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Comment by vlark | Hacker News Reader

Unfortunately, the mass market paperback, the format that began with Pocket Books that Newport references, has seen its last:

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/p...

Paperbacks will now only be sold in the larger trade paperback format.

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One really appreciates the “pocket” label of this format if one wears suits, sport coats, or blazer jackets, or almost any of several styles of coat that fall under the category of “overcoat”: these books really were pocket size! For those pockets, that is. The thicker ones are pushing it, but the ones closer to 250 pages fit neatly in a blazer pocket. Thicker ones are fine in the cavernous pockets of many overcoats (though, hell, so are trade-size books)

(Phones work better in a jacket, too—I think we made a mistake running away from that clothing style, they’re like wearable purses that also make you look nicer. Sure suits are kinda wasteful with the way the jackets get downgraded if the pants are destroyed, but odd jackets we should have held on to!)

They also fit nicely in the back pocket of jeans, and leveled-out sitting on your wallet. I pretty much always had a book there from middle school until sometime after I was married.

Very much ready for the east coast in particular to move away from the suit nonsense.

Yeah suits are kinda ass. Again, the need to have trousers so closely matched they can pretty much only come from the same batch as the cloth in the jacket. Sucks. Looks nice, but man that blows.

Jackets are dope, though. Get some summer-weight ones and even in that season you don’t have to use trouser/jeans pockets. So nice.

You want to use your pants pockets less. I want more pants pockets :)

Yeah, a matter of preference I’m sure. I prefer not having to scrunch a little at the waist to reach e.g. “cargo” pockets, and there’s nothing like interior breast pockets on jackets, for pants (various sorts of hidden pants pocket exist, yes, but they’re hard to get at). No extra weight pulling pants downward, requiring a tighter belt (or suspenders—which, that part I’m on board with as long as the pants have actual suspender buttons!). Can take the jacket off and remove all burden, put it back on and be ready to go again. No sitting on things, having things pinch or poke your leg or hip when you sit.

It’s basically a looser way of wearing your stuff on you, than pants pockets. Less welded-to you. At some point I realized I disliked summer starting because coats and front-pocket/pouch hoodies went away and I had to start carrying things in my pants again. Later, I came to like the standard pocket systems on blazers & friends way more than hoodies and (modern casual) coats, and discovered that with the right fabric and (lack of) lining choices I could wear them in almost any weather if I wanted to (I don’t, every day, but weather’s no longer a major reason not to)

(I am not saying I’m right, just explaining what I get out of it over extra pants pockets)

What's confusing to me is that even most of the the print-on-demand services I've seen for self-published writers don't go below trade paperback trim sizes (5x8 inches).

There's a huge amount of indie fiction that really wants to be in pocket-size mass-market print format (for those buyers who prefer paper to ereaders), for ergonomics and some of the pulp aesthetic, but it's forced to trade paperback trim.

The format is going strong in Japan.

What? This is terrible news. I've always loved the mass market paperback format, it's perfect for reading. Trade paperbacks are annoying to shelve, annoying to carry, and less comfortable to read.

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