How long does it take a book to go from hardcover to paperback?

[station82o]

i think angels and demons is in paperback -in fact i know that is but davinci code? maybe you're right - i'll check at work today, i haven't been paying too much attention lately.

[taloony]

I've been reading a lot of that Salvatore guy's books lately; namely his Drizzt stuff. I think my first book was Sea of Swords. After that, I instantly became hooked. I went back and read all the past book; Legacy of the Drow, Paths of Darkness, and the Icewind Dale Trilogy. I then started the Hunter's Trilogy by getting both the first book, The Thousand Orcs and then the second book, The Lone Drow. Both 300+ pages long. Knocked them out in two weeks.

Fast forward. My current dilema kicked in when I became up to date with the whole saga. Turns out, I've read all the books except the current one, Two Swords, which only seems to be in hardcover and costs $30 bones! Can you believe it? THIRTY bones!

I asked my sister, who is a bookworm(she teaches grade school), how long it takes for a book to go from hardcover to paperback so I can get it for $7.99. You see, I'm not really a bookworm and never really liked reading until started reading about Drizzt. I've never tried to buy a book that was just released so you must understand my shock when she replied in an e-mail "ONE YEAR".

So, does it REALLY take an entire year for a hardcover book to go to paperback?

I mean, that's craziness. I thought hardcover versions of books were for those hardcore book collectors who wanted a little something extra to show off on their bookshelf. I had no idea a book is actually released in hardcover FIRST, and THEN released in paperback. But really take an entire year?!

In most cases, your sister would be right but Salvatore seems to make the leap to paperback much quicker than the majority of "big" authors. I mean, the guy churns out that trash once a year. I say six months to PB, tops.

You ever heard of a library?

Also, R.A. Salvatore sucks.

I agree.

[gamevet]

You could go to Half-Price-Books and find a copy on the cheap.

[Sqoon]

This is a retarded business model. HC MSRPs need to come down to a more reasonable range, PBs need to come out sooner, or both. Books cost little to produce and have a high profit margin, so if they're not selling well as a whole (which they're not), there's really no justification for not lowering the $25 - $30 standard.

Yeah, book sales are always dropping and it's because the industry's full of east coast chumps who run things likes it's a cottage industry and wouldn't know innovation if it bit them in the ass.

[Tragic]

It is, my parents bought it two weeks ago.

No it isn't. The only paperback edition is the Spanish language version. The english version will be out once the movie is.