Sunday, December 3, 2017

The Growing Popularity Of Softcover Booklet

By Mary Wright


A lot of people have taken up reading as a recreational activity with the availability of books being on the rise all over the world. The biggest block for writers is reaching their readers with printing and publishing taking up most of their finances. These writers are now resolving to softcover booklet as the hardcover ones are expensive to produce.

Paperbacks have been in use since the nineteenth century when they were used for reprints. These books were covered with pliable paper unlike other that made use of cloth covered cardboard. The paperback books were sold at a reduced price in malls and areas where people in transit would make their stops.

They were produced in numerous copies and were referred to as mass paperback. Copies not sold were stripped of the cover and pulped such that anyone who finds the book without a cover would know that the author received no royalties from it.

The first original print in paperback was produced in the 1950s. With time, more original books had reprints. Most of these were by upcoming authors as it did not necessitate a lot of investment. The popularity of the books grew as they were cheaper to produce and buy, took relatively less time to produce and was widely available.

While writing a book to be printed with a paperback, the writer edits the first page and last as the front cover and back cover respectively. The second page and second last pages are the inner sides of the cover for the front and the back respectively. Depending on the writer choice soft covers can be thicker than interior pages or similar to other pages. The thicker pages have extra durability though they are a bit expensive comparatively.

Production of hardcover books results in a relatively high-profit margin. Therefore printers attempt to create a balance for writers between the two by producing more paperback books, this serves to seal the gap. During production, the paperback books can either be mass market or trade paperbacks.

Once printed, the pages of the book have to be bound together. The writer can choose to have their books saddle stitched, perfect bound or spiral coil bound. Saddle stitching is easy and is done by neatly arranging the papers then folding them and creating a mark in the middle then stapling with a stapler design for it. Perfect bound books are virtually everywhere and are bound by gluing sections of the book to a heavier cover at the spine. In-spiral coil binding, the coil is usually the spine of the book and is attached to holes in the pages which are punched by the same machine that does the binding.

There was once a phase when some publishers criticized paperback books saying their diminished the entire structure of printing. Paperback booklets however despite all these have gained popularity among writers and are now go to for writers without finances who are yet to gain ground. The books have also become loved by many readers.




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