Last week there was a conversation on a reader’s blog about a highly anticipated story in an author’s ongoing series coming out in hardcover when the previous installments had come out in trade before being reprinted as mass market paperbacks.
There was much said about the different sizes messing up bookshelves, and being a rather OCD person about many things, like the way the paragraphs in my manuscripts line up, I get that. But it doesn’t bother me when it comes to shelving books. Here are the top two shelves of the closest bookcase to me. As you can see, I buy in all formats, though I love hardcover over all others. But the shelving doesn’t bother me because I don’t keep books after I read them. Yep. All these books have yet to be read, but I needed to own them so I could get to them on my own time. This may not be the norm, heh, but my point is that readers as a group are still individuals, and their preferences can’t be lumped together any more than the preferences of chefs or auto mechanics. Chefs have their knives, auto mechanics their tools, but there are any number of velvet lined cases or blocks for holding sharp blades, and tool chests that roll, or don’t, have drawers, or don’t. It all depends on what works for the individual.
One of the comments in the thread had me bumfuzzled. Understand that I’m not speaking here as an author but as a reader. One of the “long-term readers” mentioned in the quote below. A reader who over the years has spent hundreds, nay, thousands of dollars on books – no matter the format – so they’ll be within arm’s reach should that title be the only one to suit my mood. Shoot, I’m the one who each January pre-orders books from all my auto-buys even if they won’t be out for months.
Thing is, though, that bottom line it is not $$$, at least not in terms of long-term readers. Any time this “switching format in the middle of a series” happens even a well-loved author or series, that author’s name automatically drops to the bottom of my must-have list at least for a while. So, it’s just not a good practice for the publishers to make a habit of. It taints the author in my head whether I logically understand it’s not their fault or not because that series sticks out to me from then on as being one I can’t continue.
I can tell myself it’s the publishers fault all I want to but in the end it’s the author and series I’m looking for and being frustrated about not being able to continue. Possibly for months, even up to a year or more. So, $$$?
Somehow, I think not. Not if I’m multiplied by thousands of other readers each time they do this.
I’m not even going to talk about the placing blame and whose fault anything is because I’m in publishing and I know who makes those decisions and why. I wanted to pull out the last line, about thousands of other readers holding the same opinions, sharing the same habits as this reader and the others who commented in the thread.
Know what? I’ll bet there are just as many readers out there like me!
I don’t keep books. I don’t care what my shelves look like. I buy way more than I’ll ever read. I prefer hardcover because with the online discounts available they’re only a few dollars more than paperbacks. If I’m reading a series, I’ll read no matter that the formats don’t match. Take the Jack Kerley books I just discovered. I read the first electronically, have the second in a US edition paperback, the 3rd on my iPod Touch, and the ones that follow in the UK edition paperbacks which are NOT the same size as those published here. I don’t care. I want to read them badly enough that if he mailed me a long hand printed scroll, I would. See? The two UK paperbacks are taller.
For the life of me, I don’t get why a format will keep a reader from reading a book. Hating the messed up shelving, sure. Hating the jump in price, sure. But not reading? Stopping a series because the book is in a different format than the previous ones? Nope. Don’t get it at all. Not when there are libraries, used book stores, friends who share copies. And that’s where the rest of my point comes in. Friends who share copies. This is a big reason that I can’t assume readers as a group will behave the same way. The years I worked at an oil company, I worked with voracious readers. They would buy the rattiest used books they could to have a story they’d missed. (I won’t touch ratty books with a ten foot pole, and have left negative feedback for sellers who advertise something as “like new” when it’s falling apart at the spine.)
Those women didn’t keep books. They traded with each other. They traded back to used bookstores. They tossed in the trash if no one else wanted when they were done. Those readers were not active online, didn’t know about Romantic Times until I showed one of them a copy. To my mind, those were real world readers. Readers who use word of mouth to turn a quiet little book into a monster of a bestseller. And they’re why I can’t give readers as a group a particular behavior, whether stores they buy in, format they buy in, or the way they shelve. So, yes, maybe there will be many many readers who won’t follow a series into hardcover, but there will be just as many readers who will fight their way to a copy. And to prove my point? Around the same time as the above blog conversation? Readers on Twitter were sharing that they’d pre-ordered the book in question and couldn’t wait to have it in their hot little hands!
