Boing Boing

Boing Boing

The mass market paperback is vanishing

Ellsworth Toohey
Feb 10, 2026
∙ Paid

Photo: Mark Frauenfelder

In 2007, Americans bought 103 million mass market paperbacks — the pocket-sized books crammed into spinner racks at airports, drugstores, and grocery checkouts. Last year the total was 18 million. Now ReaderLink, the largest distributor supplying books to non-bookstore retailers, has told publishers it’s dropping the format, Eliz…

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