I've been meaning to ask raise this issue for awhile now. Its seems to me that the quality of mass market paperback books isn't what it used to be. The main thing I have a problem with is the glue/binding. More and more often, it seems the glue used to bind the books (not sure what the technical term is) is badly done. You look at the spine and see gaps in the glue, or the glue doesn't go all the way to the edges (by edges i mean the width of the spine, not the height). What usually happens in this case is that the cover seems like its coming off the spine when you open it for the first time.
Has anyone else noticed this? Its especially true on the fatter fantasy books (naturally), but even some shorter books have this problem. Nowadays, before I buy a mmpb, I will sample several of them from the shelf. I pick them up, and open the front and back cover to see if they are coming off, or if I can tell that the cover is ready to pull away.
One great example of this is When Darkness Falls by Lackey and Mallory (book 3 in The Obsidian Trilogy). I still have yet to purchase this book in mmpb, even though I would really like to own it (i liked the series a lot, so i have all 3 in hardcover and the first 2 in mmpb). However, the 1st printing was apparently a bad binding job. I have literally checked 10-15 bookstores in the last 2 years, and they all have the same problem. The glue doesnt seem to extend all the way to the front cover. So, when you open the cover, you can see that the cover is ready to pull away from the book. No way the book will stand up to repeated readings. This must have been a problem with the entire first printing, since the problem is so common. (Note i did recently find a 2nd printing, and it seemed much better).
Its hard to imagine some of the paperbacks today lasting 20 years, like some of my mmpb fantasy books from the 1980s. If any of you have some books printed in the 1980s (not just published in the 80s, but printed in the 80s)..check them out and compare them to current mmpb. There really is a rather noticeable difference. The 1980s books just seem "tighter" than the current books.
Anyone else notice this, or is it just me?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Actually, I have noticed this. It does seem like there are a lot of books where the cover is not glued on well. I've had new paperbacks, not even that thick, with some pages fall out too.
I've seen that and worse. Pages at an angle, pages falling out, I have one book where the pages were not cut correctly and glued in anyway, I had to unfold them to read and a couple where I've had to pry them open at the inner seam to read the words.
You know, I haven't noticed this, but I also don't buy as many thick mmpbs because I find it too difficult to find interesting fantasy stories these days. Maybe I have noticed it I just don't remember...or maybe it's because I've been reading more trade paperbacks than mmpb and it's just not really been made very clear.
It is a concern, though, if it's being seen at all. Poor quality is bad no matter what. But, this might be the resultof the market tightening up in the last few years to save money. The publishing industry is facing a lot of competition these days, so it has to save money where it can. That's just my explanation. It makes sense to me though, considering that the industry is trying to make massive profit...and mmpb are not intended to be of the "highest" quality to begin with (but I understand your complaint).
I'm rambling...
Who is the publisher? I ask because back in the mid 90's when I was reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series for the first time, I couldn't keep the covers on the mmpbs. It happened with other thicker Tor mmpb books at the time.
So, I don't think the quality is necessarily declining as it was a problem fifteen years ago, but it is a problem.
That's a printer's issue, though, not necessarily the publisher (unless they print in house) and is something any publisher needs to address with their printer.
I've noticed this with TOR, mainly. Their mass market binding is terrible! The books fall apart after just one or two readings.
Like Joe said, I think this has been an occasional problem for years--probably for as long as there have been paperbacks. And yes, the entire batch of books seem to be affected.
Maybe you've been lucky until now?
I agree with Memory..this mostly applies to Tor (I just couldn't decide if I wanted to list them by name in my original post, in case I was the only one who noticed this issue). Of course, as I mentioned in a post a couple of weeks ago, Tor is probably my fav publisher (along with Orbit). I have way more Tor books than any other..so that gives them a higher probability to have "bad" books in my collection.
I don't think its a recent problem as in the last 2-4 years problem. I think its just gradually gotten worse over the last 15 years. If you check out a book from the 1980s and a book pubilshed now, I think you will see what I mean.
Post a Comment