A trade paperback (TPB, sometimes referred to as a trade paper edition) can refer to any book that is bound with a heavy paper cover. Trade paperbacks are generally cheaper than hardcover books, but more expensive than mass-market paperbacks. The shape of a trade paperback is similar to a hardcover book, as opposed to a mass market paperback, the height of which is approximately the combined width of the a mass-market paperback and a hardcover book.

Trade paperbacks were once used primarily for special editions, but for many literary titles trade paperbacks have now replaced regular paperbacks as the format for a book's subsequent release once its hardcover edition has been discontinued. Generally, regular pocket-sized paperbacks are now used only for popular and genre fiction titles. For new writers publishing their first works, a trade paperback may even be the sole format of a book's release. Publishers' returns policies for trade paperbacks are typically more similar to those for hardbacks than for mass market paperbacks.

Dimensions of a standard trade paperback are 198 mm × 129 mm (8" × 5¼").

In the genre of comic books, trade paperbacks are usually used to reprint several issues of a comic series, usually an important storyline or the entire series itself. Graphic novels are also usually found in trade paperback form.

References

• "Why do Books Cost So Much?" by Christopher Dreher

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