A New Book Size - "Premium"
15 Aug 2005, 9:39:03 pm
5 Comments
A new book size, in between mass-market and trade paperbacks, is coming: 4-1/4" x 7-1/2", or 'premium' paperback. Height is increased more than width, allowing for slightly larger type and looser spacing between lines for the benefit of baby boomers' aging eyes. My question: is this really why book sales are sliding? Baby boomers are still an affluent part of society, but the younger market whose dollar is competing for fancy clothes and CDs is the one that needs improvement -- and that's the one demanding $16 worth of value in their TPBs, not a fancy new size that costs more than the same item they can get for $6 in mass-market form...that is, if the book does get issued in mass market format in the next ten years. If publishers can get $10 for a book people would've paid $7 for, why bother with mass market trimsize? Since books are neither a necessity nor an impulse buy, customers will pay more for quality; they aren't interested in a cheaper version of something they would have bought anyway. Increasing price for a new mass-market version is squeezing as much as possible out of a low-quality product, getting an extra $3 from a customer who doesn't think the book is worth $16.
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User Comments
 Hello,
Do you know where I can complain about this new paperback size books? I am disgusted with them they are awkward to hold and I refuse to buy them. I waited a year fir Stephen Kings CELL to be released in paperback and it is in the new format and I refuse to purchase it. I would really like to begin a boycott of these books by readers like myself who are being forced into reading these idiotic sized books.
Thanks for your help
Wayne Donahue Posted by Wayne Donahue, 11/21/2006 17:29:19 |
