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kinzelSo, you hard-core hardback book readers ...
Can you tell me if *all* Baen hardcovers are the same width and height? If so is this a size you see in hardbacks from Tor or Daw or .... anyone else?
Odd question, you say? Well, gee, but see, the newest thing we, as authors, have been accused of is of being responsible for the fact that Duainfey ... and I assume Longeye as well, will not fit in a custom bookcase designed to house Lee & Miller books from Meisha Merlin.
And you know, just as we can't order a publisher to publish a book only in trade paper (of a certain size), or only in mass market, or first in hardback and then in three ring binders; we don't control the form factor of the style of book a publisher goes for.
Right -- see Duainfey is (according to Amazon, who/which may know) 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches ... while a sample from the Meisha Merlin years, say Balance of Trade, they tell us is 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches. No, wait, the advertent reader may want to get a ruler out -- because my copy of Duainfey seems to measure 9.5 X 6.5 X ... hey wait, that's a full inch taller! Not only that, but Stars, the anthology, runs larger than Meisha Merlin books but not as tall as Duainfey ... and Amazon's ruler-crew says it is ...9.2 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches ....
And you know what? It is NOT OUR FAULT (as authors )that book sizes are not standard. But really, how many hardcover sizes are there on your shelves, anyway? Are all Baen books the same size? Does Baen use this form factor to make their books stand tall?
Can you tell me if *all* Baen hardcovers are the same width and height? If so is this a size you see in hardbacks from Tor or Daw or .... anyone else?
Odd question, you say? Well, gee, but see, the newest thing we, as authors, have been accused of is of being responsible for the fact that Duainfey ... and I assume Longeye as well, will not fit in a custom bookcase designed to house Lee & Miller books from Meisha Merlin.
And you know, just as we can't order a publisher to publish a book only in trade paper (of a certain size), or only in mass market, or first in hardback and then in three ring binders; we don't control the form factor of the style of book a publisher goes for.
Right -- see Duainfey is (according to Amazon, who/which may know) 9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches ... while a sample from the Meisha Merlin years, say Balance of Trade, they tell us is 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches. No, wait, the advertent reader may want to get a ruler out -- because my copy of Duainfey seems to measure 9.5 X 6.5 X ... hey wait, that's a full inch taller! Not only that, but Stars, the anthology, runs larger than Meisha Merlin books but not as tall as Duainfey ... and Amazon's ruler-crew says it is ...9.2 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches ....
And you know what? It is NOT OUR FAULT (as authors )that book sizes are not standard. But really, how many hardcover sizes are there on your shelves, anyway? Are all Baen books the same size? Does Baen use this form factor to make their books stand tall?
Hardcover's are all odd...
2009-03-03 14:46 (UTC)The one real oddity about Baen hardcovers is that at some point in the 90's, they started using the same typeface/layout for hardcovers and paperbacks (the HH novels? I'm not sure). But I don't know if they continued that approach - I don't think so, since the "OMG this is UGLY" feeling hasn't leapt out at me with my more recent HC purchases.
Re: Hardcover's are all odd...
2009-03-15 14:08 (UTC)Tor has used different sizes of hardcover, including in the same series I seem to remember.
And then there is the taller paperback form that some publishers use for bestselling authors.... I used to hate trade paperbacks for having the bulk and mass and most of the expense of a hardcover (though it seems to be that the prices of them have gone up as a slower rate than hardcovers over the years) combined with the durability of a mass market paperback, which with the larger size and mass means much greater susceptibility to and faster deterioration and damage than to a mass market paperback, but the taller mass market paperback has replaced trade paperback as most detested format-- I have small hands, and the increase in the width of the book, even though it is slight, combined with the height increase, means that they are extremely uncomfortable for me to hold--the distance is too far for my hands from open edge of book to the spine to hold without discomfot/the open edge of the covers cutting into my hands, and my fingers can barely reach the spine hold, AND there is a "torque" factor due to the longer length of the book and not having large hands, it's one of the type of effects of the flopping ends of a teeter totter, trying from the MIDDLE to avoid flopping... doesn't work, there's a lot more effort and physical discomfort with the moments of inertia involved a longer length and trying to balance at that center...