My son works for one of the large publishing houses, the cost of paper and printing like everything else has rocketed. A lot of the printing was done in China but that is no longer the case. A while back there were some major supply issues some of which pertained to that container stuck in the Suez, all in all a perfect storm of quite a few factors affecting the price of books, but as other have pointed out, you do have to shop around there is often a disparity in what Waterstones charge compared to say Sainsburys, or any other large supermarket. I try not to use Amazon for books if at all possible, Occasionally if I find a little independent books shop I'd buy something there, I'd just hate to see these places disappear.
Like you Belinda, books are also a passion for me. I started using the library again a while back, I buy less books now as a consequence, if I've loved a book that I've borrowed from the library I will buy it even if I've read it because I want it on my shelves and it's the best way to support an author, but I buy far less run of the mill stuff now, I've become more selective.
