The Story of the Paperback Book

It is easy to forget how unusual it once was for ordinary people to own books. In the early twentieth century, a new novel in Britain was normally published as a hardback costing several shillings, a significant sum for a family on an ordinary wage. Most people who read for pleasure borrowed books from libraries or bought cheap magazines. Books with paper covers did exist, but they were usually poorly printed and associated with sensational stories, and serious readers tended to look down on them.

The change came in the 1930s, when several publishers began to experiment with reprinting well-regarded books in paper covers at a fraction of the hardback price. The idea was simple, but it was considered extremely risky. Other publishers warned that cheap editions would damage sales of hardbacks, and some authors were reluctant to allow their work to appear in what they saw as a downmarket format. Booksellers were also doubtful, because the profit on each copy was so small that a paperback could only succeed if it sold in very large numbers.

To make the figures work, publishers needed new places to sell books. Rather than relying on bookshops, which were found mainly in larger towns, they placed paperbacks in railway stations, newsagents and even department stores, where people who would never have entered a bookshop might pick one up. Covers were designed to be recognised instantly, often using simple blocks of colour to show the type of book: one colour for fiction, another for crime and another for travel. Many readers began to collect whole series, arranging them on their shelves by colour.

The first titles were chosen with care. Rather than publishing new and untested writers, the early paperback publishers reprinted novels, biographies and travel books that had already been successful in hardback, reasoning that readers would take a chance on a cheap book by a name they recognised. Sales exceeded almost everyone's expectations. Within a few years, some titles had sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and rival publishers who had dismissed the idea began to produce paperback series of their own.

The Second World War gave paperbacks a further boost. Soldiers and civilians spent long hours waiting in camps, shelters and stations, and small, light books that could be carried in a pocket were ideal. Paper was rationed during the war, but some publishers were given extra supplies on the condition that a share of their output went to the armed forces. By the end of the war, millions of people had become used to buying and reading paperbacks, and the format had lost much of its earlier reputation for poor quality.

In the decades that followed, paperbacks changed the publishing industry in ways that the early publishers could hardly have imagined. Academic works and classic literature became affordable to students, and new authors could reach a mass audience without first proving themselves in hardback. Publishers began to bring out some titles in paperback first, rather than waiting a year or more after the hardback. Covers grew more elaborate, with photographs and illustrations replacing the plain colours of the early editions, as publishers competed for attention on crowded shelves.

Not everyone welcomed these changes. Some critics complained that cheap books encouraged people to read quickly and carelessly, and that the bright covers of later paperbacks made serious books look like popular entertainment. Others worried that bookshops would fill their shelves with whatever sold best, leaving little room for poetry or difficult literature. Supporters replied that more people were reading than ever before, and that a reader who began with a thriller might well go on to more demanding books.

Today, the paperback faces competition from electronic books and audiobooks, which can be downloaded in seconds. When electronic readers first became popular, some observers predicted that printed books would soon become a luxury item. So far, this has not happened. Paperbacks continue to account for a large share of book sales, and many readers say that they prefer the feel of a printed page and the ability to lend a book to a friend. In some ways, the paperback's original appeal, a good book at a price almost anyone can afford, remains as strong as ever. Second-hand paperbacks, in particular, remain popular with students and travellers.