No More Mass Market Paperbacks ?!

Last Call for Mass Market Paperbacks

from Publishers Weekly 

Over at the Publisher's Weekly website, an interesting essay about the forthcoming decision by ReaderLink, one of the largest (if not the largest) distributors of mass market paperback books, to cease such distributions at the end of this month.

 

For me, the idea of mass market paperbacks gradually being phased out from store shelves is astonishing, and troubling. After all, they seemingly were a permanent component of the print media landscape since I was a kid. But, according to the PW article, the consumer demand for this format is slacking off:

 

PW reported in 2011 that six mass market titles sold more than one million copies each, but that was down from 10 years earlier, when eight mass market paperbacks sold more than two million copies each and another 39 sold more than one million. As that trend accelerated, the format became impossible to sustain, with rising production costs and a reluctance among publishers to raise prices above $9.99.

 

It's going to be strange to walk into bookstores selling new books, and see fewer and fewer mass markets on the shelves. I guess I can take some solace in knowing that used mass market titles will remain on used bookstore shelves for the indefinable future...........

 

(tip: from 'Dirty River')