paperback books

External Since: Apr 10, 2007 Posts: 3

When I do my shopping on amazon.com I often see that books
come out as hardcover, paperback & mass market paperback.

What's the difference (if any) between the paperback and the
mass market paperback ?
--
Ron

External Since: Jan 12, 2004 Posts: 226

On Fri, 20 Jul 2007 07:47:15 -0700, Don Bruder <dakidd.RemoveThis@sonic.net> wrote:

>In article <46a0b744.RemoveThis@news.bezeqint.net>, "Ron" <Talashar.RemoveThis@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> When I do my shopping on amazon.com I often see that books
>> come out as hardcover, paperback & mass market paperback.
>>
>> What's the difference (if any) between the paperback and the
>> mass market paperback ?
>> --
>> Ron
>
>The quality of the paper/binding is usually a bit lower on the "Mass
>market" version, and the UPC code and/or ISBN is almost always
>different. Sometimes there's a slight price difference, but not always.
>
>Cover art may vary (cropped, totally different, or missing completely)
>and any stamping to raise/lower letters/designs, or cutouts with a fancy
>underleaf that peeks through on the cover of the "regular" paperback
>version is almost guaranteed to be missing on the "mass market" version,
>often replaced by some variation on the concept of an "umpty-nine-weeks
>on the NYT bestseller list" starburst, or "the sensational new book by
>the author of ______", or similar hype on the cover.
>
>Oh, almost forgot - the "If you bought this book without a cover, you're
>a thief" text is usually present in the mass market version, but not the
>"regular" version.
>
>In essence, aside from any possible paper/binding quality changes, the
>"wrapper" is the only significant difference.

To expand, the difference in editions is that the (trade) paperback is sold
and distributed the same way as a hardbound book, while the mass market
paperback is sold and distributed in the same way as magazines. When a
retailer buys hardbound or trade paperback books, they're his, and if he
doesn't sell them, he eats their cost. With a mass market paperback, the
retailer can pull off the covers of unsold copies and return them to the
publisher/distributer for a full refund. That's why mass market paperbacks
have the blurb about coverless books, the retailer is supposed to destroy
copies that have had the covers returned, and it's illegal for him to sell
them.

In the U.S. trade paperbacks tend to be larger (taller and wider) than mass
market paperbacks, but that isn't the defining difference (U.K. trade
paperbacks tend to be the same dimensions as U.K. mass market paperbacks),
how they are sold to retailers is the defining difference.

Trade paperbacks tend to have a higher retail price than the same book in
mass market paperback, because the retailer can't return unsold copies and
therefore needs to have a higher profit margin on the sold copies.

--
I have a theory, it could be bunnies