The tyranny of trade paperbacks: too big, too expensive.

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Does anyone know why the publishers decided that the standard paperback was bad?

I love my compact Penguin paperbacks of Jane Austen, James Joyce, Martin Amis, and Paul Theroux. Now, if I want to buy a paperback of a classic author (or a new literary author), I have no choice but to shell out $20 to $25 Cdn. for an oversized trade paperback. Does it fit in my jacket pocket so I can walk up to the coffee shop and read? No. I need a friggin' backpack to carry the thing around.

Thankfully, genre fiction is still published (mostly) in the classic paperback format.

I wouldn't complain so much if the trade paperbacks were at least printed on acid-free paper. But they're not. They still turn brown after a few years.

The size has gone up, the price has gone up, the quality and convenience have gone down. I guess it's good for the pulp mills and logging industry. They get to sell more paper to the publishers.

― Mouse, Tuesday, 24 February 2004 22:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to love good old fashioned mass market paperbacks until carpal tunnel set in and my eyes started to age, not the trade paperbacks are easier to hold for long periods of time and easier to read without putting on my glasses. I am glad to see that many books come in mass market and trade size to give people a choice.

― dr. b. (dr. b.), Tuesday, 24 February 2004 22:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Trade paperbacks are generally better made books. They don't fall apart half as easily, the type is set better and the book just plain feels and reads better, and while more expensive than mass-market paperbacks (which are so ugly and difficult to read that I haven't bought one in almost four years, and have gone out of my way to find TPB or hard cover copies of books widely available in mass-market paperback), they are substantially less expensive than hard covers, and are cheaper to produce.

They make the publishing industry look good, and frankly the move towards more TPBs is one of the few things I can applaud them for right now, both as a reader and a design nut.

― August (August), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 02:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It's not uncommon to see TPBs going for upwards of $16 now - I think the price gap between TPBs and HBs is narrowing.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Right now I pay an average of $21 Cdn. for a TPB.

Right now I pay an average of $35 Cdn. for a harcd cover.

That's a big enough gap for me.

― August (August), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I read somewhere recently that publishers are considering dropping the traditional first HB print run for certain types of books anyway - since it's economically risky. If more books start to debut in TPB's, I wouldn't be surprised if TPB's start to approach the price of HB's. I usually prefer TPB's to HB's anyway, since they're easier to carry around on the train or wherever, but sometimes I suspect it's a ploy to get people to pay more for the same book - kind of like the record industry did with CDs.

― o. nate (onate), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Aren't there some books that are released into mass market and trade paperback sizes at the same time? I remember seeing Gaiman's American Gods in both paperback forms at the same time somewhere...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i imagine the thinking behind trade paperbacks is to get people who wouldn't be bothered buying hardbacks to still pay more for books than if they just came out in normal paperback size first...
i work in a bookshop where trade paperbacks are normally about 13.99 when they come out and hardbacks are about 23.99,and a lot of people who come in looking for something specific mention that they don't want it in hardback cause it costs too,but they seem willing to buy it in trade paperback....

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 25 February 2004 15:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Until I have a good paying job (currently a student), I will only buy a few select authors in TPB (and sometimes HB on ebay) and the rest in mass-market paperbacks.

But if money wasn't an issue, I wouldn't mind moving to TPB only; they do feel better and hard easier to read while not weighting as much as HBs. I only wish they would print them - like Mouse said - on acid free paper.

― Mikhail Capone (Mikhail Capone), Saturday, 28 February 2004 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

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