Trade paperback

Trade paperback may refer to:

Paperback

A paperback (also known as softback or softcover) is a type of book characterized by a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover or hardback books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth; although more expensive, hardbacks are more durable. Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century in such forms as pamphlets, yellowbacks, dime novels, and airport novels. Modern paperbacks can be differentiated by size. In the US there are "mass-market paperbacks" and larger "trade paperbacks." In the UK, there are A-format, B-format and the largest C-format sizes.

Paperback editions of books are issued when a publisher decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Cheap paper, glued bindings, and the lack of a hard cover contribute to the inherent low cost of paperbacks. Paperbacks can be the preferred medium when a book is not expected to be a major seller, or in other situations where the publisher wishes to release a book without putting forth a large investment. Examples include many novels, and newer editions or reprintings of older books.

Trade paperback (comics)

In comics, a trade paperback (often shortened to TPB, TP or trade) is a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, usually capturing one story arc from a single title or a series of stories with a connected story arc or common theme from one or more titles. Although trade paperback is actually a publishing term that refers to any book with a flexible cardstock cover which is larger than the standard mass market paperback format, comics fans unfamiliar with that meaning have come to use the term to refer to the type of material traditionally sold in comics shops in that format: collected editions of previously serialized stories. The term graphic novel is sometimes used interchangeably, but some people maintain that the terms are distinct, with the difference being that the latter term refers to a square-bound printing with largely original material.

Traditionally, a trade paperback will reproduce the stories at the same size as they were originally presented in comic book format. However, certain trades have been published in a smaller, "digest-sized" format, similar in size to a paperback novel. Other works (usually material likely to sell well) are published in a larger-than-original hardcover format. They are also floppy and soft.