Mass Market Paperbacks

[bdub76]

It looks like these are going away next year.

Now, it does look like the market has shrunk considerably, but when I was kid in school, these were my go to. I'd only get paperbacks or hardcovers when I was buying at a used book store.

The price point for mass market paperbacks is really affordable.

I also see a lot of TV adaptations as mass market paperbacks. And there are books that have only ever been published as mass market paperbacks.

Any idea as to the impact? What books will disappear forever?

Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks

After years of steady sales declines, the format will largely disappear next year.

www.publishersweekly.com

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[KRAD]

eBooks have pretty much replaced mass-market paperbacks in the book-buying ecosphere.

 

[ATimson]

eBooks have pretty much replaced mass-market paperbacks in the book-buying ecosphere.

Hopefully this means we'll see publishers stop pegging eBook prices to their cheapest print counterpart - i.e. even if there's no MMPB, they'll eventually lower the ebook price to what it would have been if the MMPB existed, instead of keeping it tied to the TPB/hardcover price indefinitely.

But I don't have my hopes up.

 

[bdub76]

Hopefully this means we'll see publishers stop pegging eBook prices to their cheapest print counterpart - i.e. even if there's no MMPB, they'll eventually lower the ebook price to what it would have been if the MMPB existed, instead of keeping it tied to the TPB/hardcover price indefinitely.

But I don't have my hopes up.

This is my concern.

I have also noticed that my library wait times for eBooks has increased over the last year by a lot. A couple of my holds exceed 6 months. I'm guessing library funding is being reduced now too.

 

[Adventerprise]

I used to be able to request any number of book purchases and interlibrary loans. Now it's down to three per person per month, and if they have the e-book, they won't buy/borrow the hard copy.

 

[Greg Cox]

Sadly, this has been coming for a long time. Not only are ebooks taking over the niche previous occupied by mass-market paperbacks, but the "mass-market" outlets they were designed for -- drug stores, supermarkets, bus stations, newsstands, convenience stories, etc -- are no longer carrying books in a big way.

When was the last time you saw a paperback spin rack at a 7-Eleven?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

 

[Turtletrekker]

I'm going to be honest here. This is largely the reason I stopped reading.

 

[Procutus]

When was the last time you saw a paperback spin rack at a 7-Eleven?

Last century.

 

[bdub76]

I used to be able to request any number of book purchases and interlibrary loans. Now it's down to three per person per month, and if they have the e-book, they won't buy/borrow the hard copy.

You might find this interesting.

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[bdub76]

When was the last time you saw a paperback spin rack at a 7-Eleven?

The most likely place for me to randomly buy a physical book is at the airport.

I was introduced to Stephen King via Pet Sematary that I bought at gas station while on a road trip back in the 80s. Almost all of my fantasy novels purchased were mass market paperbacks.

I get the move to eBooks, which is what I mainly read today. However, there are a lot of people in my book club that don't own an eReader and still buy physical books.

 

[Santa Kang]

The ex-bookseller in me is sad.

 

[Procutus]

The ex-bookseller in me is sad.

I'm with you on that. I worked for Waldenbooks back in the 80s, at a time when MMPBs constituted a large percentage of each day's sales. My personal collection of books was comprised of mass market for the longest time, largely due to them being so much economical than hard-covers.

Back then, I never imagined a time in which that format of books would be gone.

 

[Santa Kang]

I'm with you on that. I worked for Waldenbooks back in the 80s, at a time when MMPBs constituted a large percentage of each day's sales. My personal collection of books was comprised of mass market for the longest time, largely due to them being so much economical than hard-covers.

Back then, I never imagined a time in which that format of books would be gone.

I worked for Crown Books. The left and right walls of the store were mostly devoted to MMPBs, Hardbacks, trades and remainders had the floor fixtures.

 

[Procutus]

^

Waldens had a very similar setup. Then of course over time, they began to carry all kinds of other products, with more wall space being given to audiobooks, classic films on VHS and gaming material and beginning in late summer, calendars.

Fond memories, those days.