Blog — BookNet Canada

Jennifer Gauthier

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Finding Award-Winners on CataList

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Canadians love their books. A recent National Reading Campaign survey found that 95% of Canadians read for pleasure, and books are their preferred reading format. But with so much out there to read, how does anyone decide what to pick up next?

Often, avid readers’ holiday wishlists are filled with the winners and finalists of Canadian book awards such as Canada Reads, the Giller Prize, and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. To make it easy for retailers and libraries to find and order Canadian award finalists, we’ve created catalogues for all the major awards on BNC CataList.

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Looking Back at Book Pricing Trends

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In October 2005, BookNet Canada began tracking sales data on print books in the Canadian market, including average list and selling prices. Consumer prices on other goods had long been tracked, but this was the beginning of comprehensive, national, data gathering on books.

At the time, a bag of roasted coffee beans cost $11.25/kg, a domestic stamp was $.50 and a ticket to the movies cost just over $6.00. Today, coffee is close to $20/kg, mailing a letter will set you back $.62, and a 3D movie ticket can cost as much as $18.00. It seems that everything we consume is getting more expensive.

But a new BookNet Canada research study, available to SalesData subscribers only, has revealed that books are bucking the trend…