When buying books at a store or online, you may have encountered two types of books, namely hardcover and paperback books, and wondered what makes these two different. You may have also thought, why are there two types of books and not just one. Well, there are some major differences between the two, and the reason that books are available in both formats is because of different author editions and readers’ preferences. Moreover, the distinction between the two different formats is important to understand when deciding which version of a book to purchase Paperback books are relatively cheaper than hardcovers. Hardcover books can sometimes be even double the price of a paperback version. But the pricing isn’t the only difference between these two types. There are many more differences, and they’re discussed in this article below to help you understand the reasons behind them
What is a paperback book?
A paperback book is also known as a softcover. It is a type of book with flexible, usually untrimmed pages that are held together by staples. Most paperbacks have a cover on both sides of the pages. Paperback versions are generally less expensive than hardcover books because they use cheaper materials to make them. Many people choose to purchase a paperback version instead of a hardcover version because of cost savings, but both versions offer similar content and quality of writing from the author. One of the differences between softcover and a hardcover edition is in the paper used to make the cover and binding. A paperback book can be thought of as an oversized magazine. In fact, today, many paperback books are published in a magazine style, with one side having text and the other side showing a photo or illustration. An advantage to paperback books is their low cost. They’re often a fourth to a fifth the cost of hardcover books. If you purchase a new hardcover book at its full retail price, it can cost $25 or more. The same book in paperback would only cost about $7 to $10. A paperback book will typically have a much longer shelf life than a hardcover book because it won’t need to be replaced due to wear and tear from use. Moreover, the lower price tag for paperbacks is because they have a less durable and thick paper cover and pages than hardcovers do. A hardcover has a stiff cover so that it stands up easily on its own when you place it on a table or shelf.
Mass-market paperbacks
The term “mass market” refers to a particular format of a paperback version. Mass-market books are also commonly known as trade paperbacks. Several styles have been used through the years, but the most common mass-market paperbacks are between 5.5 and 6 inches wide by 8 to 9 inches tall. It has a stapled spine and a rough cut cover which is slightly narrower and shorter than the typical paperback novel. A mass-market paperback was the industry standard for cheap, portable reading in the mid-20th century. Many of these were sold at newsstands and in drugstores, and they aren’t as common today with the rise of eBooks.
What is a hardcover book?
A hardcover book is bound with stiff boards covered with cloth, paper, leather, or another durable material. The spine of the book is reinforced in order to make it less likely to break when it’s opened. This also makes it possible for the text block—the pages printed on the inside front and back covers—to lie flat when opened. Hardcover books are sometimes considered more prestigious than paperback books, but that’s not always the case. Because of their price tag, they’re usually reserved for special editions or best-sellers. A hardcover binding lasts longer than a paperback and usually looks nicer and more professional. The downside to that is that it can be more expensive, especially if you want your book to have a dust jacket (a flap on the front of the book). A dust jacket may add $1 or more to the cost of each book.
Difference between hardcover and paperback
Hardcovers are more expensive
The most significant difference between hardcover books and paperback editions lies in the price and print quality. Hardcover books cost significantly more than paperbacks and rarely go on sale for less than $20, and many sell for a $30 or $40 price. Paperback books of popular titles, on the other hand, can be reduced to $10 and go as low as $6.
Hardcover books are more durable
Hardcover books tend to be sturdier and more durable than their paperback counterparts. They also look nicer on a bookshelf because they take up less space while still giving off an air of sophistication. Paperback novels, conversely, are lighter and easier to transport from place to place. They take up less shelf space at home and don’t add significantly to your luggage weight when you travel with them.
Hardcover books have better paper quality and thick covers
The quality of the paper used in paperbacks is also generally better than that of hardcovers, making them easier to read without damaging the binding or cover of the book. Hardcover books use a dust jacket and thick paper, whereas a paperback edition usually has a lower paper quality and thin paperback covers.
Paperbacks are easy to carry and flexible
Since paperback books have soft book covers, they’re pretty flexible as compared to hardcover books and easy to bend. They are also more portable and easier to carry. For people who travel a lot and read often, paperback books are the obvious choice because nobody would like to carry a heavier book in already jam-packed luggage.
Paperback vs Hardcover: which is better?
