Mass market paper backs for specific classes or gender?

[rentahero]

I just wonder what opinions people might have on this, I'm a mature student studying literature, we've been asked to consider whether mass market paperbacks are aimed at people of specific gender or class?

I'm just looking for outsider opinions, I think that primarily the mass market paper backs audience are people who travel, looking for a quick fix of fiction or wives reading endless supplys of romance novels. Hardcovers are associated with a greater status, more prestige and appeal to more hardcore litterary types.

Any thoughts?

 

[steffee]

I think mass market paperbacks are intended for one sex, rather than another... 'chick-lit' such as works by Jill Mansell, Louise Bagshawe et al, is obviously for female readers, and then there's Tony Parsons, maybe Ben Elton, et al, for the men.

But classics are equally gender-specific or gender-based. Jane Eyre is very female-focussd, the classic romance. Angela Carter's books are seen to be too fantastical for male readers, and author's such as Alice Munro, cater for a domestic-type of reader. Simarly, writers like Kingsley Amis and Norman Mailer are quite (well actually, very) male chauvinistic.

I'm not sure about the hardcover = more prestigious question, as most 'chicklit' or popular fiction, is released as a hardcover anyway... and ditto, the class question, though I guess people will read what they know and/or what they are interested in.

 

[Doug Johnson]

Does a book that has 25 million hard cover in print have "a greater status, more prestige and appeal to more hardcore literary types?" than a paperback? Based on some of the comments here, I'd say no.

 

[Ell]

I think mass market paperbacks are aimed at the 'mass market'. I don't think either gender or class have much to do with it.

See this thread where reasons for choosing one over the other are discussed.

I don't see how paperbacks are aimed at a particular gender (unless you mean the sub-genres like romance or westerns that are clearly marketed to a specific gender, but it would also be true of the same titles in hardcover).

As for the question of class, you need to clarify your definition. For example, do you mean class based on income or class based on social or educational status?

I think MMPBs are primarily aimed at people who like the portability of books (due to size and weight) and the price. The portability issue is self-explanatory - it's easier to carry around a small paperback in a briefcase, pocket or purse than a hardcover. Doesn't matter if it's a man or woman. If by class, you mean economic or income-based - you're still as likely to see a well-paid executive read a paperback while travelling as you would a working-class person.

 

[Jemima Aslana]

I keep hearing the terms paperback and mass market paperback. And on Amazon the two are sometimes two different editions in the cases of certain books. What *is* the difference? I sure haven't figured it out yet.

If paperbacks are intended for the more trivia-consuming audience then I wonder why Penguin Classics, Wordsworth Classics, Vintage Classics and Oxford World Classics all publish in paperback form...

The only reason for me to buy books in Hardcover and tolerate the drawbacks of it taking up huge amounts of room on my shelves is if the book in question is such a fantabulous work that I simply must have an edition that will not 'die' within the next 50 years.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I keep hearing the terms paperback and mass market paperback. And on Amazon the two are sometimes two different editions in the cases of certain books. What *is* the difference? I sure haven't figured it out yet.

I think the only difference is the size difference. Mass paperbacks are the size of hardcovers, I believe, whereas paperbacks are a little smaller.

 

[Ell]

I think the only difference is the size difference. Mass paperbacks are the size of hardcovers, I believe, whereas paperbacks are a little smaller.

I think it's the other way round. The mass market paperbacks are the smaller ones and what we, in Canada, call trade paperbacks are about the size of hardbacks, but with softcovers. The trade paperbacks have better binding and paper, so last much better than the mass market pbs, which tend to discolour and fall apart over time.

Here's an earlier discussion about them.