Oh, here are two more of the shelves on my bookcase. I’m nothing if not consistent in my mess and my READER – not author – love for hardcovers!
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I have some series in a mix of ebook, mass market and hardcover. The first one that comes to mind is Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld, I’m all over in formats on that one. But I have them all!
I’ve also gone out of my way to replace paperbacks with hardcovers because I re-read and hardcovers hold up better.
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Yep. Like I’m all over Jack Kerley, er, so to speak. ;) Since I read the first electronically, I would’ve liked to have been able to do the same with them all. Not sure why the 2nd wasn’t available for the Kindle but the 3rd was!
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If there’s a series that I know I will want to re-read and keep for a long time, then I will usually try to find copies of it in hardcover. I did that with Robert Jordan and JK Rowling–to re-buying books that I’d already read. I’m not sure I’ve cracked the spines of a couple of my Robert Jordans, because I read them originally in mass market paperback.
But that’s the exception for me, not the rule. I will read a story in whatever format, then go back and buy the hardcover if I think its a keeper.
On a similar but different topic, any idea what’s up with the new size of mass market paperbacks. I just noticed it in the bookstore a couple of weeks ago. Some are taller now. And the annoying thing is that every one of the taller books that I’ve seen so far are 1) Not romances and 2) Male authors…
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I knew awhile back some publishers experimented with “tall” paperbacks, but I thought they’d given that up. I know the UK versions are taller, but I didn’t know that was still being done here. No clue!
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Like you, I don’t keep many books, so it doesn’t matter to me what they look like on the shelves (even if I kept them, I doubt I would care much). For me, it’s not a matter of format, but of price. I buy hundreds of books (ok, maybe it’s thousands *blush*) each year, and hardcover is really just out of my price range if I want to buy everything I want. Even for my autobuy authors, I will check out a hardcover from the library if I absolutely can’t wait for the PB release, but frequently end up purchasing the MM once it does come out.
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Oh, I totally get not buying because of price. I just don’t get not READING because of price or format!
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The only format I buy books in nowadays is electronic. There are two reasons for this: 1. I badly need bifocals and am stubbornly refusing to get them, so I prefer a large font, and 2. I just moved literally thousands of books from the old house to the new house, and found my new built-in shelves and all my other shelves, totally filled up the minute I moved in. I don’t need more paper books! So yes, if it’s not in e-format, I likely won’t buy it (assuming it’s new and a novel; some older stuff just isn’t going to get into e-format any time soon, and graphic novels and books on decorating pretty much still have to be bought in paper format, too). If I want something new, I’ll wait for the electronic edition. So format matters to me, but I do have my reasons.
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I love being able to adjust the font size on my iPod Touch. I even change the colors, and depending on where I am, read black on white or white on black.
Just today I downloaded the Kindle app for my Blackberry, so now I need to install that and see if it will sync the book I’m currently reading.
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Yeah, some romance readers really despise hard cover. I don’t necessarily “get” this – but then I started out life as a mystery/suspense girl – so you probably can’t go by me. Like you Alison, nothing flips my switch harder than a shiny, new hard cover with a dust jacket. That said, yeah – price is an issue for a lot of readers, and I totally get that. I’m at the point where I buy about 3 authors in hard cover (all mystery btw) and go to the library for anybody I can’t wait for in mass market.
This “not reading because I hate the format” issue has been going on for a little while now. See the on-going ebook pricing and availability debate. Some hard core pro-digital folks just aren’t reading some authors/books because they’re either 1) not in digital or 2) their publisher is making it prohibitive (re: pricing).
