I saw this posted on in another thread on free copyrighted e-books, and found it interesting. Didn’t want to hijack someone else’s thread, so I started a new one.
My grandmother’s attitude is much the same as jadailey’s. She will not buy a paperback book unless there is no alternanive, and no way to get her hands on a hardback version of the same book. I have seen her pass up the opportunity to get a paperback book that she wanted to read merely because it was paperback. In a pinch, a high quality trade paperback will do, but she would sooner be seen wearing white after labor day than reading a mass-market paperback. It’s almost as if it were a moral issue with her.
I am exactly the opposite. When buying books for my own amusement, I always get the paperback version unless I have no choice or the hardback is discounted to the point where there is little price difference. There are very few exceptions, those being new books that I must have and cannot wait for the paperback version. Potshot by Robert B. Parker and Dreamcatcher by Stephen King are the only books I bought in hardback at premium prices–I buy a lot of discounted hardbacks–in the past year. I get every new Alex Cross book, but can wait for paperback.
Who out there prefers hardbacks so much that you will pay extra even when a paperback is available? What exactly is it about hardbacks that make them worth the extra $17-$18?
If I have a choice I buy paperbacks, because of the cost factor. If it’s something I’ve been waiting for or if it’s a good price, then I’ll buy the hardback.
The only other time I’ll buy a hard back is if it’s something I think I’ll read over and over again and I don’t want it to fall apart. For books that will probably be loaned to friends, it’s always paperbacks so I don’t worry about the cost if they damage or lose the book.
Perhaps there is a sense of permanence to hardbacks that some people like…sort of an “heirloom quality” cachet?
Personally, I like paperbacks too. Most books I buy I read only once & then give away or trade with friends. I read so much, I can’t see buying too many hardcover books…I buy a lot of used books.
If I’m buying a gift book I’ll often spring for the hardback though. Maybe that’s silly, though.
For me at least, Carina hit it with the heirloom quality. I’m not buying books at Barnes & Noble as an investment, but I do think there’s something nice and “quality” about hardbacks. They look good on the shelf, they hold up well and when one of my favorite authors comes out with something new, I’m like a rabid dog so waiting for paperback would give me hives. I like to “collect” for my own enjoyment, so it’s very satisfying to track down an entire series in hardback, even though I might already have some in paperback. I like to reread, so paying the extra money for a hardback doesn’t seem like a big deal for something I will enjoy many times.
However, I can also see the benefits of a good paperback. It’s difficult to read a hardback while standing on the subway in rush hour. You have to pack books for vacation, and four or five paperbacks is a heck of a lot easier to carry than four or five hardbacks. I have also found that if you fall asleep while reading a hardback in bed, you can get quite a thump if you accidentally roll over on it. So I also own a lot of paperbacks.
Trade paperbacks are the bigger, nicer ones, and mass market paperbacks are the other ones, right? If I have a choice, I will buy a mass market over the trade kind. I don’t think the extra money is worth it for just another kind of paperback. Plus, in our New York apartment, we double-shelve the mass markets (yes, horrible, I know, but space is really an issue) and it’s harder to do that with trades.
I buy hardbacks when:
a new book comes out that I’m drooling over, a la Harry Potter books;
I’m on the prowl for old titles and series that I collect, that tend to be in the used book rather than the rare book section of the book store, such as Elswyth Thane romances.
I buy paperbacks when:
I’m buying a classic – I can’t afford a first edition of Moby Dick, so the paperback will do me just fine;
It’s something that I will enjoy, and intend to keep, but wouldn’t cry over if it went astray. “Oh, you’re leaving on vacation but forgot a book? Why don’t you take this Tony Hillerman mystery? Bring it back if you remember.”
There’s a bigger profit margin on hard covers. That has a lot to do with it.
Also, paperbacks have a slightly disreputable aura. The top authors always appeared first in hard cover. The modern paperback was either a reprint or genre fiction with less prestige.
Right now, you should buy paperbacks. Their market is shrinking drastically, which means you’ll see fewer and fewer if the trend continues.
I’ve never really thought about the PB versus HB factor. Most of the time, the decision to buy lies in the kind of cover the book has. If a cloth edition has the better cover, I’d buy that, even if it’s far more expensive.
Strangely enough, if it’s a book I want to read, but I can’t live with its cover art, I head to the library.
But that’s just me.
dodge_this, who should stop hijacking other people’s threads
Since I’ve turned 40, I’ve noticed my eyes are going. Nothing big, mind you, but they get tired and unfocused after a day of work. Thank god I can boost the font size on my computer.
So I’ll buy PBs and read 'em if I have no choice, but hardbacks are easier on my eyes, and I can usually open them a little wider without worrying about cracking the spine.
With favorite authors, of course, all bets are off. Hardbacks for me.
Another negative for mass-market paperbacks is that a lot of them stink to holy hell. I mean they smell awful and as I like to read books while I’m eating, this is totally unacceptable.
