it useful to target much of his work to the laddie market. The "Look Inside!" feature isn't available at Amazon (yet) so I can't tell whether this is one of your serious efforts or a ragout of polemic and mockery intended for torture apologists.
Can you provide any guidance as to whether the tone is more Bastiat or Inhofe?
Congratulations! I plan to order a copy after Jan. 1, when my budget is replenished.
Regarding the price: I used to work for a small academic publisher that was a competitor of Greenwood Press. The profit margin in that area is tissue-thin. Authors and readers often argued that we would sell more books if we lowered our prices, but that never worked out. Books like this have a small audience that just doesn't change all that much based on price.
Thanks to all who are buying my book. It is, most decidedly, a serious effort in the spirit of Bastiat.
"Bundling" is way to sell more books to an inelastic audience. Allow the curious to buy two related books at a discount.
The "Safari Bookshelf" is another, albeit related way. Offer all your small-audience books online for an annual subscription.
Innovate & grow rich.
I'll wait a couple of months and buy a used copy from Alibris. I think I learned that strategy in an econ class long ago.
With continued offshoring of our economy I may need it later to burn for fuel in the fireplace (sorry Don I couldn't resist).
This should be sure be on sale at Wal-Mart, a mecca for people who lost their jobs.
Anyway, since this is the holiday season, allow me to be serious for a moment, let us be of good cheer, may all of you have a great holiday and see you here next year.
Just pressure your local (university) library to stock the book. It sometimes works.
Congratulations Dr. B. I look forward to reading it, but I'm still pretty behind, so I might not get to it in a while. I still haven't finished "Discover Your Inner Economist" yet.
"I do apologize, but I don't set the price of the book. That's totally out of my hands."
Anyone interested in enlightening me about how publishers price books? Should I assume that there are many substitutes to this particular book?
"Anyone interested in enlightening me about how publishers price books?"
The way a small publisher like Greenwood does it is essentially by figuring out how many copies are likely to be sold (based on sales figures for previous books aimed at the same market), figuring out the cost to print enough copies to satisfy that demand, dividing the cost figure by the number of copies, and adding a small amount for profit.
…is this going to be on the kindle?
Pardon my unpardonable ignorance, but what is a (or the) "kindle"?
A kindle is either litter of rabbits or kittens or a new digital reading device offered by Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Amazons-Wireless-Reading-Device/dp/B000FI73MA?ie=UTF8
Looks neat–now I know what I want for Xmas.
a kindle review: http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/11/the-economics-o.html
My apologies for not using html, but I tried using a link but this site blocked it, saying something to the effect that it thought it was spam. I'm not sure Tyler and Alex would like that too much….
You might also want to practice typing the name of your book, unless it really is "Globaization".
Barnes and Noble has 'Civil Forfeiture as a "Sin Tax"' as also by this author, but alas, out of stock.
Member's Price for Globalization at Barnes and Noble is $44. That eleven bucks is going straight to my consumer surplus!
Okay, borderline cases, here's the deal.
Barnes and Noble membership price gets a 20% discount. Do a Google search for Barnes and Noble coupons, use one, and get another 15-25% off. Finally, sign into Barnes and Noble through Discovercard Shopping and get 10% cash back.
So that $55.00 becomes $32.18.
…while I'd rather that it be written on a passel of kittens, I actually was going for the digital book route.
So, yes, the kindle is amazon's new digital book-thingy.
Particularly interesting for it's possible opportunity to cut out book publishers altogether, and distribute content directly to the end user (for someone with a bit of an audience already, such as this blog has generated…it'd be hard to 'make it' as an author nobody's ever heard of, when you're only publishing digitally, at least until new promotional venues emerge…I don't know of any bands 'making it' just because they're on myspace??).
As you've already signed up for this publisher, I'd bet it's not going to be available on kindle…but maybe a future release? A few good books from you or other GMU cohorts would definitely up kindle's stock in my eyes.
AACK! I committed my own unpardonable sin! That should be "its", not "it's"….how embarrassing…
Will a paperback be forthcoming?
Would be nice to see this available on the Amazon Kindle… Have you discussed with your publisher? Might also give you more sales of physical book.
Sir,
I tried to get a copy today at B&N, their system only showed two copies remaining in stock in a 4 state region.
Is this because sales are higher than anticipated (and the book is going to a new edition) or did they not order many of a "specialist" title to begin with?
I look forward to reading it….