Question about paperback book availability
 

I was wondering if anyone knew how long it normally takes a new book to be released in paperback. Is there a standard time or approximate time?

Thanks!

Purely looking at the production process, when it wishes, a publishing company can get a book out very quickly indeed: look at some of the topical tie-ins. And there is now such a thing as "publish-on-demand".

As you may suspect, a lot seems to do with marketing: there are times in the year at which it seems beneficial to release certain titles. It might be to do with holidays or award eligibility.

Not all books even have a hardback release e.g. "paperback originals".

If you are asking about how long before a book that came out in hardback will be released in paperback.... I cannot say! I think there <i>is</i> a degree of variability. One way to get a rough idea might be to pick up ten paperbacks that you know were originally out in hardback and look at the copyright history. It may be that you will see a pattern of there ofteb being, say, one year's difference between first publication and the first <i>paperback</i> edition.

Perhaps someone in the business will see this and post something <i>definitive</i>....

I'm not sure how long it is for all books, but Chuck Palahniuk's Choke first came out in Hard-Cover and 6 months from it's release the paperback is supposed to be here.

I've been in the book selling business for about 17 years and I'd say in general it's about 8-12 months (probably the average time has gone down a little in those 17 years).

There would be many exceptions. Some hardcover originals never come out in paperback because no publisher thinks it will sell enough. As benedict said, some books are paperback originals. Sometimes when a book becomes hyperpopular and stays so for years (e.g. The Bridges of Madison County), the book is kept in hardcover as long as it keeps selling. Bridges took years to be published in paperback. Tuesdays With Morrie came out in September of 1997 and is still not out in paperback. The Harry Potter books are going 2 years or more.

Another trend I've been seeing is for more books after their hardcover lives to come out only in trade paperback and not in mass market paperback. These are usually popular nonfiction and fiction books that may not hit the biggest when they come out but have staying power over years (e.g. The Mitford series or books by Bill Bryson as opposed to books by Stephen King or Danielle Steel). This has also been true of Harry Potter although in this case they are trade paperbacks at a mass market paperback price.