The Hardback Beast, or, a Tale of Two Books

My friend Brian Jobe’s sleek little paperback bombshell from humble lil’ Korrektiv Press.

My friend Melissa over at Bark muses on the hardback vs. paperback dilemma (soon to be made irrelevant by the eBook phenomenon?):

In the current model, some, but nowhere near all, new releases come out in hardback [e.g. Beautiful Ruins], and then are released later in paperback. The books released in hardback supposedly carry more prestige, and are able to generate more buzz and more reviews, which can lead to better sales, consideration for awards, and so on. However, many books [e.g. Bird’s Nest in Your Hair] are released in paperback, and the conventional wisdom is that it’s harder to generate national publicity for those books, because hardback first editions usually come from big publishers with a lot of marketing muscle, and thus it’s harder to get reviews for first edition paperbacks. More

My friend Jess Walter’s hardback blockbuster from a big bad New York publisher.

My friends and dear readers: Hardback or paperback, eInk or pulpmill stink, it makes no difference. I advise you get your hands on both of these books (buy them, steal them, borrow them, barter firearms for them on the Russian black market; I don’t care how you get them, just get them) and read them at your earliest convenience.

Comments

  1. I read a hardback book once. It was called, “The Pain and the Glory” by the great Oakland Raider Hall of Fame center, Jim Otto.

    I saw Otto once in the Metropolitan Grill with Al Davis and some current players. They burned my steak, but more significantly I got the cold shoulder from Otto when I approached him at his table. I guess I broke the celebrity restaurant rules.

    We booked a room at the Alexis, it smelled like cigarettes which bothered Mrs Webb and we came home a little after midnight.

    That was a bad anniversary.

    Good luck with the hardbacks.

  2. Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says

    Meanwhile, Lickona and Loyola Press have made the beast with two backs.

  3. You guys are wags, but thanks for the sympathy and the shameless plug.

  4. I’m not even going to ask about Loyola. You were drunk, you were young. You’re not ashamed.

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