Books STAR WARS: A NEW DAWN (September 2014)

It's one of the new tall ones. (I say new, but the changeover in publishing started ten years ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/books/12paper.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

The type's definitely larger, and even with the taller pages my part of the book now ends on page 381, as opposed to 367 in the regular-sized ARC paperback.

 

This isn't going to happen with every single paperback from now on is it?

 

I have no idea -- was just explaining where the format originated. I didn't know the book's dimensions until I got mine (but then I've been too busy to wonder about it).

Mass-market paperbacks were originally designed for newsvendor racks and needed to be as small as possible -- and as that article gets into, they were in their heyday in the Waldenbooks world, because like city newsstands, mall bookstores were space-limited. The paper was always cheaper because the unsold copies were destroyed, and they were seldom discounted by much because the margins were so slim on them. We're seeing more experimentation now. But my publishing history knowledge is really more on the comics side.

 

Thanks for the info. Very interesting. Had to ask.

 

I'm re reading New Dawn for the second time now and I still can't get over how great that cover looks.

 

It is, Del Rey has confirmed they're keeping the format. Unfortunately, since it's hideous.

 

I think they'll keep that format for the new books. When they re-publish the Legends books, the old format will be used.

 

I miss the days of books being $6.99. Though they were 5.99 at one point weren't they? Money, money, money.

 

The oldest paperback on my shelf has a cover price of 35 cents. Except during recessions, paper prices have mostly tended to increase. Wood pulp's doubled since 2000. You can't frack for trees (though that would be an interesting story).

But I do prefer books getting physically larger, as opposed to comic books and newspapers, which have only gotten smaller. Comics less perceptibly so -- though you'll find you can't get a 1950s comic book into a current comic bag. But newspapers, for sure. I uncovered a cache of newspapers from the Revolutionary and Civil War eras recently, and they're vast. To be able to mail them flat, I had to go to an art supply store and get some of their largest posterboard.

 

I still have several books that are bow-backed now because I read them so much. I, Jedi and Rogue Squadron are both that, as is Heir to the Empire. Several of my old Redwall books, as well. I've moved mostly to digital as well now, mostly because I'm running out of room for more books on my shelves.

 

I have one book that actually split in half because it warped after being left out in the rain. Somehow, it not only has all of its pages still, it also is entirely legible.

 

Quite a lot of mine seem to be getting bleached along the spines by the sunlight (shelves face south, toward a window).

 

One book of mine had sections of pages falling out and needed to be replaced.

 

Not Star Wars, but when we read Hamlet in high school, I used my Dad's copy from the seventies. By the end of the unit, it had split into not one, not two, but three parts along the spine. It was held together by duct tape. But it was still complete and legible, so there was no way I was buying a new one.

 

I still got my dad's dictionary in like 5 pieces

 

I still use the thesaurus I had in high school. That thing looks like it came through a fire.

Mass-market paperbacks are built from 16- or 32-page signatures -- basically, mini-magazines of folded over pages -- that are then gummed in, so if you're seeing a spine break on an older book, it's going to separate between the signatures (explaining why you'll have clumps come out of old books while other sections remain in). Obviously we won't know until there have been decades of use, but I would imagine the longer spine on the new size increases the gummed surface area and maybe protects it from stress better. We'll see.

As a hoarder with an egregious number of books (even before I married a librarian) I'm long since accustomed to varying book sizes. Any more, the racks we buy or build for mass-market fiction are sized to take the trade paperback size (like Lost Tribe).

 

The only thing that could improve my copy of A New Dawn was if I had it signed by JohnJacksonMiller

 

I tend to keep my paperbacks in pristine condition and even with all the lengths I go to, they start to bend after a while. It doesn't drive me as crazy as it used to...but it is still a bit annoying.

 

The differences between the paperback edition of Deathly Hallows with the rest of Harry Potter still bugs me. The size is the same, but they didn't use the writing style on the hardcover on its respective paperback like the rest of the series did.

 

My x-wing books are definitely in pretty awful condition, particularly the wraith books. Almost as bad off as my copy of "A People's History of the United States" and "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". They all still look great to me though.

 

In a few years time, you'll look back fondly on lower book prices!

 

There will be a day when I miss $9.99 prices alright. I'm sure of it.