Used to be paperbacks were shiny; now they’re all matter covers.
Style fad? switch in paper processing?
I’m guessing: book cover designers think it looks more luxe, higher end.
Meh…it does hide finger print smears better at least.
I dispute the premise, I have paperbacks going back decades and they’re a mix of gloss and matt right down through the years.
Of course, things like matt v gloss is also a trend - gloss finish on brochures, for example, has been out of fashion for at least 20 years (speaking as a graphic designer). Sometimes the choice is because people might want the perception that matt is a more environmentally friendly choice, although I’m not sure there’s much substance in that. Matt still involves adding a varnish, just one that isn’t so visible.
I haven’t had much to do with print graphic design for over 20 years, but I’d agree that inasmuch as it is happening, it probably is a design trend.
Even as a consumer, I have no knowledge that it’s happening, because every book I read these days comes in the exact same black leather cover, and the pages are backlit.
I think it was to stop people judging the books.
After a recent trip by air I noticed at the airport overpriced news stand store not only matte covers but larger paperbacks than the old pocketbook size. The boring crime/mystery/thriller I bought was awful, didn’t finish it, but it came with a deal that it could be returned for a $10 refund at any of the their locations (all at airports I assume). It cost about $20 bucks so it’s only half the bad deal it looks like. The matte cover is a heavier material than the typical glossy covers I was used to. Perhaps people perceive more value in a matter covered paperback.
It’s certainly safer than an anti-matter covered paperback.
I notice the size much more than the material. For thirty-odd years of my life, all paperbacks (except TPBs) formed a nice even line on my bookshelf, then all of a sudden my semiannual Stephen King paperback purchase was a slab proportioned more like a shoebox.
That oversized trend started when publishers realized they could get away with charging more for the top 1% of authors, who sold 99% of the fiction (number in sentence may be larger than it appears). Whether they did testing on this or just came to a decision, the result was the slightly taller paperback people are talking about. They cost $9.99 instead of $8.99, reminiscent of the days when a stereo record cost $3.99 and a mono album cost $2.99. Twenty dollars today for a oversized mass market paperback? It’s surprising King can swim his way through all his money to put out another novel.
As for matte covers, bookbaby lists the advantages as
- Sophisticated and elegant. Matte paper finishes can give your book a refined and classy look, appealing to readers who appreciate a more subdued aesthetic.
- Minimal glare. The lack of reflective properties makes matte covers easier to read and view under different lighting conditions.
- Minimal fingerprints. Matte finishes are less prone to fingerprints and smudges, keeping your book looking clean and professional.
- Absorbs scratches Matte finishes are less likely to look scuffed up from small scratches.
I found a Reddit thread that talks about it, too. It’s eight years old, so I guess this is a more than a trend, but a fixed part of publishing “wisdom”.
Amazon’s self-publishing arm KDP also recommends matte-finish covers, at least for fiction. They do offer a gloss option and state that it’s usually used for non-fiction books.
Some best-selling novelist, one of these days, will insist on gloss for their next paperback’s cover–and then that will become trendy.
But surely the war is constricting the supply of pulp wood from Chernobyl?
I’ve ordered paperback books and there was a notice on the last page that it was manufactured/printed after my order. They don’t have to carry inventory. Can this be a related trend?
Print on Demand (PoD) publishing was to be The Next Big Thing twenty years ago. It still exists, but mostly was superseded by ebooks. Some big machines like an advanced Xerox copier were created that could take a file, print all the pages, trim them, bind them, print a cover and fasten it, and have a complete book pop out, presto!
As with most things, it turns out that making one item at a time is more expensive than turning out many all at once. Sure, no storage fees are incurred, but paying for the big machine was also an expense. The idea once that every bookstore could have such a machine had no financial flooring. So a few companies now specialize in PoD, using volume to justify the investment.
The site I linked to before, bookbaby, happens to be one of them, which is why they had that page of advice. They just happened to be convenient to quote on matte covers. I know nothing about the company and linking is not an endorsement.
When a paperback is inevitably repurposed as an optical mouse pad, matte is better than glossy.
I miss the old double covers from the 80s. There was a regular cover but it had a cutout and when you opened the main cover, a second page inside had a “reveal,” like the evil grandmother hovering over the kids in Flowers in the Attic
I don’t like the “tall” paperbacks. Has anyone else had an issue the covers curling up.