Almost everything written about book formats is aimed at people printing a book, not people reading one. Search for book sizes and you'll get trim dimensions, print costs and paper weights, which is useful if you're self-publishing and no help at all if you just want to know why two copies of the same novel are different sizes.
So here's the reader's version. What the formats actually are, why the sizes vary, and which one to buy.
What's the difference between a hardback and a paperback?
A hardback has a rigid cover made of board, usually with a paper dust jacket over it. A paperback has a flexible card cover glued directly to the pages.
That one structural difference drives everything else:
- Hardbacks are heavier and bigger, and they hold their shape. The spine doesn't crease and the corners don't curl.
- Paperbacks are lighter and cheaper, and they go soft with use. Some people call that character, some people call it damage.
- Hardbacks usually come out first. The paperback typically follows around a year later, though it varies by publisher and genre.
- Hardbacks cost noticeably more, partly for the materials and partly because publishers know the people who want a book immediately will pay for it.
A note on the words, because they're used loosely. Hardback and hardcover mean the same thing, with hardback being the more British term. Paperback, softback and softcover also all mean the same thing.
What are the different paperback sizes?
There are three common paperback sizes in the UK, and one standard hardback size.
- A-format: around 11 x 18cm. The small pocket-sized paperback, sometimes called mass market. Less common than it used to be.
- B-format: around 12.9 x 19.8cm. The standard size for most UK fiction, and the one you'll have most of on your shelves.
- C-format, or trade paperback: around 13.5 x 21.6cm. Larger, often used for new releases and literary fiction.
- Standard hardback: around 15.3 x 23.4cm.
These are typical rather than fixed. Publishers vary them, and anything illustrated or unusual will do its own thing entirely.
Why are two copies of the same book different sizes?
Because most books are published more than once, in a different format each time.
The usual sequence in the UK goes something like this. The hardback comes out first, at full price, aimed at people who want it the moment it exists. Roughly a year later the paperback arrives, often as a C-format trade paperback. Later still, if the book sells well, a smaller and cheaper B-format edition may follow.
Then there are the extras. A film or television adaptation usually means a tie-in edition with a new cover. An anniversary brings a reissue. A popular author gets a matching set so the backlist looks tidy on a shelf.
Which is why the same novel can sit on a shop table in three different sizes at once, and why a series you've collected over five years never quite lines up.
What is a B-format paperback?
It's the standard UK paperback, measuring roughly 12.9 x 19.8cm.
If you own a lot of British fiction, most of it is B-format. The term comes from the publishing trade rather than anything customers are expected to know, which is why it turns up on a listing with no explanation and sends people looking for one.
A-format is the smaller pocket paperback. C-format is the larger trade one. There's no D.
Hardback or paperback: which should you buy?
Paperback for almost everything. Hardback for the books you actually care about.
Go for the paperback if you:
- Carry books around with you
- Read in bed, where a hardback becomes a weight-training exercise
- Are reading an author for the first time and aren't sure yet
- Have limited shelf space, since paperbacks take up considerably less
- Would rather buy three books than one
Go for the hardback if you:
- Can't wait a year for the paperback
- Are collecting an author or a series properly
- Want it to survive being read more than once
- Are buying it as a gift, where a hardback simply feels like more
- Like the object as much as the book
There's no correct answer, and anyone being sniffy about paperbacks has forgotten that the point is the words.
Are hardbacks worth the extra money?
For most books, no. For a handful, absolutely.
What you're paying for is durability and permanence. A hardback read three times still looks like a book. A paperback read three times looks like it's been through something. If it's a book you'll return to, the extra cost buys you a copy that survives the returning.
What you're not paying for is a better reading experience. The text is identical, and a hardback is heavier, more awkward in bed and worse in a bag.
The one place the maths clearly works is gifts and special editions. Sprayed edges, printed endpapers, a decent cover under the dust jacket. If a book means something to someone, the object is part of the point.
Which format travels better?
Paperbacks, easily, and it isn't close.
A B-format paperback weighs a fraction of a hardback and fits in bags a hardback won't go near. The trade-off is that it's the format that gets damaged, because a flexible card cover and a glued spine are no match for keys and a water bottle.
That's the actual argument for a padded book sleeve, and it's why they're made for paperbacks rather than hardbacks. A hardback has a rigid cover already doing the protecting. A paperback has nothing. We've written more about what book sleeves do and what size fits what if you're weighing one up.
The third option, if weight is the whole problem, is an e-reader. One device, no format decisions, and nothing to bend. Our comparison of Kindle and Kobo covers that if you're thinking about it.
The short version
Buy paperbacks for reading and hardbacks for keeping. Most of your shelf will be B-format whether you meant it to be or not, and none of it matters nearly as much as whether the book is any good.