The failing eyesight of American readers is being blamed for a steady decline in sales. Although 535 million mass-market paperbacks - which are the size of a traditional Penguin paperback - were sold last year across the Atlantic, the figure represents an 11 per cent drop compared with sales five years ago.
To stop the rot, Simon & Schuster and Penguin have decided to use larger type when publishing popular authors such as Nora Roberts, Clive Cussler and Robin Cook. The easier-to-read paperbacks are 3/4 of an inch taller than usual, but the same width. The type size has been increased, as has the space between the lines.
This means that the number of lines on a page is about 32 instead of 38. Needless to say, the price has gone up as well: to $9.99, a rise of two or three dollars. If the gambit pays off, publishers on this side of the pond are likely to follow suit.
I've been wondering for some time whether it was just my eyesight getting worse or whether the size of the print in paperbacks has been getting smaller. I actually suspect the latter as publishers try to save costs by squishing up the print. I find it a major annoyance to have to squint over my book and reading glasses are so terribly unglamourous and granny-ish. Not at all what the well-dressed bookworm around town should be wearing. (Not if she wants to show the world by example that "Look, hey, reading can be sexy.")
It was actually Matthew Kneale's English Passengers that had me scurrying to the opticians for an off-the-rack pair which I knew I was bound to lose before the book was finished. (I being that way inclined.) As it was, I decided that if publishers can't put out books with large enough print, I'm not buying 'em. And I'm trying to stick to that.
I try to track down the larger "trade" paperback versions of the books I want to read because they are kinder on the eyes: this usually means grabbing books as soon as they come into the shop.
My other big grumble is the speed at which paperbacks (and even some hardbacks these days - Faber&Faber hang your heads in shame!) go spotty and horrible on my bookshelves, often looking and smelling like an aged tome well before I get to read them. The Malaysian climate is particularly unkind to books, but yellowing margins and brown splodges shouldn't begin to appear just a few weeks after you've bought the damn things!
Another pet peeve (while I'm sounding off) is the disintegrating book where pages begin to peel away from the spine even as you are reading it for the first time. I remember our book club meeting where we were discussing Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost. There were probably ten of us there, and everyone's loose pages were spilling on the floor. Shame on you Vintage!
Hardbacks are more enduring, but who wants to lug them around, and they take up so much space on the shelves. And these days they often cost around RM80-100!
Besides, whenever I lend out books, it's always the tattiest paperbacks that make it home, but the hardbacks which seem to get lost along the way ...
5 comments:
British paperbacks always come apart when you try to flatten the pages. And horrors of horrors!! The spines have creases running down the middle! So to avoid that, I'm always seen reading paperbacks with them half-opened.
American paperbacks are less prone to this happening. The glue used on their spines keep the pages together very tightly, no matter how you try to flatten the pages.
If you are uncomfy reading small prints in paperbacks, have you tried reading on a PDA? The print is even smaller. But you can make the fonts larger.
Leon, thanks for the plug for PDA e-reading!
Sharon has been thinking of getting a PDA just for this purpose. Perhaps this will help her decide once and for all.
Ahhh, that's the reason why I am running every few months to my eye specialist: the print is getting smaller not my eyesight! And I thought I was getting blind! I guess before Braille comes what PDA? BTW,to be sexy is a matter of attitude with or without glasses. And even grannies can be sexy. It is a matter of energy: ask about Marguerite Duras and her young lover.
Leon - what you say about British vs. US paperbacks is true.
You and Chet don't need to apply much pressure to get me to buy a PDA ... but I'm, afraid that emotionally I would not feel that I truly owned the book if I did not have the print version.
Anna. I am joining the hot and sexy granny club, don't worry. And yes, Margaret Duras is an excellent example.
I don't want to own the book, I just want to read it! Unless, of course, if it's a very special book, then I'd want to own it.
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