What Is A Mass Market Paperback?

KC's Kozy Korner

A mass market paperback book is a relatively cheap version of a book. It will be smaller than a traditional hardcover book, usually measuring 4 1/8" by 6 7/8". It will be non-illustrated and often sold in non-traditional bookselling locations like supermarkets, retail outlets, as well as traditional bookselling locations, i.e., stores devoted primarily to the sale of books. This cheap(er) version of a book usually comes out about a year after it has been published as a hardcover. In more recent years, quite a few books are published directly as paperbacks - were never published as hardcover.

The mass market paperback has become an enviable source of reading material for the general public. Changes in the costs of printing materials and costs of shipping have led to the creation of trade paperbacks (usually referred to as "trade-size") - closer to the size of a hardback, but similar in format to the mass market paperbacks. It should be said here, that traditional mass market paperbacks are printed on paper stock of much less quality than hardbacks, thereby limiting their lifespan.

British publisher Allen Lane launched the Penguin imprint in 1935 with 10 reprint titles - which started the paperback revolution in the English language book market. This was not necessarily a new concept. Mr. Lane bought paperback rights from publishers and ordered huge print runs (20,000 copies) to keep unit prices low. He then made them available to non-traditional bookselling retail locations. Woolworth's Department store was one of the original retail businesses to place a large order of these paperbacks and they sold quite well. After this initial success, booksellers were less reluctant to stock the paperbacks.


Simon & Schuster helped to found the Pocket Books imprint in the late 1930's. The American versions though, adopted illustrated covers - to reach an even bigger market. Genre categories began to emerge, and mass market book covers reflected those categories. And some of them could be quite garish.

In today's market we find that the "mass market" paperback or trade-size paperback competes very well with hardbacks. It certainly cannot compete with the prestige of having a book published in hardcover format...any number of today's very popular authors have started out having their works published as paperback first. As their work becomes more and more successful, they are often published as hardcover first with the mass market paperback being published at a later date.

Publishers are also increasing the quality of paper stock being used for trade-size softcover books, making them more attractive to buyers. These books tend to be the mid-way point of a mass market version and the hardcover version -- and still of a quality to last for quite a while.