Comments on: Bring Back the Mass Market Paperback! http://conversationalreading.com/bring-back-the-mass-market-paperback/ Since 2004. The blog of the critic, writer, and editor, Scott Esposito Wed, 23 May 2012 00:10:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Building a Better Book | Conversational Reading http://conversationalreading.com/bring-back-the-mass-market-paperback/#comment-10141 Building a Better Book | Conversational Reading Wed, 23 Mar 2011 17:23:49 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7238#comment-10141 [...] am a member of that proud group (and I suspect not-so-small) of readers who loves the mass market paperback because, well, because you can slip a whole John Barth novel in your pocket. I don’t really [...] [...] am a member of that proud group (and I suspect not-so-small) of readers who loves the mass market paperback because, well, because you can slip a whole John Barth novel in your pocket. I don’t really [...]

]]> By: Ryan http://conversationalreading.com/bring-back-the-mass-market-paperback/#comment-4302 Ryan Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:03:00 +0000 http://conversationalreading.com/?p=7238#comment-4302 Oh, I absolutely love those old seventies paperbacks. I have a ton of them. A particular favorite that I own is William Gass's Omensetter's Luck. It was so weird to find that with the illustrated cover proclaiming it "Dazzling!" in bold letters. The problem I see with bringing them back is that currently mass-market paperback is synonymous with "airport read" and the covers to all those books, from sci-fi to romance to thriller, are uniformly atrocious. Now, some of those old seventies paperbacks have goofy covers, like that one for DeLillo's Players, but a lot of them have pretty great design. However, no one's going to want to read the latest National Book Award winner if it looks like a James Patterson book, with all the super-large font and crap. Oh, I absolutely love those old seventies paperbacks. I have a ton of them. A particular favorite that I own is William Gass’s Omensetter’s Luck. It was so weird to find that with the illustrated cover proclaiming it “Dazzling!” in bold letters.

The problem I see with bringing them back is that currently mass-market paperback is synonymous with “airport read” and the covers to all those books, from sci-fi to romance to thriller, are uniformly atrocious. Now, some of those old seventies paperbacks have goofy covers, like that one for DeLillo’s Players, but a lot of them have pretty great design. However, no one’s going to want to read the latest National Book Award winner if it looks like a James Patterson book, with all the super-large font and crap.

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