Why is it so hard to find The Thursday Next books or the Nursery Crime books in paperback in the same shape and size and with consistent covers? They look so much nicer on the shelf that way, but the hardback covers get changed for the paperback and the paperbacks appear in different sizes with different covers and just when you decide to buy one consistent set, the next book in the series comes out in a different size or a different cover style...!

Hello, Clickety6 and welcome to the Fforum. I've discovered this problem myself. I got the first four Thursdays and the two Nurseries in the same style and now 'First Among Sequels' looks completely different.

Please help yourself to the pies. Sweet ones are marked with an S and so are the savouries. Custard and gravy are provided in the jugs and there are WWII surplus supplies in the fridge. Oh, and Battenberg!

Is it always a good idea to keep surplus supplies for a Wii in the fridge, Egon?

Welcome, clickety6, by the way. Personally I welcome the variety. Having a collection of several thousand identically shaped CDs stored in one room, it's a delight to wander into the next and see book spines of a myriad different sizes and hues ranging across the shelves.

I own first three books in the original paperback design- released at least in Australia. Bright pink, purple and blue. Sadly the rest now have the aged covers and cars on them.

Mine are all the aged covers with cars and now 'First Among Sequels' will ruin the sequence. Curses! Yarr!

I could send you a cars version of FAS, I picked up a second copy for a single dollar about six months ago. I couldn't bear the thought of passing it up, despite already owning a copy. It is the large size.

Hi Clickety6.

I agree with you: the only answer is to get them rebound (except of course for any rarities).
In the real world we just have to put up with the whims of publishers.

Hmmm. That would be nice of you, but it would probably cost less than the postage from Australia just to get a decent one off Amazon Marketplace. I was just being lazy.

Cancel that. There are only two there and the cheapest is £37! Were the paperback versions also lacking in footnotes or was it only the hardback?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2008 09:26AM by EgonSpengler.

I'll have to throw it at you then.

Now now, no need to be a nasty pasty!

No offense meant!

I know. I was just teasing.

Does anyone else want to pull Bib's leg?

<Hangs head in shame>

Don't worry. I'm unbearably mean to all the people I like! Especially if they offer me books I want. If we had anything else in common we could swap.

I don't like the larger size paperbacks too much because (a) they cost more and there aren't any extra words ;-) and (b) when you've got way too many books and are trying to squeeze them onto the bookshelf, it makes it harder to slot them all in when they are different sizes.

And the latest Thursday Next hardback has the car design on the cover. Why didn't they save themselves some money and use the picture for the paperback instead of commissioning the rather dull picture they used instead.

It's a good thing the contents between the covers are good! ;-)

There was a paperback edition with the bus on the cover but then it sold out quickly and it was reprinted this year with the new cover. I think they've changed their marketing paradigm and decided to realign their advertising energies.

I like the old ones better. They fit into a blazer pocket, which means that at school I could carry more.

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

clickety6 Wrote:
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> I don't like the larger size paperbacks too much
> because (a) they cost more and there aren't any
> extra words ;-)

Yes, if you mean trade paperbacks. I think that these are meant to be a half-way house between a hardback and a paperback. You frequently get them for the first couple of books until an author has sold enough for the publisher to invest in full-blown hardbacks.

The problem being that proper paperbacks are not as common. Or that is how it seems....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

MartinB Wrote:
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> The problem being that proper paperbacks are not
> as common. Or that is how it seems....

Paperbacks are very common. Everybody knows hardbacks are the posh books... ;-)