Mass Market Paperbacks & Self-Publishing

I’ve attempted to answer numerous questions from clients and new self-publishers about publishing their book in a mass market format. I think my answers have been accurate but no as thorough as I’d like. In the guest post below, Pete Masterson explains it all clearly and succinctly.

Mass market paperbacks are usually a quick way
to lose a bundle for a self-publisher.

1. The distribution system for mass market paperbacks requires accepting return of the COVER ONLY for full credit. The book, without cover, is disposed of after the time on the display stand expires. To facilitate the return of covers, the ISBN barcode is normally printed on the back (inside) of the front cover.

2. It takes very significant press runs to effectively publish mass market — at a minimum 20,000 copies. This requires a significant investment in inventory that must then be pushed into the market to get exposure. If the books don’t sell, see #1.

The progression in the publishing world by a large publisher is to first issue a book as a hard cover. Once sufficient copies have been sold demonstrating that it is a successful title, then it is issued in soft cover (usually about a year after the initial hard cover publication). The “trade paperback” uses the same typesetting as the hard cover and is essentially the same book block bound in soft instead of hard cover.

Small publishers that want hard and soft cover versions of a book often print them at the same time — that is, a mixed run of (say) 500 hard cover and 1500 soft cover books.

Once the publisher has sold sufficient copies in hard then soft cover — and sales have dropped off, but the book appears to have continuing interest, the original publisher will SELL mass market rights to a specialist publisher to issue in a mass market version. Note that this specialist publisher might be another division of a large publisher or might be a mass market publisher division of some other publisher. So, please understand that the mass market publisher is a specialist in this field. There are some publishers who only publish original material in mass market, often mysteries or romance novels. For romance, one of the major players is Harlequin — who has sliced and diced the market into fine segments (“Chick-Lit”, Contemporary Romance, Erotic Fiction, Historical Fiction, and so on…)

To produce a mass market title, the text from the trade book is retypeset into a smaller size and formatted for the (roughly) 4-1/4″ x 6-3/4″ trims size used for mass market books. Naturally, this is a new edition that requires its own ISBN (reflecting the specialist mass market publisher).

Mass market books are sold through drugstores, supermarkets, discount stores (Walmart, etc.), newsstands, and airport shops. There are probably specialty distributors who handle mass market book distribution. I don’t know who they are because I won’t get anywhere near a mass market title.

I strongly suggest that a self publisher stay strictly away from mass market and don’t even risk printing a book in the mass market size, to ensure that it is not mistaken for a mass market title. (Otherwise, you run the risk of getting covers returned with a demand for full credit.)

____________
Pete Masterson
Author of Book Design and Production:
A Guide for Authors and Publishers
Aeonix Publishing Group

By the way, if you’re a self-publisher or even considering self-publishing, buy Pete’s book. My copy is always within easy reach at my desk. It is full of indispensable advice and will smooth your way up the initial learning curve on the creative and nuts-and-bolts side of book design and production!