I can't put my finger on just exactly when paperbacks changed, but back an indistinct number of years the vast majority of paperbacks in bookshops were 'mass market paperbacks'. You know, the handy size that fit in a large pocket or you can cradle in one hand. Those fancy 'Trade paperbacks' were an irregularity and freakishly large. Of the 300 or so on my shelf, only a fraction are trade paperbacks. Yet, over the last few years i've noticed that nearly every paperback i've bought has been trade rather than mass market. What happened?

While we're on the subject of paperbacks, or books in general, when was the shift from proper covers to the boring crap we get on most books these days? When did they change to almost uniformly geometric patterns, single person portraits or simple graphic representations? What happened to rich landscapes, battle-scenes, fantastic vistas and the like?

I'm betting it all comes down to money unless someone can tell me otherwise.

I'm still trying to figure out why paperbacks all got taller.

Probably money. It took almost three years before I could find a mass market paperback of 11/22/63 for my mom.

The rise of eBooks may have had something to do with it.  The big publishers have been fighting against eBooks, tooth and nail.  So why read all of your books on a 6 inch Kindle / Kobo / whatever device, when you can read them on a bigger trade paperback?!

I haven't bought a "regular" paperback in years. However, I've been getting the various Warhammer Omnibus volumes which are all "irregular" sized. Big squat bricks.

Here's a couple articles about the size change:

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/openbooks/2005-08-14-paperback_x.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/books/books-not-tales-get-taller-before-baby-boomers-eyes.html?_r=0

Quote from: Piestrio;892377I'm still trying to figure out why paperbacks all got taller.

This. I first noticed it a couple of years ago when I bought another copy of Dune. I don't like it at all.