Blog Prompt Friday: Do you prefer hardback or paperback books?
I definitely prefer paperback books over hardback books. And I prefer mass market paperbacks to trade paperbacks. I love the way a mass market paperback feels in my hands when I sit down to read it. One thing that bugs me though about some mass market paperbacks is the lack of white space. While attempting to gain maximum profit margins, some publishers use tiny fonts and run the text way too close to the outer edge of the page and way too close to the binding which means the reader has to open the book so wide that it damages the binding.
Trade paperbacks are supposed to be a superior product to mass market paperbacks. And while they certainly contain more white space and often use bigger fonts, they just don't fit in reader's hands as well in my opinion. Trade paperbacks stay open easier, and that's always a nice benefit, but it's not enough to sway me if I have a choice between the two paperback versions.
I've never liked hardbacks. They are too costly. They often don't fit will into my laptop case. They are heavy and something about not being able to curl the covers as you read them bothers me. I almost never buy hardcover fiction. The only exceptions are books written by Jan Karon or Nicholas Sparks. I love their work so much that I just don't want to wait a year for the paperback version to come out. And once in a while, I'll buy fiction remainders in hardback because they are so cheap. But if the paperback version has a similar price, I'll opt for the paperback.
Unfortunately, some nonfiction books only come out in hardback. I'll often wait to see if nonfiction books I'm interested in are going to be released in paperback, but when it becomes clear that it isn't going to happen, I eventually buy the hardback version. Like with hardback fiction, I do have a couple of exceptions when it comes to hardback nonfiction, but I find those exceptions getting fewer by the year.
Okay, don't look at me like I'm weird or something just because I have specific preferences when it comes to such things. Don't all readers?
