Saturday, October 30, 2010

What Would You Pay for a Book?

Lately, there’s been a rash of rock star books coming out. One of the latest is from Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten (real name John Lydon). The book will be a limited edition, with only 750 copies. According to Philly Blurbs, the book will “tell the story of his life and include many never before seen photos of the punk legend (yes, there will be baby photos). Each book will feature a handwritten note from Lydon as well as a 12-inch vinyl picture disc including spoken word recordings and live Public Image Ltd. recordings from 2009.”

There’s more:
Every book will be numbered and feature a center foldout with Lydon's signature and other doodles….100 of the 750 books will contain a special golden ticket. That ticket will get you a 10 minute live web chat with, you guessed it, Johnny Rotten himself.
So, what would you pay?

You can pre-order the book for a special price of just under $600. After the official release date in December, it will go up to $700.

21 comments:

  1. Is it cheaper on Kindle? ;-j
    I wouldn't pay $600 for that book. But I would pay for something that was special to me. Maybe a 1st edition of something, I've paid over a hundred dollars for a book, but it would have to be pretty darn special to get me to pay $600.

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  2. I'm not interested in books about rock stars and actors and stuff like that, so I'm not gonna buy this one.

    I have bought some pretty expensive science books from time to time. The most expensive is probably "Methods in Theoretical Physics" (2 volumes, 2000 pages) by Morse and Feshbach for $400. Still using it frequently, so the cost per year since I bought it is less than $40, if you wanna see it that way >:)

    Cold As Heaven

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  3. I'd not buy a celebrities book, but I'd consider it if it was by the Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela, and a few others. Mind you, I'm sure that I'd be paying my bills first so I might miss out. Hi Helen, I've been away, I hope you've been well.

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  4. I think the book I have paid most for is a two-book, leather bound, illustrated Gone With The Wind from our library book sale, and even that was under $100.

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  5. According to my calculations, $700 will buy approximately 28 hardback books and 46.7 paperbacks. If Ruth Rendell were to write one more Inspector Wexford book, I'd consider $700 a fair price. Otherwise, I'd opt for the paperbacks.

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  6. I can't image paying that for a book unless it was a first edition of a classic.

    Mason
    Thoughts in Progress

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  7. Have you ever seen an interview with this guy? He's a mean, horrible person with nothing nice to say about anybody. They'd have to pay me $700 just to consider looking at the book.
    And if the book were on my favorite band Rush, I still wouldn't pay that kind of money.

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  8. A book about an entertainment celebrity? I wouldn't spend one cent of my hard-earned dollars or one minute of my precious time.
    Will people really pay that?

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  9. It would also have to be autographed! And by someone really special, I think, Charmaine.

    Cold As Heaven, that reminds me of college textbooks. Man, those were and are expensive.

    Hi Simon. Ooh, a book signed and personal inscribed by the Dalai Lama? That'd be something.

    That sounds like a beautiful book, Joanne.

    Towriteistowrite, it's interesting that each of us have different writers that we would cherish and consider worth spending money on.

    Mason, that makes me think of collectors who collect first editions. I wonder if they've ever tallied up what they've spent on their books.

    Alex, I've definitely never read an interview on him.

    I bet there are some who will pay that, Susan. Not me. But someone.

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  10. ...if I'm going to invest triple digits on a book, the money would be spent on an actual writer, whose inspiring work deems it worthy of the buy. Not about to send any cash to retired celebrities who now think they can simply pick up a pen, pose for autographed fold-outs, and have their mortgage paid in full. ...$600, sheesh, you've gotta be kidding:)

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  11. I was getting so interested because my husband would love that book....but no, not worth $600. And, it'll end up on e-bay & who knows how far the price will get jacked up!

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  12. Even if the center fold was a la Playgirl magazine, I wouldn't pay $700 for a Johnny Rotten book.:) I have paid $60 apiece for a series of Hemingway leather bound books and $125 for a rare, previously banned historical book that I used for research. I've seen one of my own out-of-print historical books listed online for $800 and laughed. It disappeared two months later and I'll never know whether someone actually paid that much, or the seller gave up trying to sell it.

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  13. I would look at this as an investor only. Will it go up in value. Will there be a comemerative plate to go along with it?

    Stephen Tremp

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  14. Ah now, a commemorative plate might make it worth the price. Not.

    I'm thinking the book would need to be signed and leather bound and the author dead so I'd know the number of signed copies are limited. And s/he'd better be so famous and so good that I could sell it at auction. Hmm, I'm a penny pincher, aren't I?

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  15. For someone with the name, Johnny Rotten, I'd run in the opposite direction. It would have to be a very special book to pay that much, and I'd have to find some folks willing to share the cost!!!

    Monti
    MaryMontagueSikes

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  16. Monti, I'd need a lot of some folks to share the cost!

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  17. You forgot Andrew Jackson’s Big Block of Cheese with nary a macaroni in sight.

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  18. Not even for charity would I pay $700 for a rotten book by Rotten.

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  19. I think you would have to be a real fan of the Sex Pistols to justify to yourself paying that much for Rotten's book.

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  20. I would pay $600 dollars to use its pages to wipe my butt. Just kidding, I'm sure it's actually great literature!

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