Paperback Day marks the start of the paperback book revolution with publication of Penguin #1, in London in 1935. 10 facts about paperback books.
Paperback books are also known as soft covers or soft backs.
The covers are made from thicker paper and they are held together with glue, as opposed to hardbacks which have covers made from card covered with cloth, leather or Paper and with pages that are sewn or stapled together.
The paperback format has existed since the 19th century and was used for pamphlets.
In the UK, the first paperback books for the mass market were produced by Allen Lane under the name of Penguin Books, in 1935. His initial run was ten reprints, and the first one on the list was Ariel, A Life of Shelley by Andre Maurois.
Book shops weren’t keen on stocking theses new fangled books at first. Woolworth’s was the first major retailer to see the potential and they placed a large order. When they sold well, other shops began selling them.
In the US, mass market paperbacks didn’t appear until 1939 when Robert de Graaf created the Pocket Books label, in partnership with Simon & Schuster.
From 1950, paperback originals began to appear. These were books that hadn’t been previously published as hardbacks but went straight to paperback. The first ones were published by Fawcett Publications.
The profit margin of a hardback is greater than that of a paperback, so the paperback version of a book is generally only released by publishers when interest in the hardback begins to die down. This is usually after about twelve months.
The most popular genre in paperback is romance. In 1982, 25% of paperback sales were romance novels, rising to 51% by 2013.
According to the Daily Express, the M6 toll road was built on two-and-a-half million copies of pulped Mills & Boon novels.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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