Jim Sherman said buying Perfect Books after retiring as an English teacher in 2009 was a decision done with his heart rather than his head.
Now, more than a decade later, the independent bookstore owner is experiencing something new — increased prices across his shelves.
The price of books and reading material has increased about three per cent in October compared to the same month in 2024, according to a Capital Current analysis of data Statistics Canada uses to track the prices of consumer goods and services.
Sherman said he understands publishers must factor in profit losses when setting price points.
“Our prices in the store are completely dictated by the publishers,” Sherman said. “In other words, they set the prices and we simply charge that price.”
Sherman says the book industry can’t employ ‘shrinkflation’, the method of reducing the size or quantity of items while keeping the prices the same, as so many other industries have.
“Unlike soup, we can’t make a smaller can. If a book has 26 chapters, we can’t bring it down to 20 chapters and sell it for the same price,” Sherman said.
Sherman also said he thinks global trade uncertainty is playing a role in the price increase.
“I know that publishers and shippers and so on have run into increased costs for paper,” he said. “Trade around the world has been so complex in the last little while that I guess publishers are cautious.”
Mark Leslie Lefebvre, the former Canadian Booksellers Association president with more than 30 years in the book industry, said, although books haven’t been directly affected by tariffs, their shipping costs have been hit. Combined with the rising cost of paper, the situation has caused a sharp increase in prices.
He said these rising costs are affecting smaller Canadian publishers and booksellers the most. Larger companies are able to spread the economic blow over many locations, or different areas of their businesses.
Overall though, “I think (rising prices) could definitely hurt the industry,” he said. “There’s going to be businesses that close.”
Although books may not be essential, Leslie Lefebvre says he believes they are still important.
“In times of hardship, story and creativity and art and music and books allow us to escape.”
Chris Simmons, the Ottawa Public Library’s manager of content services, said in an emailed response to Capital Current he believes increasing book prices are having an effect on the book industry.
Simmons said although the increase in one year may seem modest, “these changes compound over time.”
“For public libraries, every price increase means our buying power erodes,” he said. “These trends put pressure on budgets and challenge our ability to keep collections current and meet the needs of our readers.”
Colin Mang, an economics professor at McMaster University said in an email to Capital Current that given the rapidly rising price of paper, he was not surprised to hear about the increase in book prices.
Mang pointed to Statistics Canada data, showing paper prices have risen by about 25 per cent since January 2020, while the general rate of inflation in that time period was about 20 per cent.
Mang added that some publishers have moved to a print on-demand set-up to minimize the inventory they carry, but that this also leads to higher costs per book.
Many said there’s not a lot people can do to stop the rising book prices.
“Unless paper prices come down, higher book prices are here to stay.”
When Marley Bradfield first got into reading at age 13, she would buy physical copies of the next book she planned to read without a second thought. Now, at 21 it’s not possible because of rising prices.
Because physical copies have gotten so expensive, the Carleton University journalism student said she only buys new physical books when she’s sure she’ll like them, or when she’s read them before.
“When I first (got) into reading, I would just buy a book because it looked good, and I’d pick it up in the bookstore,” Bradfield said. “Now I really have to think about it, and it’s gotten more expensive.”
Bradfield said Carleton Book Ravens, a student-run book club at the university that offers a space to talk about books and meet new people, could be affected by rising prices. She is the director of communications for the Book Ravens.
“I could see a situation where … we start losing people who are interested in reading the book,” Bradfield said.
“While I love reading so much, and I love owning books, I think sacrifices need to be made.”
Despite higher prices, Perfect Books owner Jim Sherman said he thinks readership remains high.
“People just keep coming back to the printed page. The look and feel of a book and the ability to hand it to somebody, to gift it to somebody. … you can’t really replace that.”