Now that you have gone through an in-depth comparison of hardcovers and paperbacks let’s get to the point where you decide to make a choice between hardcover and paperback books. Choosing between a paperback and hardcover edition of a book can be challenging. What are the advantages of each? How do you know which one to choose? Here are some things to consider when choosing between a hardcover and paperback book:
1. Consider compatibility and portability
A trade paperback is smaller than a mass-market paperback but larger than a mass-market hardcover. It’s also thicker. You can take it on an airplane or to the beach, but you can’t easily stick it in your back pocket. The hardcover edition is the thickest, making it easier to read in bed or other places where you’re not sitting straight. However, it’s also the bulkiest, so if you’re planning to carry it with you to work every day, it might get tiresome.
2. Analyse your budget
The price difference between hardcovers and paperbacks is significant — $15 or $20 versus $10 or $12 for most new books. Even so, buying the paperback edition isn’t always the cheapest way to go. Some hardcovers cost less than paperbacks, especially if they’re older books that have gone out of print or ones that were published by smaller presses that don’t spend as much on marketing and printing costs.
3. There’s no price difference with special editions
With both paperback and hardcover books, though, you have the option of getting a “gift edition” or “special edition,” which typically has a dust jacket and costs a little more than a regular copy. There’s also often a “deluxe” version of a book available with extra content at a higher price point. In this case, you’ll need to spend the same amount on paperback books as you would do on hardcover books.
FAQs
Is it worth buying hardcover books?
We’ve all heard that hardcover books are more expensive than paperbacks, but is it really worth paying extra for something that’s physically the same? Overall, it really just comes down to preference. While hardcovers can be more durable, they’re also more expensive. Hardcovers are often more gift-worthy because they feel fancier, but someone who likes paperbacks might not be willing to spend the extra money to get a hardcover version. Hardcover books are also more durable, with a stiffer spine as compared to paperback books.
Does hardcover or paperback last longer?
There are a lot of factors that affect the lifespan of books. The most common difference you will see between hardcover and paperback is the cover. Hardcovers have a stiffer, more durable cover than paperbacks. This makes them less prone to bending or breaking, but this also makes them heavier and bulkier than paperbacks. Though a book’s lifetime may be of concern for some people, it ultimately doesn’t matter much. Because in the end, paperbacks and hardcovers are both just books. You can read them. You can love them. And you can keep them for a lifetime.
How long does it take for a book to come out as a paperback?
In general, paperback books come out six months to a year before their rigid counterparts. One reason for this is financial: hardcover books are sold at a higher price point than paperbacks, so publishers can make a larger profit by selling fewer of them. Printing costs are also typically lower for hardcovers because each one gets its own separate printing plate. And if a book does well in hardcover, there’s no need to reprint it as a paperback — just sell more copies of the hardcover edition.
Wrapping up
Whether you want to purchase a hardcover or a paperback, it all comes down to your preference. Many people are avid readers and enjoy collecting hardcovers, while some love having paperbacks. Consider your budget and likeability when buying either of them so you can have a smooth reading experience. Happy reading!
Katisha is a former military brat who studied engineering because she couldn’t hack it as a writer. You can find her on the internets talking books, movies, pop culture, beauty or whatever is floating her boat at the moment.
To channel the wise words of former NBC Executive Don Ohlmeyer, as often quoted by sports personality Tony Kornheiser, “The answer to your question is money.” The quote refers to sports, but it is no less true when it comes to the world of books. Thus, the most likely reason the hardcover of your new favorite read has yet to be available in paperback is the publisher is still reaping what they sowed.
Whichever of the different book formats you use to get your read on, bibliophiles know the usual publishing timeline. Hardcover books come first. Paperbacks get a set of steak knives. Everything else gets in where it fits in. Nonetheless, with all the various ways to consume books and with all of us book nerds ready and willing to give publishers our hard-earned money for books in all of their various formats, I couldn’t help but wonder : “Why do we have to wait months for publishers to release the paperback version of hardcover books?”
Although hardcover books are more expensive to print than paperbacks, printing them is still relatively cheap. Like the clothes we wear and the cars we drive, the manufacturers of the goods set the prices. Books are no exception. The business of book publishing incurs high fixed costs like author advances and expenses associated with editing, marketing, and distributing a book. Publishers need to recoup those costs and selling a hardcover book for $20–30 provides the necessary revenue. The longer the hardcover book is the only available buying option, the longer the opportunity to make more money.
