By Jon Brooks
I had a hard time figuring out how to start this blog post.
I wanted to start out with some clever turn-of-phrase that would yet again lament the “death” of something that has become one of life’s constants.
For those of us who are “nostalgia buffs,” the mass market paperback recently became another media format that is going the way of the dodo.
I know what’s going to happen here…
People are already saying, “What the heck is a mass market paperback, Jon?”
I’m going to explain, and talk about why the discontinuation of the format (which happened at the end of 2025) is kind of a big deal for the publishing industry.
The mass market paperback format (first introduced by Pocket Books in the late 1930s) became synonymous with “paperback books” for more than 80 years.
According to Publisher’s Weekly, “mass market unit sales plunged from 131 million in 2004 to 21 million in 2024.”
The size of these books (typically measuring 4.25 inches x 6.8 inches) featured smaller print (similar to the font size found in newspapers) and a cheaper paper stock (than that found in hardcovers).
They were also much less expensive than their hardcover counterparts. As such, mass market paperbacks became the top selling book format for decades.
Mass market paperbacks have been credited with democratizing reading. In addition to the their reasonable price, you could also find these books in places like grocery stores, discount stores, and gas stations.
I took a chance on a number of writers while browsing newsstands at grocery stores.
One such author was western scribe Louis L’Amour.
I picked up one of L’Amour’s novels when Bridget and I were shopping for Fourth of July snacks one summer back in the 1990s. He quickly became one of my favorite writers.
From a construction standpoint, mass market paperbacks never held up particularly well.
The binding would crease and crack. The cardstock cover and pages would become “dog-eared” pretty easily. The pages yellowed in no time flat.
But those books were accessible. They were smaller in size (originally designed to fit in your pocket) which made them easier to tote around in a purse or a backpack.
Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is so enamored with the format (having been an avid reader in his youth) that he released the 2021 novelization of his movie “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (read my review) as a mass market paperback.
This is where some smarty pants says, “I was just at a bookstore last week and saw all kinds of paperbacks. Why are you even talking about this?”
To be sure, the “trade paperback” format is alive and well (and has been steadily supplanting the mass market paperback format over the past 20 years).
Trade paperbacks are bigger in size than mass market paperbacks (generally 6 inches x 9 inches).
This photo will give you an idea of the size difference, relatively speaking. The book on the left is the mass market paperback. The book on the right is the trade paperback:
(At this point, Bridget is wondering why I own both the mass market AND trade paperback editions of Brad Thor’s Blowback…)
Trade paperbacks often feature a better paper stock and a bigger print size (similar to the hardcover editions).
They are also pricier. Trade paperbacks currently sell for ~$20 or more, compared to a ~$10 price tag for a mass market paperback.
Digital options the past two decades (such as Amazon’s Kindle format) have contributed to the erosion of both hardcover and paperback sales.
But an overall decline in daily reading has also had a stifling effect on the entire industry. According to recent research, daily reading has declined 40 percent the past two decades.
Author John Grishman was lamenting this fact in a recent BBC interview with journalist Katty Kay:
Grisham suggests that the popularity of streaming TV shows is one contributing factor. He says we talk about popular TV shows more than books.
“We don’t read as much as we used to,” admits Grisham, regarding his household’s reading habits. “If we have an hour or two at night, we’re probably going to watch a TV show that we’re hooked on.”
“I sold twice as many books before the Internet,” he says. “People were reading more. There were many more bookstores — 3000 more bookstores — in the U.S. before the Internet.”
We’re obviously not going to be putting the Internet in a bottle anytime soon.
We’re all guilty of scrolling social media when we could be doing something more intellectually stimulating, like reading a book.
I’ll admit, it has become harder for me to concentrate on long-form content (like a novel) the past few years.
It brings into question how you get the next generation interested in books when what they interact with on their phones and tablets seems far more immediate and stimulating to their developing brains.
Maybe there is a solution. Then again, maybe there isn’t.
Some thought the solution would be digital books.
I’ve purchased and read a handful of novels on my iPad over the years. I’ve just had a hard time getting into “e-books” in the same why I have “physical” books.
One of the things I’ve found irritating about digital books is when a publisher “updates” one of the books I have in my iPad library.
Sometimes the update brings new cover art (which sucks if I preferred the older cover art). Other times the changes are much less “apparent.”
For me, seeing books updated like they are an “app” sort of sucks the joy out of the reading experience.
It sort of goes something like this:
Friend: “Hey Jon, have you ever read ‘Lord of the Flies?’”
Me: “I have. As a matter of fact, I just downloaded version 3.7.1 of the book on my iPad last night.”
The fundamental issue with e-books is the fact that it requires you have a digital device to read the books on. Some screens are more conducive to the experience than others. You’ll also need an Internet connection available to download books.
You generally have to set up an account “somewhere” to get books — with either a paid or a free distribution service.
There might be some troubleshooting involved in the process, depending on the device and the software used.
While jumping through those hoops might seem ubiquitous in today’s society (“That’s just life in the 21st century, Jon!”), it takes away from the “analog experience” that makes reading a book such a pure endeavor.
And let’s face it, there are a million things that seem far more interesting and immediate to do on a phone or a tablet than reading a book.
In addition, the serendipitous experience of a book jacket catching your eye as you wander through a store (or browse the shelves at your local library branch) is essentially lost.
The ability to pick up a book, flip through the pages, and see if it is something you’d enjoy is boiled down to an excerpt and a synopsis on a website.
Maybe the algorithm will let you discover it; maybe it won’t.
This doesn’t even begin to tackle the fact that the way I’ve discovered a number of new books and authors has been friends and family members loaning or gifting me copies of books they’ve enjoyed.
All of this might seem like I’m howling at the moon, but something is obviously lost when the most accessible book formats of the past century is ushered away. Can the other print formats be far behind?
I want more people to read.
The process of turning symbols on a page into a visual picture stimulates the mind, develops cognitive abilities, enhances critical thinking, and cultivates creativity.
The world needs more of that...
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