Book Sizes Grrrrrrrrr!

[jastius]

I had The Hydrogen Sonata in HC, but the rest in paperback. Amazon.co.uk delivered my paperback version and now my shelf looks - right. I sleep much easier now.

its also funny to read when you are used to one or the other.. i find the hardcovers difficult to manipulate and only suited to classic reading style.. (another reason i don't like e-readers.. just try and dog ear a page.. )
its a lot easier to read a paperback one handed, folding the pages to wrap around to the back of the book as you go..

 

[Vince W]

folding the pages to wrap around to the back of the book as you go..

I think I blacked out for a moment there. Fold the pages? My hands get shaky if the spine gets too creased.

 

[ratsy]

I think I blacked out for a moment there. Fold the pages? My hands get shaky if the spine gets too creased.

Seconded...Jastius!!! How can you????

 

[jastius]

now, now there vince and ratsy, stop fretting... i get most of my abuse-ables third hand from the library sell offs. they often have a construction paper replacement for part of the cover. (with crayon for the title...) so i have no compunction about using them to swat mosquitoes or prop up my keyboard, take camping, forget in my knapsack, play horseshoes with.. or even read.
you will both be happy to know my vintage 1950's, sixties, seventy and eighties books have all been read hundreds of times and have no spine creases cover marks or dog ears and still look as if they were just unpacked and shelved fresh from the publisher...

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

What happens usually when the new book in a series changes size is that someone in head office at the pubs decided it was time for a change and that all the books in that series will be now in the new format. It's not a new thing unfortunately. I have several versions of CS Lewis' Out of The Silent Planet trilogy which are in multiple sizes, cover arts, print styles and fonts. It's simply that someone decided to freshen them up - many times over. My guess is that if you went back and got the earlier books in the series they would now be in the new format.

However self pubbing is changing the scene significantly. The reason, the big self pubber CreateSpace is offering only certain sizes in all locations / venues etc. You'll find that a lot of us are pubbing in nine by six instead of eight by five and a half because it's cheaper. The reality is that they determine the price of a book by the number of pages, and a bigger book needs fewer pages to hold the text. Also libraries prefer the size. Six by nine may well become the new standard size for paperbacks.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[GOLLUM]

My copy of the final book by Stephen R Donaldson's The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Last Dark has just arrived (no idea when I'll read it but hey, that's not the point.)

Lovely gold cover, sits nicely on the to be read shelf with all the others waiting to be read. Only...

THE FIRST THREE BOOKS IN THE SERIES WERE PUBLISHED AS A SLIGHTLY LARGER THAN NORMAL HARDBACK SO NOT ONLY IS IT HARD TO PUT THEM ON THE BOOKSHELF WITH ALL THE OTHER BOOKS BECAUSE THEY ARE BIGGER, BUT NOW THE LATEST IS TOO SMALL IN COMPARISON!!!!

Damn..I didn't even realise this when I bought my copy the other week. I'm yet to place it on the shelf beside the other 3.

I bought bookcases with adjustable shelves when I first set up my library almost 10 years ago. I had learnt earlier on my lesson of publishers and their foibles.

 

[Werthead]

There is also this weird intermediate paperback size. Bigger than an ordinary paperback, smaller than a hard cover. Not quite at the trade size. Seems to be put out more by smaller outfits, or publishers who are normally hard back houses.

Yes, the 'B' size paperback. This is now the standard size paperback in the UK and I think some parts of Europe, and all paperbacks are transitioning to it, even though it seems to be universally hated and despised.

What makes it weirder is that markets such as Canada have flat-out rejected it, and British publishers are still publishing standard ('A'-sized) paperbacks in those terrories. Malazan fans annoyed when the books switched over as of the eighth volume ordered their paperbacks from Canada instead to make sure they got a matching set.

 

[Bick]

I'm surprised no-one has yet mentioned the strangest, most annoying book size anomaly in SF yet published - the UK editions of Alastair Reynolds books, prior to the current releases. They were only as tall as mass market PBs, but they were as wide as trades. GOOD GRIEF!! They are almost SQUARE! I have the original on my shelf, still unread because it feels all wrong, and if I like it and continue with the story, I'll have to buy proper sized books as sequels that wont look right on the shelf. This clearly will not do. I think I shall have to throw my copy away and buy a sensibly proportioned first book in the series. What were Gollanz thinking? The numpties.

 

[jastius]

giggles at the thought of organized bookshelves.. mine are lucky if they make it out of the box under the bed.. all my books are odd little things and i especially delight in seeking out these orphans of the publishing world.. i have tiny three by five edwardian ladies books full of poetry and pulps from the fifties that are squarish. ..almost sideways looking. an absolute tome consisting of all three t.h. white sword in the stone series in a combined volume. and very delicate pamplet type things..