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  • What’s the difference between mass-market, trade, and movie tie-in paperback books?

    Posted by admin on June 23rd, 2010 and filed under paperback books | 1 Comment »


    A mass market paperback (MMP or MMPB) is a small, usually non-illustrated, and inexpensive bookbinding format. They are commonly released after the hardback edition, and often sold in non-traditional bookselling locations such as airports, drug stores, and supermarkets, as well as in traditional bookstores. Many titles, especially in the area of genre fiction, are first editions in paperback and never receive a hardcover printing. This is particularly true of first novels by new authors

    A trade paperback (TPB), sometimes referred to as a trade paper edition, is a standard-sized or large-sized paperback book. If it is a softcover edition of a previous hardcover edition, and, if published by the same publishing house as the hardcover, the text pages are normally identical to the text pages in the hardcover edition, and the book is usually the same size as the hardcover edition. The only difference is the soft binding; the quality of the paper is usually higher than that of a mass market paperback.

    Trade paperbacks are typically priced less than hardcover books and higher than mass market paperbacks. Virtually all advance copies sent for promotional purposes are issued in trade paperback format.

    A movie tie-in book is a book, frequently a paperback but occasionally a trade paperback or a hardcover, that has a direct relationship to a specific film. Usually, the cover of the book will bear photography of the film’s stars, and slogans indicating that it is directly related to a specific film. Movie tie-in books may also be novelizations of original screenplays

    One Response

    1. Rob M Says:

      A mass market paperback (MMP or MMPB) is a small, usually non-illustrated, and inexpensive bookbinding format. They are commonly released after the hardback edition, and often sold in non-traditional bookselling locations such as airports, drug stores, and supermarkets, as well as in traditional bookstores. Many titles, especially in the area of genre fiction, are first editions in paperback and never receive a hardcover printing. This is particularly true of first novels by new authors

      A trade paperback (TPB), sometimes referred to as a trade paper edition, is a standard-sized or large-sized paperback book. If it is a softcover edition of a previous hardcover edition, and, if published by the same publishing house as the hardcover, the text pages are normally identical to the text pages in the hardcover edition, and the book is usually the same size as the hardcover edition. The only difference is the soft binding; the quality of the paper is usually higher than that of a mass market paperback.

      Trade paperbacks are typically priced less than hardcover books and higher than mass market paperbacks. Virtually all advance copies sent for promotional purposes are issued in trade paperback format.

      A movie tie-in book is a book, frequently a paperback but occasionally a trade paperback or a hardcover, that has a direct relationship to a specific film. Usually, the cover of the book will bear photography of the film’s stars, and slogans indicating that it is directly related to a specific film. Movie tie-in books may also be novelizations of original screenplays
      References :

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