by Ada » Mon Dec 03, 2007 5:36 pm
According to Pan Macmillan Aust. The Trade Paperback* of The Quest came out on 1st Nov. 07 and it’s currently listed as #5 on their What’s Hot list.
*So that’s what those funny sized paperbacks are called – i.e. “Trade Paperbacks” (TPB). I was correct, they are the same size as the hardbacks. For years I kept seeing them come out after the hardbacks but prior to normal sized paperbacks and I couldn’t understand why they bothered. Actually, now that I have found out, I’m surprised there is a big enough market for them to make it profitable. Is there anyone on this forum who collects them? As I’ve stated before, the simple reason I collect the normal paperbacks is the fact they are smaller and I can therefore fit more books into the limited amount of space I have. I know the paper quality is better on the TPBs and they will therefore last a lot longer but if you were going to collect them for an investment, then surely the hardbacks would be the way to go.
Wikipedia states:
Paperbacks include inexpensive mass market paperbacks, in the standard "pocketbook" format generally printed on inexpensive paper, which will discolor and disintegrate over a period of decades, and more expensive trade paperbacks in larger formats printed on quality paper, sometimes acid-free paper.
"A Format" paperbacks are 110mm x 178mm (4.33" x 7.01") in size, "B Format" paperbacks are 130mm x 198mm (5.12" x 7.8"), while "C Format" (trade paperbacks) are 135mm x 216mm (5.32" x 8.51").[1]
The footnote [1] was worth checking out as it discusses the problems authors face.