# RIP to the mass market paperback **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 15, 2025, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726 "2025-12-15T16:47:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/61 "2025-12-16T20:08:04Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Only if you have big pockets. > > The nice thing about winter, back in the day, was that I could (and usually did) carry a paperback around with me in the pocket of my coat. Yes, coat and cargo pants pockets. > [@aceplace57](#): > > That’s why I strongly dislike Kindle books. You can’t trade or sell them. Or donate to the library or …. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Although Used Book stores took a serious hit when internet sites for them sprang up twenty years or so ago, they’re still around. Recycle books in San Jose did so well they opened a satellite store in Campbell. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > . It’s an eclectic mix, but there are some favorites in there Not bad at all. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/62 "2025-12-16T21:43:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@Infovore](#): > > > > Mass market paperbacks are returned to the publisher by tearing off the front cover (or the ISBN code) and destroying the rest. > > Only those automatically shipped, like Harlequin romances. > > If you order one, you dont do that. No. It applied to any mass market paperback. Bookstores could order them. All books (with a few exceptions) are fully returnable by the store. Since there was no market for returned paperbacks (I’m not talking used ones, which is different), they weren’t worth anything to the publisher. And it’s cheaper to return the covers for credit (probably it was changed to the bar code or ISBN number more recently). Trade paperbacks and hardcovers could be remaindered and resold. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/63 "2025-12-16T21:44:22Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I would expect hard backs to go extinct. Who wants to spend $32 for a mystery that’s read in 3 hours? > [@aceplace57](#): > > That’s why I strongly dislike Kindle books. You can’t trade or sell them. These may be two sides of the same coin. That relatively expensive hardback could be sold, traded, or donated, and lots of people might end up reading that same copy. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/64 "2025-12-16T21:55:23Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I grew up reading mass market paperbacks. That’s the form factor I expect for a “default” book. Nope, I can only buy huge things. > > So I’m sad. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/65 "2025-12-16T22:10:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Or donate to the library or …. They changed the entire business model. Books were something you owned and could give away or selĺ. The only restriction was copying them. That’s illegal. Ebooks come along and say, “No you are subject to copyright”. Your one copy on the reader has to stay attached to that account. The used mass market paperbacks will be available for several more years. It depends on how roughly the book is treated. My paperbacks show almost no wear. I don’t break the spine or flatten them on a table. I’ve bought books on Ebay that were printed in the 1970’s. The pages had yellowed, but were fine to read. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/66 "2025-12-17T01:22:39Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > No. It applied to any mass market paperback. Bookstores could order them. All books (with a few exceptions) are fully returnable by the store. Not in the three bookstores I worked in. If we ordered it and it didnt sell, we just marked it down. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/67 "2025-12-17T04:41:45Z")
I have two glass-front barrister bookcases in my living room, filled with most of my MMP, and I will occasionally pull one out to read, but I find a lot of them have such tiny type I can’t read them with my old eyes, especially since for a lot of them the pages have browned and often brittle. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/68 "2025-12-17T04:50:51Z")
FWIW, I think some of what would be considered mass-market paperbacks are higher quality than others. My collection of PG Wodehouse novels and short story anthologies is in varied forms, some of it original hardcover editions, and some of those are valuable first editions, but a great deal of it is the Penguin paperback editions. Most of those are beautifully uniform, with identical orange spines and identical white covers with colourful illustrations by Chris Riddell. They seem to hold up much better than most paperbacks, but that may at least partly be because I take such good care of them. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/69 "2025-12-17T05:21:15Z")
I daresay a lot of the scifi MMPs of decades ago were of poorer quality because they were the era’s equivalent of penny dreadfuls. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/70 "2025-12-17T05:27:57Z")