In addition to bringing publishers more money, hardcover books also have an inherent prestige in the literary world worth more than their monetary value. They are considered for literary awards more often than paperbacks because hardcover books show readers, booksellers, and critics this story is worth their time and attention. In fact, some literary editors will only review hardcover books. At bookshops, hardcover books command more presence due to their shape and size, which makes them easier to display and more visible to potential buyers. Libraries with their limited budgets are more likely to order a hardcover book over a paperback because of its durability.
Although it depends on the publisher, the paperback release usually comes when sales for the hardcover book have subsided with the average time being six months to a year between the initial hardcover release and the paperback edition. With the release of the paperback version, publishers are able to create a new round of publicity for the book that can create enough fanfare to entice a new crowd of buyers along with the super fans purchasing another copy of their new favorite book that is more travel friendly.
We might assume the book that spent the longest time in hardcover was one of the best selling books of all time, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. However, taking into account the aforementioned information about the hardcover to paperback publication process, this book has actually taken the path most traveled. In the United States, the hardcover version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published on September 1, 1998. The paperback was released nearly one year later.
If J.K. Rowling’s monster hit of a book that took the culture and the literary world by storm spent the standard time in hardcover before being released in paperback, then what book could possibly come close? The answer is complicated. There are so many books published each year, how could we possibly know for certain? However, one contender for the book that spent the longest time in hardcover is bestselling YA Novel Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, which was initially published on February 26, 2013. In 2014, a paperback version was published in Spanish. English readers had to wait an additional four years for the large print paperback. The standard paperback is scheduled for release on June 30, 2020 according to bookselling giant Amazon. This means the time between hardcover to paperback for Eleanor and Park varies between one year up to over seven years!
Another YA superstar that is defying the paperback release schedule is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. The hardcover was released on February 28, 2017. Approximately one year later, on September 4, 2018, when the book world would most likely expect the release of the paperback version, HarperCollins released the hardcover collector’s and movie tie-in editions. At the time of this writing, readers looking for a paperback copy of The Hate U Give must look to publishing companies outside of the United States. The only formats available from HarperCollins are hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. The global pandemic and its impact on the literary world may be influential to the lack of The Hate U Give paperbacks, but doubtful that’s the main reason.
The most obvious reason is money. Shortly after its release, The Hate U Give was #1 on The New York Times Best Seller List for Young Adult Hardcover Books, where it remained for 25 weeks until being toppled by an obscure book that had to game the system. However, nearly 3 years later, The Hate U Give continues to be a bestseller with over 150 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List. There is still continued interest in the novel, and readers are still interested enough to pay top (or slightly discounted) dollar to get their hands on the book. The publisher is still raking in the hardcover dough, so there is no need parade the paperback just yet. The situation is similar with Eleanor and Park. Not only was Rowell’s Eleanor and Park a bestseller upon release, Rowell dominated The New York Times YA Fiction Bestseller List. With Picturestart acquiring the film rights to Eleanor and Park, more book sales are to be expected since adaptations often boost sales of the original source materials.
Along with being two of the bestselling YA novels in the past several years, Eleanor and Park along with The Hate U Give enjoyed popularity among the general reading public as well as the literary critics. Both books won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Young Adult Fiction in 2013 and 2017, respectively. They were also recognized by the American Library Association as honor books for the Michael L. Printz Award. While praise from readers and reviewers are good for selling books, we know what really gets the units moving: controversy.
There has been plenty of controversy surrounding both Eleanor and Park and The Hate U Give. Although there is debate on whether challenges and bans harm or benefit authors, the success of these two books implies the fight to keep books that speak truth to power and that represent marginalized groups out of the hands of readers often has the opposite effect. Not only are young readers who feel othered hungry for stories that reflect them and their experiences, the surrounding controversy intrigues people who were not previously interested in the books. They want to know what is in these books causing all the hubbub. With all that intrigue comes an increase in book sales, publishers laughing all the way to the bank, and paperback fans waiting just a little while longer for their favorite book format.
If you are wondering when your most recent hardcover book purchase will be available in paperback, then ask yourself a few questions. Is the book at the top of all the best sellers list? Is it being nominated (and winning) all of the awards? Is that book the talk of the town in both the literary world and among the general public? If the answer to these questions is no, then you may soon be in soft-covered bliss. Did you answer yes? Then, buckle up because you could be waiting months (or possibly years). That book you are currently loving is probably a global hardcover phenomenon, and the publishers plan to squeeze every penny out of that hardcover success before releasing it in paperback.