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That false paperback

28.11.07

Paperbacks are the falsest of economies, notes a piece in the FT. "I have shelves upon shelves of paperbacks - and I regret buying them all. They seemed a good idea at the time: they were cheaper than hardbacks. But the years, sunlight and central heating are taking their toll."

"It is late in a book-buying life to discover that paperbacks are the falsest of economies, but I was not alone in investing in them. Picador has announced that from spring next year, rather than issuing its fiction in hardback first and in paperback months later, it will publish most of its titles in hardback and paperback simultaneously. There just are not enough hardback buyers left."


FT

Picador Paperbacks

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By David Mitchell (Scarthin Books)

Unfortunately, most British hardbacks are little better in quality than paperbacks, being bound in textured cardboard, not cloth, employing paper that will also yellow quickly and, often, with unsewn "drawn-on" binding. American and German books are usually produced to a far higher standard; best-selling authors and celebrities landing seven-figure deals for their biohraphies could insist on proper standards in the u.k. too, giving them a better chance of the immortality they crave.

28 Nov 07 12:26

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