I recently placed my pre-order for the paperback edition of “Cell” by Stephen King  coming out in November. What’s the retail price of this zombie-on-a-cell-phone treat? It’s $9.99 USD (not including tax). That’s just about as much as a trade paperback. This “premium” paperback which is becoming the favorite format and price point between hardbacks and mass market paperbacks.

Prices are creeping up to $7.99 for an average-sized paperback and $8.99 USD for a larger paperback. Stephen King’s newest paperback is pricey for 480 pages. I used to get a month’s worth of reading—about ten paperbacks—for $30 USD in the early 1980’s when I was a teenager. It’s getting to the point that I’m waiting for the hardback to land in the bargain bin, or do a four-for-three paperback sale at Amazon or Borders.

What is a poor reading junkie supposed to do?