Paperback Writer: The Secret History of a Publishing Blockbuster
From Sweeney Todd to the Beatles, the Little-Known Story of the Paperback Book
Thanks for reading The Nonlinear Life, a newsletter about navigating life's ups and downs. We're all going through transitions, let's master them together. Every Monday and Thursday we explore family, health, work, and meaning, with the occasional dad joke and dose of inspiration. If you're new around here, read my introductory post, learn about me, or check out our archives.
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The box was a little bigger than I expected, along with flatter and wider. It had a return address in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The sender’s name: Penguin Random House.
I know what this is!
I put the box on my desk, sliced open the tape, and inside caught my first glimpse – not of the covers of my book, as happens in all the unboxing videos the kids make these days, but the back covers, with their mix of flap copy, barcodes, and prices. Good thing the cameras weren’t running.
A year ago, I released a new book about the three-year journey I took collecting hundreds of life stories of Americans in all 50 states, then combing through those stories looking for patterns that could help all of us survive and thrive in times of change. The book was called Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age.
This week, Penguin Books is releasing the paperback edition.
Me, after unboxing my newest paperback book.
Pulling these books out of the box was both deeply rewarding and a cause for reflection. Rewarding because, more and more these days, not all books go into paperback. I still think of it as an honor and an opportunity to reach a wider audience. Though paperback prices have crept up in the last few years, they are still meaningfully cheaper than hardcover books. And many book clubs insist on them. In fact, if you or someone you know is in a book group that might be interested in reading Life Is in the Transitions, and you’re a subscriber to this newsletter, I am happy to offer a limited number of Zoom appearances this fall.
But this moment is also a cause for reflection because I have a long, somewhat complicated relationship with paperbacks. these days, not all books go into paperback. I still think of it as an honor and an opportunity to reach a wider audience.
My first book, Learning to Bow, about the year I spent teaching junior high school in a small town in Japan was published, gulp, thirty years ago next month. I was told that the hardcover sales had to surpass a certain threshold (I recall it being around 15,000) in order to be eligible for paperback. They ultimately did, but my publisher and I agreed that we still had a chance to expand the readership and changed the subtitle to “Inside the Heart of Japan.”
Ten years after that edition came out, I was at a different publisher and had just had my breakout hit, Walking the Bible. My former publisher refused to update the edition for Learning to Bow, so I bought back the rights and issued it with a different cover.
The hardcover and paperback copies of Learning to Bow.
Recalling these events as I looked at my new box of paperbacks, I thought I would share a few behind-the-scenes observations from my fourth decade as what the Beatles called a paperback writer:
First, paperbacks tend to be cheaper than hardcovers not, as many people assume, because the covers are made of paper and not cloth, but because the insides are glued, not stapled or stitched; their trim size tends to be smaller, and they’re printed on slightly less durable material. Another way publishers save money: Most paperbacks these days tend to reuse the interior design, something that was less common when I started out.
Second, the paperback cover for Life Is in the Transitions is the same as the hardcover. While it’s not a hard-and-fast rule, in my experience in nonfiction, publishers tend to keep the cover the same only if the hardcover performed well. The same goes for subtitles. In probably half of my books, we changed the subtitle from the hardcover to the paperback, largely because I felt the original could be improved. That’s not the case this time (!).
Third, the most common question I get from readers is, “Is the book the same?” Answer: Mostly, yes! I correct typos and minor factual errors that readers bring to my attention (THANK YOU! Please do that. Authors are always grateful) but only once in fifteen books have I asked for a meaningful change. That instance was Council of Dads, when I requested that the first two chapters be flipped to revert to my original instincts, to begin with my cancer diagnosis and not my letter to the dads.
Finally, Life Is in the Transitions highlights one more thing to look out for in paperbacks: bonus content! Sometimes, paperbacks offer additional material in the form of a Q&A or, if it’s a book in a series, the first chapter of the book to come. In this case, we have added a reading guide to the end to help classes, companies, teams, and groups promote meaningful conversation. Requests for reading guides are surely the second most common question I get about my books.
I hope you’ll enjoy this new paperback edition as much as I do, and since we’re on the topic, here are a few more fun facts about paperbacks to enhance your next reading experience.
1500s - The Venetian printer and publisher Aldus Manutius publishes the first experimental paperbacks.
1823 - James Fenimore Cooper, author of The Last of the Mohicans, begins writing frontier stories published in paperback-like format.
1843 - Armed Service Edition paperback books debut via a collaboration between the U.S. Army and publishing executives to provide soldiers with books they can carry with them during wartime. More than 1300 titles appear with print runs of over 100,000.
1861 - The Civil War brings even more attention to the paperback book, with soldiers carrying them above the left knee of their battle dress.
1919 - U.S. publisher Emanuel Haldemann-Julius begins selling staple-bound paperback books via a mail subscription service for $5 a month,
1935 - The Penguin publishing company releases its first ten books for sale in England at two and a half pence which, at the time, was the same price as ten cigarettes. Penguin was also the first publisher to produce quality paperback books that didn't stain readers' hands with ink. One million copies sell in the first months.
1949 - The paperback original was invented by Fawcett Publications, the first time original stories were published directly to trade paperback format. Many fiction writers especially get their start in this format.
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Thanks for reading The Nonlinear Life. Please help us grow the community by subscribing, sharing, and commenting below. Also, you can learn more about me, read my introductory post, or scroll through my other posts.
“Burnout:” The Good News About the Most Overused Word of the Year
Or these books: Life Is in the Transitions, The Secrets of Happy Families, Council of Dads, Walking the Bible, and Learning to Bow.
Or, you can also contact me directly.