I also prefer paperbacks. There’s the cost factor, and plus they’re much easier to carry around for when I’m reading on the bus, or in the bath.
However, utilitarian books I know I’ll use quite often (dictionaries, reference books) I buy in hardback. But for sheer reading pleasure, paperback all the way.
Sometimes when I’ve really been looking forward to a book (the next volume in Harry Turtledove’s Great War series, for example) I buy the hardback as soon as it comes out, but when it appears in paperback I buy that also and donate the HB copy to the library.
I’ve been buying hardbacks more frequently, partly because I have more money to spend now so I can afford to buy books when they are first released before they go to paperback, and partly because the price of a paperback has gone up so much - it seems like the price difference is shrinking, I can’t see paying $9 for a paperback when I can get the hardcover version for only a few dollars more.
I generally like to carry two or three books with me at all times. They’re one of my security blankets, if you will. This is quite difficult to do with hardbacks, because of both the size and the weight. I also have size issues when it comes to book storage, paperbacks are SOOOOO much smaller than hardbacks. I despise dust jackets. Sure, there’s really great art on some of them, but it’s nearly impossible to read a book with a dj on without damaging the jacket, and I hate to rip up a cover. I COULD cover the dust jacket with clear Mylar, but then that’s another step. I really wish that hardback publishers would figure out some other way. Dustjackets are a detriment to reading a book.
On the other hand, I REALLY hate the way that pbs are being made so very cheaply these days. Maybe the publishers really are making a much bigger profit from hbs, and would prefer that we all switch…but I hate it when I start reading a pb and the pages come unstuck, even if I haven’t particularly abused that book. I’ve had some of my pbs for over 30 years (I like books, and I tend to keep them) and it seems that the quality of pbs (the books themselves, not going into literary merits) has vastly deteriorated over time. I will buy about a dozen books each month, and read even more (the library is my FRIEND, and my daughter works in a used book store…and we get to take books home to gently read and return at no charge!) so I get a fair idea of the general trends in the way books are made, and stand up over time. I’m disappointed.
I’ll buy some authors only in new, preferably in hardback, so as to support them. Most authors I will buy in used books. Some authors I will not buy at all, but will only read a borrowed copy.
I really miss remainder tables, seems that most books are stripped and destroyed rather than remaindered.
I’m a paperback junkie. Most of the books I buy are paperbacks. It’s mostly because of price, but also, I don’t tear up my books. I don’t even crack the spines when I read my p.b.'s. There is a thumb streak across the ends of the pages, though.
I will buy special books in hardback though. Usually after I’v gotten it in p.b. first. Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers I’ve re-bought in hardback. I also have Stranger in trade paperback. All 3 are the “uncut” versions.
I also get h.b. if they are on the clearance rack. (They can be down to p.b. prices sometimes.)
Again, pretty much the opposite of my experience. I’ve NEVER had this happen with a paperback. Even ones I’ve abused to death (A number of my paperbacks have lost one or the other cover, 1 thesaurus has come apart in the middle), but it happens REGULARLY with hardcovers.
Your grandmother is a woman after my own heart, Number Six (is she single?). I buy hardbacks when I can, trade paperbacks if there’s no other option, and mass-markets as an absolute last resort.
Do you own china, or do you just eat off paper plates? Same principle. Hardback books have elegance; they have gravitas. A paperback book is a nasty little piece of shit that looks like crap in your bookcase. And if it’s a book with maps or pictures, they have to be reduced to near-illegibility when they’re reduced to mass-market size.
I don’t even mind if my hardbacks have been read “roughly;” I’ve been buying used hardcovers to replace my existing mass-market paperbacks, and I like the ones that look like they’ve been read by another bibliophile, or several others. They still look good on the shelf; visitors look at my bookcase and know it’s a booklover’s bookcase.
And Lynn Bodoni, you take the dustjacket off and leave it safe on the shelf while you’re actually reading the book. Just put it back on when you finish the book and move it over from your “unread” to your “read” shelves.
Since I am a librarian, I purchase very few books. I firmly believe in the public library. That said, if I’m buying “reference books” (i.e., dictionaries, something I’ll be dipping into quite a lot, or a book about my hobby), I buy hardback for the durability factor. If I do buy fiction, which is hardly ever, I would buy only paperback. I rarely read a fiction book more than once.
We might be reading from different publishers. I read primarily science fiction and fantasy, with liberal helpings of just about everything else (no romance, western, or men’s adventure, though). If you’re reading book club hardcovers, be aware that these publishers are notorious for cheaping out when it comes to bookbinding.
Fiver, I don’t have “unread” and “read” shelves, nor do I have the shelf space to put dust jackets. All shelf space is FILLED in this house. I object to the fragility of djs, I’ve seen hbs with cover art on the books themselves, and I prefer this.
