Thursday, February 21, 2008

Booking Through Thursday: Format

From Booking Through Thursday:

All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?


Strangely, this is a hard question to answer! Hardbacks seem more durable, but I find trade paperbacks (not mass market paperbacks) physically easier to read. On balance, I think I'll say trade paperbacks, because they take up less space and I therefore have more room for books!

12 comments:

Gabriele Campbell said...

In a perfect world, the US/UK paperbacks would have the quality of the German ones which is mass market format but finest trade quality in a price range of 8-10 bucks.

I do have a lot of mass market paperbacks, for one because they're cheaper and second, they're easier to carry along when traveling. I'm probably more of a reader than a bibliophilic, though I do replace books with cracked spines where the pages come loose.

Lynn Irwin Stewart said...

I love hardcovers and always try to buy books in that format if I can. Yes, they are more expensive and they take up more room but I just like the way they look and feel. I'm trying to be better about only keeping the books I really love -- but I tend to want to keep them all forever. I imagine, when and if, I move again, I'll change my mind really fast.

Elizabeth Kerri Mahon said...

Congratulations Susan on selling to Sourcebooks!

Susan Higginbotham said...

Gabriele, I'm jealous of those German books!

Lis, thanks for stopping by! The one nice thing about moving with books is the fun of unboxing them all after they've been shut away for a time!

Elizabeth, thanks! (But how did you know? Has it been announced somewhere?)

Mimi said...

Trade Paperbacks. I dislike reading hardbacks, and I really don't like the look of mass market paperbacks.

Marg said...

Snap!!


Tell us more about selling..if you can!

Susan Higginbotham said...

Mimi, I think I'm with you about trade paperbacks. They just have a nice feel to me.

Marg, both The Traitor's Wife and Hugh and Bess have been bought by Sourcebooks (a publisher in Illinois that is reprinting some of Georgette Heyer's books, among others). They're scheduled to be republished in spring 2009.

Marg said...

Wow! That's fantastic news Susan! Congratulations!

Sarah Johnson said...

Awesome news, congratulations!

I just took a scan through the Publishers Marketplace deals and saw the announcement there, from 2/20.

(And I prefer trade paperbacks too, hardcovers second.)

Susan Higginbotham said...

Thanks, ladies!

Jules Frusher said...

paperbacks for me, every time - they fit into a handbag much easier! And congratulations on the Sourcebooks deal - it's always fantastic when a writer who isn't a celeb manages to get something good and well-deserved. You go girl!

Anonymous said...

Generally, I prefer hardcovers as I am OCD about my books getting wrinkled or bent and it's much easier for that to happen with paperbacks, and then my whole day is ruined. I'm so careful with my paperbacks that some of them don't even look like they've been read. The pages are perfect and you can hardly see a crease in the spine. But it makes life much too stressful, so hardbacks for me. Though if I've already bought a paperback and it's a series, then I usually will buy the rest of the series in paperback to match. I hate for a series not to match on my bookshelf, though I do have a few that are a mix of hardcover and paperback.