There's an argument you always get into when people who think book theft (aka piracy) is a good thing. I'm not talking about borrowing books from a library here, or passing on a copy to a friend. I'm talking about wholesale ripoffs of digital ebooks and audio online.

Ah, the piracy lobby says. None of this would happen if books weren't so expensive. Really? Here's the truth: books are cheaper than ever. I was just sorting through my book cases tonight and came across this...

<a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/rimg0077.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5535" title="The Godfather" src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/rimg0077.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="367" /></a>

Published in 1970, not long after the wonderful movie came out. Remember 1970? Probably not. I do, vaguely.

In 1970 the <a href="http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/hfrtable/up02043ab.PDF" target="_blank">average house price in Greater London </a>was £6,882 compared with<a href="http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/assets/library/documents/hpi162009e.pdf" target="_blank"> £302,411 </a>in 2009.

In the US the median household income was <a href="http://www.1970sflashback.com/1970/Economy.asp" target="_blank">$8734</a> compared with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_household_income" target="_blank">$52,029</a> in 2008.

How much did my copy of <em>The Godfather </em>cost then?<!--more-->

<a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/rimg0078.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5536" title="Exif_JPEG_PICTURE" src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/rimg0078.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="367" /></a>

And how much will it set you back at Amazon today?

<a href="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/puzo.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5537" title="puzo" src="http://davidhewson.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/puzo.jpg" alt="" width="490" height="309" /></a>

Forty years on the price has, in real terms, fallen. And actually Puzo is at the higher end of the scale. Most of us sell for less than this -- my new paperback, <em>The Blue Demon</em>, lists at £6.99 but <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Demon-Nic-Costa/dp/033051251X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;s=books&amp;qid=1281472308&amp;sr=8-1">is actually available for £4.18. </a>

Whatever reason people have for nicking books, it's not the price, honestly.