New York Times bestsellers separates mass market paperbacks from trade paperbacks
Submitted by kingrat on Wed, 2007-09-26 18:42.I didn't notice it until now, but this weekend the NY Times separated it's paperback bestseller list into one for mass market paperbacks and one for trade paperbacks. The idea is the latest cheap thrillers won't overwhelm the more literary paperbacks in the list. The NY Times bestseller list is the most widely followed, but also pretty opaque and receives a lot of criticism.
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Considering all the different formats and bindings there are now. Can someone explain the difference between these two? I see them all the time when I look for books online but in the store they look very similar. Both have a glued spine and paper jacket. Both cost less than 13 USD usually... seems like splitting hairs.
Size and quality of paper. Mass market paperbacks are the same size. Trade paper will vary in size. When I worked in receiving at a bookstore, the incoming mass market paperbacks stacked nicely. The trades don't. The other is paper quality. Mass market paperbacks are never printed on acid-free paper. The majority of trades are, though it's not universal.
Rat's Reading - http://reading.kingrat.biz/