Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 September 1

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September 1

Book pricing

Can someone explain to me the pricing difference between a 'paperback' and a 'mass market paperback' of this book? I would think that the mass market paperback would be cheaper but the regular paperback is $1.29 cheaper. Thanks, †dismas†|^(talk) 01:24, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the difference in formats is, but I'm seeing the 'regular' paperback at $9.66, and the mass market edition at $8.86 (and both have terrible representations of The Luggage). Rojomoke (talk) 05:28, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Rojomoke, maybe I get shown a different price due to being logged into my account? Wait... I just checked again and am seeing the prices that you're seeing. Which are different than what I saw last night. †dismas†|^(talk) 18:07, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

I'd never heard of a "mass market paperback" before now. There's some explanation of it here (though not an answer to Dismas's question). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 07:39, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

AndrewWTaylor, we also have an explanation at Paperback#Mass-market. †dismas†|^(talk) 18:07, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Sometimes the prices of stuff do not make sense. For example, one would expect getting a deep discount on shoes if Kanye West had anything to do with them, but no, people are willing to pay more for them. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 07:44, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

"Mass-market paperback" just means the common paperback size with pages about 4 × 7 inches (10 × 17 cm). These are usually the cheapest editions of a book. Paperbacks with larger pages similar to hardcover books are sometimes called "trade paperbacks" and usually cost more, but it's always possible that you may find cheaper remaindered copies. I have no idea what you should expect if it just says "paperback" and there are other paperback editions. --69.159.60.147 (talk) 09:40, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Thank you. As I said above, I'm now seeing different prices. So, maybe there's no understanding of Amazon's pricing... †dismas†|^(talk) 18:07, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

I sell on Amazon. The last two books I sold cost the customers $37 and I got an even $16.00. The price is based on supply, demand, taxes, shipping, and Amazon's markup, $12 in this case. μηδείς (talk) 21:30, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

IP 69 has it right. When I was a kid, there were no fiction trade paperbacks, just the smaller "pocketbook" sized ones. In the 90's "trade paperbacks" came into style. Many books that had been sold in mass-market style were no longer printed in that size, as trade books cost more and were more "prestigious". The reason they often cost less is that there are many more copies and they are often sold on remainder (the black magic marker defacing of the edge gives this away) meaning that the publisher has been told the book is unsellable. μηδείς (talk) 17:16, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Speaking as an UK ex-bookseller in the 70s & 80s (and a lifelong reader/collector): not so far explicitly mentioned above is the "B-format paperback" at about 5 × 7.75 inches, intermediate in size between "A-format/mass-market" and C-format/trade (variably sized, matching their parent Hardbacks). They were around in the 70s as more literary/prestigous imprints of the mass-market publishers (for example, Pan Book's Picador imprint and Corgi's Black Swan), but around 1980 (as I recall) started to be introduced as an intermediate publishing stage between the previously two-stage sequence of hardback and mass-market, which was able to extract around £1.00 extra (initially) from more impatient paperback purchasers. Some previously mass-market titles were even cynically reprinted as more expensive B-formats, merely having more blank paper surrounding the identical typesetting.

(Re Dismas's query, I think the "paperbacks" in the ad are B-formats (or a US equivalent) and the "mass market paperbacks" are smaller A/Mass-market/Pocketbook formats – the illos look as if they've been resized for the web page.)

Shortly afterwards (1982-ish?), Hardback-sized "Trade paperback" fiction books began to appear, being merely the same printing as the Hardbacks with a paper cover rather than boards. This had long been standard in non-fiction, especially textbooks, where for example lecturers and libraries might want (and could afford) a durable edition while students wanted a cheaper alternative, but had not previously been significant in fiction publishing. For a time it was not unknown for a book to appear in four different formats (and prices) over little more than a year – Hbk & TPbk (simultaneously), followed by B-format, followed by M-m.

During the last ten years in the UK, I've noticed that Mass-market editions have been dwindling and B-formats are increasingly the norm: most of my new M-m purchases now are imports of US M-ms or their slightly smaller "Pocketbook" equivalent. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.204.180.96 (talk) 03:35, 2 September 2017 (UTC)