Under The Dome has finally come to paperback in a normal size. By normal, I mean it's not the large, oversized paperbacks recently popularized. So how do you get Under The Dome in paperback without the massive tome falling apart before your finish? It's being released in two parts.
Now this makes me wonder -- why? The Stand was a longer novel and was released in one single volume that was not oversized. Of course, my copy quickly wore out in a single reading, but I did make it to the end. I've never been a fan of books in multiple volumes. What's more, while Under the Dome is long, it's not two thousand pages.
The book is selling at Books a Million for a little over $8 for each part. So that's $16 for a paperback edition of Under The Dome.
So what's going on with the paperback version of Under The Dome? That's a question Kevin Quigley (CharnelHouseSK.com) jumped on in his January 10 article at Fearnet. As always, Quigley's article is wonderful. He even explains why paperbacks got taller. Turns out, the people who read paperbacks are getting older! Quigley also discuses changes Scribner has made in their approach to King's book cover designs.
Here's a snippet from Quigley's article, explaining Under The Dome's long road to paperback publication:
While previous mega-long bestsellers like It and The Stand fit easily in regular mass-market editions, the split and staggered release of the Under the Dome mass-markets makes sense for today’s market. With the new “easier to read” edict for the 7.5” paperbacks, these books are also easier to hold – at nearly 1,300 combined pages, a single paperback might actually turn off potential new readers. Setting the release dates of the two paperbacks a month apart also keeps these new readers in mind, especially those who enjoy the serialized storytelling of the show and might be eager to replicate the experience. New American Library did the same with Desperation and The Regulators in 1997: though the books – which tell different stories with the same characters – came out on the same day in hardcover, in paperback, Desperation came out a month earlier than its altered twin.It's an interesting approach Scribner is taking. Of course, it makes me wonder if people will really read half the novel, then wait for the other half to come out. Don't they know they can buy the whole thing? Would you go to Burger King and buy half a Whopper, eat it slowly, then buy the other half? Even if it's big, you want the whole thing.
Qigley notes that "For the first time, Under the Dome will be available in every existing format--" Which actually is exciting. In fact, I'm willing to buy a volume 3 if King would give us more.
Kevin Quigley's article, The Long Road to 'Under the Dome' in Paperback, can be found at fearnet.com
Check out my recent discussion with Quigley about all things related to The Mist at talkstephenking interview-with-kevin-quigley
I like the covers, so I will probably buy them just because of that.
ReplyDeleteI think the publisher is probably overestimating the idea of people being unwilling to buy a single volume because of its size. Yeah, reading a large paperback CAN lead to bent and warped books. So what? Most people who prefer mass-market paperbacks treat them as fairly disposable commodities anyways. Those readers, if a book is uncomfortable to hold, will just bend it a little more so as to make it more comfortable.
What I don't like about the thinking of this move by Scribner, is the underlying assumption that people are too lazy or have too short an attention span for anything the length of, say, War and Peace.
ReplyDeleteThis strikes me as lazy thinking geared toward customers. It's been my experience that most people, especially from Working Class neighborhoods, are more of less so starved for information that even a halfway decent encyclopedia would be welcome.
Maybe I'm overreacting, but I think Scribner does it's readers a great disservice but trying to ease the reading experience based on "ageing".
ChrisC