Mass market paperbacks will all but vanish from the publishing scene in a few weeks

[jhowell]

Paperbacks were missing covers because the book seller would return those to the publisher for a refund on unsold books. The rest of the book was then supposed to be discarded. That message was only added because some dishonest book sellers did not honor the agreement.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Paperbacks were missing covers because the book seller would return those to the publisher for a refund on unsold books. The rest of the book was then supposed to be discarded. That message was only added because some dishonest book sellers did not honor the agreement.

Or someone dumpster dived for them, which I think is more likely. (Publishers kept tract of that kind of thing.) I worked for a paperback book distributor in the 1970s. I "stripped" a lot of books and magazines. For the first year or so I was there, they were just taken to the dump. Than someone figured out they could pulp them and turn them into insulation, so the started coming in each week and taking them. (I think they sprayed something on them to make them fireproof or, probably more accurately, fire resistant.)