National Paperback Book Day

If you are an avid reader, you will know the joy that comes with reading paperback books, and to celebrate this very joy, Paperback Book Day is commemorated on July 30. Books, both fiction and nonfiction, contain worlds of wonderment. They allow us to explore new insights into all matters of life, death, and beyond. By reading, we also become better at vocabulary and other linguistic skills. Books are also a great way to understand and develop emotional skills like empathy. Knowing the countless benefits of paperback books, which include being able to easily carry them with you anywhere, publishers opted for the much more cost-friendly option of softcovers/softbacks over hardcovers/hardbacks.

History of Paperback Book Day

Paperback Book Day is an ode to the paperback books in the world and the journey they’ve come along since their inception. Many people think of the English publishing house, Penguin, when they think of paperback history. While it is true that paperbacks’ popularity on a large scale took place when Penguin started commercializing the idea in the 20th century, the history of paperbacks goes further back to the 17th century. European countries like Germany and France were already publishing stories and papers in the paperback-like format then. James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer, also published frontier stories in a similar style. With the invention of the printing press and other publication technologies, more and more stories were being published in a similar paperback fashion on a greater scale. The publishing world’s ‘dime novels’ and ‘penny dreadfuls’ are, in fact, products of the same business phenomena.

Coming back to Penguin, its owner, Allen Lane, was going bankrupt due to his publishing business, The Bodley Head, facing a heavy recession during the 1930s, at the start of the Depression period. Lane was riding a train with Agatha Christie and her husband. At the time, Christie had already published her works with Lane’s publishing house. Lane was troubled with his failing business, and he was on the lookout for any idea that would save it. Whilst waiting for his train, he was browsing through a station stall for something to read. Upon finding nothing good except for magazines and low-quality paperback fiction, he realized that he could bank on the idea of high-quality paperbacks, which would automatically raise profits by allowing more people to access good fiction at lower price rates. From then on, paperbacks became a favorite with publishers and readers. Many new books first come out in paperbacks before they are released in hardbacks.

Paperback Book Day takes place on July 30 every year.