Even Book Size is Relative (& Relevant)

I had an email from a concerned reader through my Goodreads page. Polly is a bookseller with a valid worry: Hello there, so sorry to bother you, but I just had to voice my concerns over the recent transition of "Into the Wilderness" from a mass market paperback into trade paperback format. I've been a small bookstore owner for 22 years and have sold a lot of your books, because frankly, I love them (it's easy to sell something you love!). I keep the full set available at all times on my shelves and recommend them often. So when I attempted to reorder "Into the Wilderness" a few weeks ago from Ingram, I was informed it is now only available in a $16.00 trade paperback. I doubt very seriously it will keep a place on my shelves, especially now that the first book does not match the other books in the series in size, and it is a considerable increase in price for the first book – the one that gets the reader hooked on the series. I expect this is a publisher decision, but I'm so disappointed to see this wonderful series disappear from my shelves. Polly's impressions and experiences are to be taken very seriously, as she is at the heart of the business, but (and you knew this was coming) I have no control over the format of the novels. The increased cost is the biggest issue, of course. I haven't seen any figures from the industry, so I can't speak to trends more generally and I don't know where ITW fits into the larger scheme of things. I do know that sixteen bucks is a chunk of money to pay for […]