Format Menu

[Lindig]

I noticed in a title field the words "trade paperback." However, that's not a choice in the format menu itself. I think it should be.

Right now, just discussing softcover books, the only choice are "paperback" and "mass market paperback." Lots of readers will choose "paperback" to enter a book, when what they really want is "mmpb." So there's no way to distinguish larger softcovers, either "trade" size or "quarto" size (like the Peter O'Donnell books I'm working with).

Or maybe just the phrase "large softcover."

Opinions?

[Cait]

I think those options were based on what we got coming in from Amazon, and the vast majority of those were "paperback". I wouldn't mind adding "trade paperback" to the list, but it might be confusing as to what the difference was between "trade paperback", "mass market paperback", and plain "paperback".

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Trade paperback comes up rarely; I enter it by hand when relevant.

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For]

There was a discussion about this at one point and the conclusion seemed to be that there was no standard definition of "trade paperback". Many of us more or less use it to mean the same thing, but apparently a publisher can pretty much apply it to anything they want and there is no consistency and thus it was better to just avoid the term and use the more generalized "paperback".

[rivka, Former Moderator]

While true, I have used it when a publisher specified that a book was being released both as a large paperback and a mmp.

[Petra X]

What is OME pls?

[Lindig]

So what about using "large softcover"?

[Cynthia]

I'm not entirely sure why they bother to have specific types of paperbacks, anyway. I mean, a paperback is a paperback as opposed to hardcover book, right So what am I missing?

[Eva-Marie]

Cyn wrote: "I'm not entirely sure why they bother to have specific types of paperbacks, anyway. I mean, a paperback is a paperback as opposed to hardcover book, right So what am I missing?"
Mass Market and trade matter to me very much- I don't like MMs at all. But that's not something I tend to care about on-line, like here on GR but I know there are people who want their books showing as correct as possible. I think that's why we have it like that.

[Eva-Marie]

Lindig wrote: "So what about using "large softcover"?"

I only use the options given but like rivka said above, she enters in 'trade' by hand sometimes. I started only using the options given when we changed that format menu and have since only used what is on there personally.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

Trade paperbacks (as I was taught to use the term, which I recognize only somewhat overlaps with how it is used by publishers) are larger, usually similar in size to a hardcover. They may also have better-quality paper, and sometimes more/better artwork. On my shelves, they usually go with the hardcovers, although that is purely for considerations of space.

[Lindig]

Quite right, that is how trade paperback came to be, because the hardcover is called the "trade" edition, so when they started to print softcovers the same size, they just put the two terms they already had together: i.e. trade paperback.

Howsomever, I think it's important to distinguish the trade paperback from the massmarket paperback, as they often have the same title and cover art, so just looking at at image of the cover doesn't tell you which edition you're getting.

The reason I brought this up is that in the Peter O'Donnell list (yes, him again) there's a quarto softcover from Titan (New) entitled The Black Pearl, and there's a mmpb from Star with the same title, pub. in 1978 (not the same story collection, though).

So, the question is how to tell them apart.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

But that frequently happens with two books published in the same format too. I suggest tables of contents in the description boxes, and librarians' notes with distinguishing characteristics. (i.e., "two shorts and a novella" or what have you)