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Old 01-04-2026, 09:12 AM   #16
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For me it's not the print - I'm extremely nearsighted and can read small print just fine (the one benefit of my very poor vision). I just no longer want to read paper books at all; my ereader is much more comfortable to hold, the contrast is better and it doesn't require bright ambient light. Not to mention having run out of shelf space more than a decade ago.

I still have several shelves full of mass market paperbacks, many of them unread. I don't expect ever to read them, but who knows.
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Old 01-04-2026, 09:22 AM   #17
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For me it's not the print - I'm extremely nearsighted and can read small print just fine (the one benefit of my very poor vision). I just no longer want to read paper books at all; my ereader is much more comfortable to hold, the contrast is better and it doesn't require bright ambient light.

...
+1.

If I was going to go back to pbook, I would want MMPB (or the next size up). If I couldn't get them new, I would look for some other fungible used MMPB.
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Old 01-04-2026, 12:22 PM   #18
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Does that mean that you'll only get Hardcovers in the US now?
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Old 01-04-2026, 12:45 PM   #19
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Does that mean that you'll only get Hardcovers in the US now?
Trade paperbacks too, I believe.
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Old 01-04-2026, 12:54 PM   #20
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Trade paperbacks too, I believe.
So mass market PB and TPB are not that same? I don't think this exists here, so I'm a bit confused.
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Old 01-04-2026, 01:21 PM   #21
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So mass market PB and TPB are not that same? I don't think this exists here, so I'm a bit confused.
No, they are not the same. Trade paperback is a large paperback, only a bit smaller than a hardcover, while mass market paperback is a small paperback, the size of your average ereader. Mass market paperbacks were usually released a year after the hardcover edition and were cheap (less than 10$). Trade paperbacks were priced between hardcovers and mass market paperbacks, usually more than 10$ but less than 20$.

Here we get only one format, either a hardcover or a paperback, and that's it. But I've bought books in English since I earned enough to buy them, because Estonian books are more expensive and the selection is pitiful compared to the larger markets.
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Old 01-04-2026, 02:52 PM   #22
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May I ask a question? Most of Mass Market Paperback were also abridged versions?
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Old 01-04-2026, 03:33 PM   #23
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May I ask a question? Most of Mass Market Paperback were also abridged versions?
No. They were full versions.
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Old 01-04-2026, 03:48 PM   #24
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May I ask a question? Most of Mass Market Paperback were also abridged versions?
As Sirtel said, they were mostly all full versions, although you could find abridged versions sometimes - just like you can with other book formats.

The mass market paperback's claim to fame was that it was cheaper than other book formats. The achieved this cost reduction by using lower grade paper and other cheaper printing/construction methods. They were "economy models". Which was fine with me. I would generally buy one, read it, and then give it to a friend or donate it to a library. They were only good for a few readings before they started to fall apart - the binding would start to fail, pages would tear, etc. If you took good care of them they would last OK. But they weren't really built for hard use or abuse. You wouldn't want something like a textbook that you would refer to for many years to be a mass market paperback. They didn't even publish textbooks in that format - no doubt the publishers knew nobody would want that.
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Old 01-04-2026, 04:01 PM   #25
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They didn't even publish textbooks in that format - no doubt the publishers knew nobody would want that.
More likely publishers saw no need for a cheap format for textbooks, given that the target audience was captive. You can decide not to buy that expensive hardcover of a fiction novel and instead borrow it from a library or search for an used copy, or just not read it at all, but you have to buy the textbook if your studies demand it. So why make it cheap if you can make it expensive?
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Old 01-04-2026, 04:23 PM   #26
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So mass market PB and TPB are not that same? I don't think this exists here, so I'm a bit confused.
It also exists here. TPB is larger in size, the paper is better quality and they are more expensive.
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Old 01-04-2026, 04:24 PM   #27
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I would have guessed that paperbacks were stansard sizes. Looking at the NY Times best seller list "Paperback Trade Fiction" for the top 4, the sizes are:

5.25 x 8
6.3 x 9.47
5.31 x 8.25
5.09 x 7.97
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Old 01-04-2026, 04:38 PM   #28
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I packed a lot of books when I moved last. The MMPB copies were fairly easy to pack because they were very similar in width and height. The trade paperbacks were all over the place, and I ended up grouping them according to size to make packing in boxes more efficient. They are still in the boxes, and I have no idea which box to look in to find some particular trade paperback. Sigh.
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Old 01-04-2026, 05:45 PM   #29
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I would have guessed that paperbacks were stansard sizes. Looking at the NY Times best seller list "Paperback Trade Fiction" for the top 4, the sizes are:

5.25 x 8
6.3 x 9.47
5.31 x 8.25
5.09 x 7.97
Those would all be trade paperback sizes. A MMPB would be in the 4.25" to 5.25" x 6.25" to 7" range (similar format for the UK would be A which is ~4.4" x 7").
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Old 01-04-2026, 07:11 PM   #30
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I recently found a couple of MMPBs packed away in a box from a previous move that I hadn’t read. I opened one and realized that I would need at least a magnifying glass if not a microscope to read it. I went to Libby and checked it out and read it on my Kindle.

However, I am sad to see them go. They were a very important part of my life growing up.
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