Quote:
Originally Posted by Quoth
For those confused:
"Mass market paperback" is a size, not paperbacks for a mass market! The European "Pocket book" is a similar size and sometimes the terms are interchangeable.
The PB in Europe it's commonly a size of 110 mm x 180 mm (approximately 4.3" x 7")
The MMP in the USA it's commonly 4.2" x 6.75". However it's not an exact standard. Sizes of 4.2" x 7" and 4.45" x 7" are also common.
In the UK it was created for railway station shop racks in the early 1930s.
Amazon has never offered the smallest sizes and I think their smallest is 5" x 8", with over large internal margins (gutter) for binding as the page count rises.
The "Trade Paperback" is also simply a size, and sold now in exactly the same retail outlets. A size of 5.8" x 8.3" is common, but so is 6" x 9" and 6" x 9.2". It too doesn't have an agreed standard size.
The actual cover image includes the spine and back and is larger to allow for trim.
The internal page size is also larger, but the margins must allow for trim and binding.
One annoying thing for some people buying a long series is that the physical books might be even 4 different sizes, not counting only getting some titles in hardback (usually fake hardback)!
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MMPB in the US were the same size The size is/was 4.25 by 6.87 inches. I never had one larger then another in my bookshelves.
The trade paperback is not simply a larger size. The trade was created to be larger so the publishers could justify an increased cost. And because of this increased cost for trade, that means the publishers are justified in higher prices for eBooks.
In the US, most MMPB had a price of $7.99 on the cover. I had discount cards from Waldentbooks. If I bought enough, I got 15% off. I really did take advantage of that,