Lately all I’ve been reading are Trek books. One day I was in a rush to get out the door to go to work and I absentmindedly put the one I was reading in my coat pocket. I paused, realized what I did, and went “oh, so that’s why they’re called Pocket Books!” and chuckled. Perfect format to travel with. I’m gonna miss it.
Mass Market Paperbacks
- Thread starter bdub76
- Start date
Although I don’t like that they’re getting rid of MMPBs, because it means less consumer choice and higher expenses for those who want a physical copy, I guess I am part of the problem, because I have largely switched almost entirely to ebooks. Star Trek books are pretty much the only books I still buy in physical form anymore. 
I miss them. I hate the "tall" format, I don't much care for TPBs and especially not for paying TPB prices for potboilers that should be mmpbs, and honestly just for overall accessibility the mmpb is a great format. I'll go out of my way to track down, like, an old bantam or signet classic rather than buy whatever current edition is out there, all else being equal. (And this is not new -- I think I stopped buying Harry Potter books after the third one or so because that's when there stopped being mmpb editions, IIRC.) There are so many times when I get some new doorstop fantasy or whatever and it's just unpleasant as a TPB. If the mmpb was good enough for Lonesome Dove and Les Miserables, for The Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire, it's good enough for new books, too. I just pulled a couple of the Bachman Books from the library and, nope, can't do it, early King is mmpb or nothing for me. It's a comfortable, portable, readable format and its demise has been a danged shame.
I find the large pockets in cargo pants works well for carrying trade paperbacks and even hardcovers around, though with larger hardcovers it can create an awkward drag effect. I have a couple of vests with pockets which also work well for carrying trade paperbacks around. Granted, you can't beat the convenience of MMPBs, but adapting to their loss isn't insurmountable.
There's an economic angle for why TPBs are preferred over MMPBs by retailers. MMPBs have to be sold at a fixed price, and after a certain amount of time, retailers are forced to return any unsold MMPBs to their distributor at a loss of profit to them. TPBs on the other hand can be marked down to discount prices after this interval of time thus insuring that retailers will get some profit off of them, even if it is less than its initial retail price.
Sadly the last time I went to the Barnes & Noble closest to me, this was probably a year or two ago at least, they almost seemed to have more games and toys and stuff like that than they did books.
It was the same for me.
I've been about 90% e-book and digital comics for a while, but I'm still disappointed to hear about the death of the mass market paperback, they've always been my preferred format for physical books. The lower price and the smaller size has always made them much more convenient that trades or hardcovers.
I'll cop to preferring dead-tree books myself, partly because I'm a technophobic dinosaur, but also because I spend enough time writing and editing onscreen that I want to unplug when simply reading for pleasure.
And I still prowl used bookstores looking for cool old paperbacks like the ones I grew up on. "Ooh! Fritz Leiber! Tanith Lee! Doc Savage!"
That being said, I can't deny that the "mass-market" those paperbacks were designed for has been going away for decades now. Which is a shame because, back in the day, that's how people got hooked on the reading habit -- from picking up cheap paperbacks at the drug store. (And, okay, libraries.)
Bookstores are great, but they tend to preach to converted; i.e. folks who are already in the habit of reading for pleasure. As opposed to picking up a book as an impulse buy at the supermarket.
Can ebooks hook people on reading? I don't pretend to know the answer there.
And I still prowl used bookstores looking for cool old paperbacks like the ones I grew up on. "Ooh! Fritz Leiber! Tanith Lee! Doc Savage!"
That being said, I can't deny that the "mass-market" those paperbacks were designed for has been going away for decades now. Which is a shame because, back in the day, that's how people got hooked on the reading habit -- from picking up cheap paperbacks at the drug store. (And, okay, libraries.)
Bookstores are great, but they tend to preach to converted; i.e. folks who are already in the habit of reading for pleasure. As opposed to picking up a book as an impulse buy at the supermarket.
Can ebooks hook people on reading? I don't pretend to know the answer there.
When bookshops started selling chocolate and bottled water...
I met my best friend in Jr High, but he moved away that summer. We still stayed in touch through high school and when he came to town we'd always meet up. A few days before our scheduled meet up, I was at the mall with my family. I made a beeline for the bookstore of course (one of two at the mall) and who do I find browsing the Sc-Fi racks but my best friend. 
Later he moved backed to town for college and we both were hired at Crown Books, eventually becoming store managers.
Later he moved backed to town for college and we both were hired at Crown Books, eventually becoming store managers.
I met my best friend in Jr High, but he moved away that summer. We still stayed in touch through high school and when he came to town we'd always meet up. A few days before our scheduled meet up, I was at the mall with my family. I made a beeline for the bookstore of course (one of two at the mall) and who do I find browsing the Sc-Fi racks but my best friend.
I met my best friend in junior high because she spotted me reading a Doc Savage paperback in the school cafeteria. She later worked at the B. Dalton's bookstore at the mall for years.
My best friend says we met because he saw me drawing comic book characters. I got him into Edgar Rice Burroughs and he got me into TrekLit.
My first Star Trek book was Blish’s Star Trek 6, which I noticed on the wall of MMPBs at Safeway. That was probably around 1972, and I had to beg my dad for 75 cents to buy it. “But you’ve already seen all those on TV!”
Anyway, that started one lifelong hobby.
I read the movie edition of The Man of Bronze in 1975 (I was 15). It was OK, but I made the mistake of seeing the movie, which was a long way from OK (it was -and still is- abysmally bad). I didn’t read Doc again until 2024, after I picked up a complete run of the Bantams on eBay for a reasonable price. I’ve been reading them in original magazine publication order, not Bantam reprint order, and am just about to start the January, 1937 story, Land of Long Juju. It sounds like a trip.
I got turned on to Doc via PJF's Tarzan Alive and the Wold-Newton Family. Picked up a copy of PJF's A Feast Unknown in Jr High library. (Librarian did not do their due diligence! 
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That’s the understatement of the century.Picked a copy of PJF's A Feast Unknown in Jr High library. (Librarian did not do their due diligence!
I have a trade paper reprint with amazing illustrations by Richard Corben. It definitely shouldn’t be shared with anyone under, I don’t know, 30.
I know I've probably mentioned this every time it's come up, but... I also work in front of screens all day. All my ebook reading is done with an eInk reader. It's much more like reading from paper, and doesn't cause the kind of eyestrain that you would get trying to read a book off a phone or a tablet.
Not trying to change your mind, of course. Everyone should be able to read in whatever way suits them best. But I just wanted to mention that reading from a dedicated eInk reader isn't the same as reading from a "screen".
I don't think I've ever seen books in a drug store or a grocery store. Although the Walmart here does have a small book selection.
Indigo can't seem to decide whether it wants to be a bookstore with houseware items, or a housewares store with books. I mean, more power to them, whatever pays the bills and keeps the lights on... if Indigo goes under, then we won't have a major brick & mortar book chain left. But I do often wonder how many people, when they need a coffee mug, or a throw pillow, or a blanket, or a scented candle, think to themselves, "well, I guess I'd better run to the bookstore".
They're products intended to set the mood for reading, or make it more comfortable to do so. You also have the gift shop/stationery items for one's home and work offices, the kind of trinkets that might be sold at a book fair, items which would appeal to people who like certain book genres or subjects.
