Editing Paperback (section)

=== Mass-market <span class="anchor" id="mmp"></span><span class="anchor" id="Mass market paperback"></span>===
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The mass-market paperback is a small, usually non-illustrated, inexpensive [[bookbinding]] format. This includes the A-format books of {{convert|110|x|178|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}},<ref name="GuardianSize" /> in the United Kingdom, and the "pocketbook" format books of a similar size, in the United States. Mass-market paperbacks usually are printed on cheap paper.<ref>{{cite web |title=MASS-MARKET PAPERBACK HISTORY |url=https://exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/teachingpaperbacks/history |website=University of North Carolina University Libraries |access-date=24 February 2024}}</ref> They are commonly released after the [[hardbound|hardback]] edition and often sold not only at bookstores, but also where books are not the main business, such as at [[airport novel|airport]]s, [[drugstore]]s, and supermarkets.

In 1982, [[romance novel]]s accounted for at least 25% of all paperback sales.<ref name="mcdowell19820110">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/10/books/the-paperback-evolution.html |title=The Paperback Evolution |last=McDowell |first=Edwin |date=1982-01-10 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2018-03-15 |page=7 |language=en}}</ref> In 2013, 51% of paperback sales were romance.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Romance By The Numbers |url=https://ew.com/article/2014/10/17/romance-numbers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517115357/https://ew.com/article/2014/10/17/romance-numbers |archive-date=2016-05-17 |access-date=2025-05-28 |work=Entertainment Weekly's EW.com |language=en}}</ref> Many titles, especially in genre fiction, have their [[first edition]]s in paperback and are never published in hardcover; this is particularly true of first novels by new authors.<ref>{{cite web |last=Flint |first=Eric |author-link1=Eric Flint|url=http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Economics_of_Writing |access-date=2007-10-17 |title=Column: Salvos Against Big Brother; article: 'The Economics of Writing' |quote=''[[Mother of Demons]]'' was published in September 1997, and it was only published in a mass-market paperback edition, as was the standard practice at the time for first novels. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716052311/http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/The_Economics_of_Writing |archive-date=16 July 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

The mass-market paperbacks sold in airport [[newsstand]]s have given rise to the vaguely defined literary genre of the "[[airport novel]]", bought by travelers to read while they sit and wait. Mass-market paperbacks also have offered collections of comic strips and magazine cartoon series, such as [[Ernie Bushmiller]]'s ''[[Nancy (comics)|Nancy]]'' and [[Chon Day]]'s ''[[Brother Sebastian]]''.