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

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Apache

And because they were cheap you could find book racks in almost any store.

I miss that. I used to love to browse the books at the grocery or drug stores and always hit the book section when we were in a department store.

Though I'm sure we went, I don't really remember going to book stores until I was a teenager.

[haertig]

I used to hit the book aisle in the grocery store during the hour or so the wife was in the personal care section trying to choose the perfect shampoo. Me, I'd just grab the cheapest bottle that had "shampoo" written on it and head on over to the book rack. There were usually a lot of guys hanging out over there holding identical bottles of generic shampoo.

[JSWolf]

I remember back when Waldenbooks was still in business, I belonged to their book club. I forget the exact name. You got a card which gave you 10% or 15% off depending on how much you bought at one time. Each card was for a different genre. I had a card for SF/Fantasy books. When they stopped the club, the cards were still valid as they didn't discontinue them. It was fun seeing some of the staff dealing with the card when they were not taught about them. So I'd buy MMBPs priced at $7.99 and get 15% off.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I miss that. I used to love to browse the books at the grocery or drug stores and always hit the book section when we were in a department store.

Though I'm sure we went, I don't really remember going to book stores until I was a teenager.

I used to spend a good amount of time in the bookstores. I used to go to the bookstore to browse while my wife did her shopping. She'd comeback and I'd still be there. Those were the days.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I always liked the MMPB format when I was younger and my eyes still worked well. I was mad at the seeming rise of the TPBs. Their sizes were all over the place and made my bookshelves look like garbage (not to mention TPB's higher prices).

I dislikes the look and feel of TPB. They are too big, too flimsy, too expensive, and don't fit the shelf.

I think the entire reason for TPB was so the publisher had an excuse to raise the price.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Apache

And because they were cheap you could find book racks in almost any store.

I always carried a book with me. I still do, even if it is an electronic one now. They fit in a pocket perfectly. And when I started wearing a suit every day, I carried them in the inside pocket of my jacket. No one could even tell it was there. I couldn't do that with hardback books.
Apache

I always carried two books with me. One I was reading and the other for when that one was finished. They would be MMPBs. Now I carry some books on my phone be they eBooks or audiobooks. And when I do carry my Reader, I have even more eBooks.

[Dazrin]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I used to spend a good amount of time in the bookstores. I used to go to the bookstore to browse while my wife did her shopping. She'd comeback and I'd still be there. Those were the days.

"I'll just wait for you in here."
"I'll be at least a couple hours, where will you go after?"
"After?"
"Oh."

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I remember back when Waldenbooks was still in business, I belonged to their book club. I forget the exact name. You got a card which gave you 10% or 15% off depending on how much you bought at one time. Each card was for a different genre. I had a card for SF/Fantasy books.

I had the same card! But when I was using it, you'd be hard pressed to find a mass market paperback priced at $8. Back then they averaged around $3-4.

I searched for an image of the card and couldn't find it, but here was the logo anyway.

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I used to spend a good amount of time in the bookstores. I used to go to the bookstore to browse while my wife did her shopping. She'd comeback and I'd still be there. Those were the days.

My Saturdays as a teenager and young adult consisted of going downtown to Boston, stop first at Barnes & Noble cruise the used paperback section, pick up anywhere from 5-10 used books, then look at the new book sections that interested me, then look in the record dept. Purchase my books and leave.

Then I would go next door to Strawberry Records to look at 45s and albums, most were too expensive so all I did was look to see if I could find a bargain.

After that I would get lunch at Woolworths, then go down the street to Walden's I think and look for bargain books there.

After that I was worn out especially from carrying around 5-10 books by the time I got home it was around 4:00 and I had been downtown at 11:00!

[cfrizz]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I dislikes the look and feel of TPB. They are too big, too flimsy, too expensive, and don't fit the shelf.

I think the entire reason for TPB was so the publisher had an excuse to raise the price.

I think it came about because the oldest of the Baby Boomers started having eye problems so they solved it for a while with TPBs I know that's why I started getting them in the mid 90s!

I didn't mind paying more, because I was able to read them with ease! But by 2000 I was done even the size of the print in TPBs was too small to read without having to switch glasses.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Yapyap

Coming out of my years-long lurkerdom just to say you’re not alone.

I think ebooks are starting to pick up some popularity even in Estonia, actually - with several local subscription services (Rahva Raamat and Elisa Raamat) apparently having enough users to be worth it. And I just recently came across a thread on Bluesky with people complaining about Mirko (the local library service) and how much it sucks with the ebook selection being very small, so .. there definitely are people who have embraced ebooks. I think more people read them than want to admit to it in public, possibly, because of all the sneering about “not real books” that can accompany such an admission.

But I do get the impression e-readers are uncommon enough, with people reading mostly on their phones, it seems.

My mother (she’s 71) has got bad eyesight and hasn’t been able to read paper books comfortably for years now (she’s had cataracts removed on both eyes but also has glaucoma, and has had a difficult time even getting glasses that work well enough with large text), so some years ago I got her to try ebooks and there’s no going back to paper for her. But she does read on her iPad (with large text, needing a large screen) and isn’t interested in any eInk devices as the iPad works for her.

As for the original topic … I’ve been a voracious reader my whole life (with the exception of some recent years when I was just too exhausted) but the mass market paperback was a format I always hated with passion. The tiny text, the lack of space between lines, the text going so far into the inner margins that I’d always have to wrestle with the book and crack the spine to be able to read the entire text… also, they tended to stink (“the smell of books” has never been a pro-paper-book argument for me, heh) and make my hands itchy.

So not a big loss for me, personally. I’ve very rarely bought paper books these last 15 years - no more space on the shelves, and no more space for more shelves, plus I enjoy reading ebooks! - and when I do, I want a hardcover. I guess as long as people (young people, people who can’t afford hardcovers, people who don’t have space for trade paperbacks or hardcover books) do still read books - like ebooks on their phones, even - then it’s not a big loss. But it does sort of feel like the end of the “era of the reader”, I suppose, in some way, even if it’s perhaps not.

Great to see another Estonian here.

For my part, I loved mass market paperbacks. They were relatively lightweight, easy to hold in one hand, didn't take up much space and the small print/tight line spacing didn't bother me. But I wouldn't want to read them now, no.

And I agree with you re the stink of paper books. Yuck.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I always carried two books with me. One I was reading and the other for when that one was finished. They would be MMPBs. Now I carry some books on my phone be they eBooks or audiobooks. And when I do carry my Reader, I have even more eBooks.

I would carry one until I was 2/3rds from being finished and then I would carry two.
Apache