For me, format doesn’t really hold me back. If I want to read something, I read it. I find a way (legally) to get my hands on a copy. Either through the library, InterLibrary Loan, or swapping books online or with friends. Plus, who am I kidding? With the size of my TBR, I can always WAIT for that hot new hard cover release to come out in pb. It’s not like I don’t have a mountain of other stuff I can be reading :)
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Man, I love hardcovers. I know they’re harder to hold, and heavier, but I love the layout on the page so much more than paperbacks. They don’t seem so crowded.
And ya know, I don’t mind reader idiosyncrasies, but I will never get NOT reading something. I mean, who’s the one being punished there, LOL!
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I always keep books that I enjoy, so my shelves are overflowing… but I have to admit that in the last 2 years I have collected a huge file of e-books… nothing will ever stop me from reading the authors I enjoy and want to try except my book budget… ;)
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That’s where a good library comes in!
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I have many differnt book sizes and normally I don’t care what they look like on the shelf. My shelfes are messy. The only thing that bothered me was when I bought the twilight saga online. I was pretty sure that getting them in one go would secure a nice symetrical sight on my shelf but when I got them out the were three different sizes?! weird… it bugs me a bit. Mainly cause the online store had “assured” me in the little info section that they would be of the same build.
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I just bought the three books in Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series, and I just know when the third one gets here it’s not going to be the same size. It’s a different publisher, and the specs on Amazon annoyed me because it’s a set, but whatever. I even have the original in hardcover, but love the art on the trade editions, so bought it again!
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I can’t imagine not reading. My favorite pick me up is a trip to the bookstore.
As I do reread, most of my books are paperbacks. I have a few ebooks, may change if I ever get a Kindle or something similiar.
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I’m enjoying reading on my iPod Touch with my Kindle app, but then I love how easy Amazon makes it to buy books!
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As a reader I don’t care what format the book comes in. And for the reader who thinks that a mix of hardcovers and paperbacks on a bookshelf looks bad, well I don’t agree. I find that looking at a bookshelf with nothing but paperbacks lined up in a straight, perfect row is boring. Jazz it up a little!
Personally I’m adicted to hardcovers. Especially since I’m too impatient to wait for the paperback release. I know, downloads are instant gratification, but after staring at a computer all day long, I prefer holding a book, not a phone or eReader at night.
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My favorite bookshelf photos are those of Neil Gaiman’s basement. A total jumble!
http://www.chimpomatic.com/file-uploads/large/6a00d8341e478253ef0120a53fe68a970c-800wi.jpg
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OK, is the sight of all that shelf space supposed to make me feel warm and squishy inside? sigh I could die happy with that much room for books. ;)
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I know! Isn’t it awesome!
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I love to read – it doesn’t matter what size shape or type of book it is i will read it if it is a story that grabs hold of me and won’t let go!!!
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You and me both!
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The only reason I can think of for not wanting to read something only because it’s in HC is that there’s an impression out there that romance authors will often change their style on moving to HC. I’ve seen it said most often in romantic suspense. There’s the suspicion that authors will amp up the suspense to give the book more crossover appeal. Whether that is true or not in general, I’ve no idea, but there’s certainly that impression amongst many.
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Oh, I totally get that, and have found it true in some case. But this was a situation where the book in question was in the same series, so would pretty much be told in teh same voice.
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When I found out the last book in this series (are we not mentioning by name what series we’re talking about?) would be out in hardcover, it didn’t faze me one bit. My first thought was, “Yes, Kevin’s book will finally be out. I can’t wait to buy it in May.” I think Amazon’s hardcover prices are usually pretty reasonable, so if an author I really like releases a book in hardcover, I will most likely buy it. I don’t have anything against hardcovers and could care less if a series doesn’t look uniform on a bookshelf. I know everyone has their preferences and idiosyncrasies, but would never have thought that someone would absolutely stop reading a series that they loved because of her/his dislike for a format. That boggles my mind.
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The only reason I didn’t mention the book is that my point wasn’t about that series but about why someone would stop reading a series because of format!