Saying Goodbye to the Mass Market Paperback
The New York Times • • technology
Key Points:
- The mass market paperback, once a staple format for romance novels like the first Bridgerton book published in 2000, is rapidly declining in popularity and availability.
- Sales of mass market paperbacks have been decreasing for years due to competition from e-books, digital audiobooks, and other physical formats like hardcovers and trade paperbacks.
- ReaderLink, the largest distributor to airport shops and big-box stores, recently announced it would stop carrying mass market paperbacks altogether, signaling the format’s near extinction.
- Industry experts, including Ivan Held of Putnam, Dutton, and Berkley, acknowledge that while mass market paperbacks can still be found, the format is effectively over.
- The mass market paperback industry originated
