Position:Home>Books & Authors> In paperback books, what is the difference.....?

Mass market are exactly that--produced "en masse"!. The paper quality is not as good as the "trade" paperbacks, so they cost less money to produce!. Mass market books are usually destroyed if not sold rather than returned to the publisher (it costs more to ship them back than to toss them)!.

Trade paperbacks are the large sized books!. The paper quality and the binding is much higher (a mass market is more likely to split at the seam and lose pages than a trade book)!. Trade paperbacks will hold up better to wear and tear!.

The price difference is because of the quality of the actual book and also because usually mass market is the last offering of the book for sale (usually they are released in hardcover first, then trade and lastly mass market)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

Mass market paperbacks are cheaply bound!. They tend to fall apart (sometimes in one reading)!. They are made somewhat poorly so that the price can be kept low!. As the previous answerer said, Harlequin romances, bestsellers tend to be mass market!. The idea is to get the book in the hands of as many people as possible!.

Paperback books (also known as trade paperback) tend to be better bound because they cost more!. The paper is of better quality and they are larger in size than the mass markets!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

A mass market paperback is the more common of the two!. They typically range in price from 4 to 8 dollars (US) and are approximately 4!.125" by 6!.75"!. Many books are released only as mass market PBs!. Others are released in this format after being released as hardcover or trade size!. Most mass market books have the same height and width making them easy to store!.

Pros: cheaper, easier to store, bigger variety/selection
Cons: more likely to fall apart

A trade-size paperback is the nicer (better binding, higher quality paper, etc) of the two!. They tend to range in price from 11 to 16 dollars (US) and are approximately 5!.125" by 8"!. Size varies more in trade-size than in mass market!. The basic size is not as uniform!. If a book does not have a big enough draw to be released in hard cover, it will often be released as a trade-size PB before being released as mass market!. A lot of small presses only release books in this format!.

Pros: less likely to fall apart
Cons: more expensive, harder to store
Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

It's the difference in size!. Mass market paperbacks re the smaller paperbacks (a lot of romance novels, mysteries, etc!. come in this size!.) They're usually 6!.7 x 4!.1 inches or so!.

Trade paperbacks are bigger in size!. Many of them are similar in size to the hard back version of the book!. That's really the only difference!. Some people are picky about their books!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---

Mass market paperback is a regular paperback!. Trade paperback is the other paperback!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

---

---