The Grand Illusion
For some time, I’ve been pointing out the decline of the mass market paperback, and the latest issue of Publishers Weekly contained an article entitled “An Ode to the Mass Market Paperback,” which effectively announced the demise of the pocket-sized paperback book with the decision by Readerlink to discontinue distribution at the end of this year.
So what brought about the decline and pending death of the mass market paperback?
The major factors were a significant increase in production costs combined with the decline and then collapse of the distribution network that fueled the growth of mass-market paperbacks. In the late 1980s, publishers could use a network of more than 600 independent distributor wholesalers to deliver inventory to more than 100,000 outlets where magazines and newspapers were being sold. By the late nineties, that network had been replaced by a few national distributors, who couldn’t or didn’t serve the bulk of the smaller magazine outlets.
Personally, I’ve also noted that book sections in big box stores, such as Walmart, are smaller and hold fewer titles, and especially fewer fantasy and science fiction titles. Grocery stores have reduced or eliminated book and magazine sections. At one time, Anderson Merchandisers supplied books to big-box retailers, but, from what I can tell, after Readerlink purchased the company, the quality and breadth of books provided declined.
According to Publishers Weekly, Circana BookScan recently reported that U.S. mass market sales plunged from 131 million books in 2004 to 21 million in 2024, a drop of about 84%, and sales this year through October were about 15 million units.
Then, add to that the cost. The last book of mine to be issued in a mass-market edition was Contrarian, in July of 2024, and the list retail price was $14.99. The Amazon discounted price was $13.30, but the ebook price after six months dropped to around ten dollars.
The bottom line is that is costs more than $10 to produce and distribute a mass market paperback and only a small fraction of readers are willing to pay more than $10.
I suspect this is two interrelated things happening at the same time.
The first is the inexorable rise of ebooks in replacing paperbacks as the price sensitive convenience purchase of choice, especially for high volume purchasers.
The second is the final death throes of the one way mass market strip covers and return for credit model as a sales channel in the USA. Which died out in the rest of the world decades ago – everyone else uses the hardback/trade channel sale or return within 90 days model.
And I suspect the US publishers and distributors are struggling to adapt to that.
Readerlink also looks like a typical vulture capitalist middleman – cheap money fuelled buying spree picking up all the competition, then choking the market at both ends to maximise extraction of value then eventual dump the carcass as it all burns down. We’ve seen that many times before.
I have over 3000 paperback books, as of the last time I moved. I have 3780 books stored on my computer. There is some overlap, but not a lot. There are books on my computer that I would be most unlikely to find, even in a good used bookstore. A good book reader (like the Kindle paperwhite) is light, fits in a pocket or purse, and holds hundreds of books.
The only hardbound books I will buy are books with graphics that would not do well on a computer.
The demise of the mass market paperback is probably a combination of production cost and decreasing demand (because there are easy alternatives).
If I never have to move another box of paperback books my back will thank me!
I much prefer a physical book, so I mourn the demise of the mass market paperback. Yes, e-readers are more portable, but I like to flip through the pages. I like flipping back to passages and it helps me retain information to have that physical connection. I also don’t feel bad if a paperback gets a bit beat up through use.
Trade paperbacks just aren’t the same and e-books definitely aren’t. I’m not sure I could adjust to $10+ for a paperback, though.
I agree with Shannon, I have to read real books. It’s easy to get lost in the corners of my own mind, while exploring the works of great novelist. Look forward to the next set of books you start.
For me it is not the printed page or electronic format, it’s the words.
(And the e-reader is easier on my arthritic hands.)
When I was much younger I bought and devoured mass market paperbacks in the science fiction and fantasy genre without a thought when they cost between $1.75 and $2.75 and then had to think twice as they rose to $3.75 and over.
As I moved into raising a family in the early/mid 90s the cost of paperbacks frankly weren’t in the budget. I had always used the public library (and my university library) but when paperback prices rose it became my primary source of new reading material, with occasional second hand bookstore and big box bargain table purchases. Add to that the rare purchase when they were in the $6-7 range new.
Even adjusted for inflation paperback costs have risen far beyond the 70’s and 80’s and even 90’s price points. If it was simply inflation I would probably still be buying them if not in the same quantity but as you have pointed out there is unfortunately a storm of issues affecting prices.
Also unfortunately, libraries are beginning to severely cut back on the number of books in they keep in their stacks, but that’s a subject for another thread.
This.
I suspect the growing numbers of people who’d rather stare at video than ponder the written word isn’t helping either.
And this.
AI opinion on Royalties: Self-published ebooks often earn $1–$5 per sale, while print royalties vary but are usually lower after printing costs.
To achieve an income above the US idea of “Poverty level income”( $15,650 for a single person and $32,150 for a family of four) an author would need to sell more than 15000 books if they produce one book per year.
Readers being consumers will pay for whatever they decide to purchase and the price is determined by available of personal technology, personal social habit, and personal economics.
My concern about cost of books is the effect on continuation of creativity by a good author. Potentially artists have short lives: and, it’s even shorter if they succumb to starvation, depression, and drugs. The younger they are the more likely they can do other work to support themselves while their reputation invades the awareness of the masses.
In poor economic times it is the poor who die first and those who successfully steal a loaf of bread who last longer. The question of how many Dickenses died in the early 19th century is now: – how many LEMs we lose because they get paid something closer to a living income by Paramount/Warner Bros etc. to produce the predictable 21rst century noir psychological shows?