Those penguin paperbacks were very nicely printed and bound. Mine are still in good shape, too. But my copy of the Lord of the Rings, printed as a mass market paperback in the 1960s, is still perfectly readable. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/71 "2025-12-17T12:19:29Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > The used mass market paperbacks will be available for several more years. It depends on how roughly the book is treated. My paperbacks show almost no wear. I don’t break the spine or flatten them on a table. Neither do I (I think that people who bend the front cover around to the back should be treated the same way – it results in the spine getting twisted). But you can’t do anything about the cheap glue holding the book together aging, which is why my Conan books were shedding pages. Even my quality Penguin books ar subject to that problem. Only if you use good quality materials and/or sew the pages into signatures (as Dutton and Dover did) will they tend to hold up. And Dover books weren’t really MMP. If you’re lucky and treat your paperbacks well, they will probably last – I have some dating back to the 1940s that are still in great shape. But if your glue has aged badly, even if the book appears to be solid, it might only take opening it up to crack that glue. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/72 "2025-12-17T12:48:50Z")
Most hardcover books are glued these days, not sewn. That’s been true for decades. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/73 "2025-12-17T13:10:57Z")
Then I fear for future libraries. My Dover paperbacks might outlast these books. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2025, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/74 "2025-12-17T13:12:31Z")
Once upon a time publishers sold “library editions” which were sewn, unlike mass market hardcovers, that weren’t. I have no idea if that’s still true. Nicer hardcovers were sometimes sewn. Textbooks usually were. Now I’m curious about the state of the industry today. I have a friend in publishing, i should ask him. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/75 "2025-12-18T02:49:22Z")
“The Little Fellas”. Every SF writer, it seemed, did their own take on The Puppet Masters. Ever read Fredric Brown’s “The Mind Thing”. BTW the last time I saw a paperback spinner rack was at the dollar store. I also recent saw one for comic books at a auto mechanic shop, stocked with vintage comics, not for sale but simply on display. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/76 "2025-12-18T03:34:59Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > “The Little Fellas”. Every SF writer, it seemed, did their own take on The Puppet Masters. Ever read Fredric Brown’s “The Mind Thing” I’m a huge Fredric Brown fan, and I’ve read The Mind Thing many times. THis was his attempt to write a science fiction film, something that could be done on a small budget with no big special effects scenes. It would’ve been great, too, if someone had filmed it. I sort of felt that the original _Outer Limits_ episode “Cry of Silence” owed a lot to _The Mind Thing_ (The book preceded the episode by three years) > **[Cry of Silence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_Silence)** > > "Cry of Silence" is an episode of the original Outer Limits. It first aired on October 24, 1964, during the second season. Directed by Charles Haas, it was written by Robert C. Dennis based on a story by Louis Charbonneau. The episode was originally titled "Mind Over Matter". > "In the not-distant future, the sound of Man will invade those unknown depths of space which as yet we cannot even imagine. In his own world there are no places left beyond the reach of his voice. His neighbor is no longe... ---
**Author:** ![Hurrilon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9adbd/32.png) [@Hurrilon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hurrilon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/77 "2025-12-22T17:01:03Z")
I have a huge library of mmps that I built up before I got my Kindle. I still read them, but my eyesight is getting worse and their print isn’t getting bigger. With the Kindle, I can adjust the font size. But there is one thing the Kindle will never have - the smell of a paperback book. I grew up with them and I will miss them. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/78 "2025-12-22T18:01:03Z")
> [@Hurrilon](#): > > But there is one thing the Kindle will never have - the smell of a paperback book. I grew up with them and I will miss them. Never say never—there might be a market for an ereader with a built-in “book smell” generator. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/79 "2025-12-24T02:30:46Z")
Hey, maybe it could have options, like new book, well-worn favorite, mildewed salvage… ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726/80 "2025-12-24T22:05:29Z")
My mother had a large Agatha Christie pocket book collection - including the UK edition of “And Then There Were None” with the original title “Ten Little N\*\*\*ers” (with the “N” word printed out in full). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-to-the-mass-market-paperback/1025726.md?page=5)