(I was going to title this post, "Pat Holt Talks Sense" but then I’d have to link to everything she’s ever posted.)

It’s always nice to see something on the Internet that makes me feel a little less insane. Take this post by Pat Holt, for instance: Stop starting with hardcovers.

Oprah would love to tell her viewers they can save money on the books she loves from now on. Booksellers I’ve talked to say that if the original trade paperback “turns” twice as fast as the hardcover, no problem. Agents want higher numbers than hardcover sales can produce. Book bloggers are readers and they love trade paperbacks, as much as their audience. And besides: What book reviewers? What media?

I certainly hope that this post is being read by people who can do something about it. For heaven’s sake, it can be a year or more more between the harcover and trade paperback releases for some books, and if I’m not constantly reminded of a book’s existence, I’m not going to remember it for that long. I’ve got enough things to keep track of without meticulously noting down every book that I’d like to read, but won’t because the paperback’s not out yet.

One more thing, though admittedly it’s no so much related as it just happens to be a particular obsession of mine: Why not consider changing how hardcovers are done? I remember back when I was in school, our required reading materials were often mass-market sized hardcover versions. You hardly ever see those things in a bookstore, though. I’d be much more willing to buy something like that than their larger cousins, especially if they were around the same price as a trade paperback.

Link via Bookslut