MY WEEKLY TREAT
For the past couple of weeks I have brought the Saturday edition of The Daily Mail. It's not the 'real' one but an A3 printed copy of the paper in black/white, but just as it appears in the UK.
It's a treat because it's expensive - 240 baht (just over three quid) compared to the 50p cover price back in the UK. The selection of newspapers is not just restricted to UK editions - The Age from Australia and several German, Italian and American papers are also available.
I've looked into making our own Thai language daily newspaper, Stockwave, available via this method. I think there is a small market for the kind of news it offers elsewhere in the world, and for a publisher the cost is nothing. Having said that, the percentage of the sale is pretty much nothing too. Even so, it would be good to have our paper available in bookshops around the world - even if no one can read it because it's in Thai.
2 comments:
Book shopping can be tricky in in Bangkok. Chatuchak has a book section and yes the books here are well over priced. I can't believe they where charging so much for second-hand books and in some cases very old books. We're talking 450 baht for a paperback novel. Art book shops selling what’s been on the sale stands back home are incredibly high priced.
Across the road from the main book area, outside the market there where a few slightly cheaper sellers. As an expat in Thailand of 5 years i recommend joining bookazine or Asiabooks. Bookazine has several branches in Bangkok. They give 10% on Mondays and i think its 20% on your birthday. Asiabooks have similar promotions.
The newly refurbished world trade has a huge new book shop. Same size as say a Borders back home. The other shop I like is the Japanese one in Paragon and Emporium. Pretty good selection.
The latest book store is TBT.
Its a big fancy book shop near BTS Surasak.
www.thailandbooktower.com
What i normally do is wait until there are 5 - 6 books i want then do an amazon US order. Adding to the wish list helps you keep track until you're ready to ship.
I'm semi retired and read a lot.
Jason
Jason,
Thanks for your post. Some very interesting and useful points. I have to say that Kinokuniya (the Japanese store) at Paragon is my favourite book store in Bangkok at the moment, but I have yet to check out TBT. One that I haven't mentioned so far is the Chula University bookshop behind Siam Square. That's got a good range of academic and language books.
The price for second hand books at Chatuckak is outrageous, I agree. They even try selling the free catalogues and brochures, such as those from photo libraries. You've got to admire them for trying.
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