Have Paperbacks become the “next big thing”? 1 1

[Robot Man]

Comics have been and will probably always will be King of the Hill. Pulps were lurking in the shadows and largely due to CGC grading, are currently on fire.

Finally, the poor stepchild, Paperbacks and Digests seem to be waking up.

We have a very popular topic thread here that seems very active. There have been several very sales threads in the recent past as well as currently two in the sales area. Solid books at solid prices with lots of brisk competition.

I remember, many years ago there was a big flurry of interest and a big price rise but it, like Big Little Books, kind of cooled off.

I had a rather large collection back then. I remember publishers like Avon, Dell 10 cent and Mapbacks, Croyden, Diversity and Signet among others being real hot. Like pulps, I bought them mostly for covers and “subject matter”. But, due to a number of reasons, sold off most of them for at the time, pretty decent prices. I did keep a couple boxes of my best and favorites. Been thinking about dusting off some of those old boxes.

Comics, Pulps and Paperbacks seemed to be out there all over flea markets, garage/estate sales and just “in the wild”. But, those days are pretty much gone forever. The days of dollar vintage PBs are a thing of the past.

I don’t say any of this to rock the boat or to pimp them. At this point in my life, I am winding down my collecting. I still buy all of this stuff but, have gotton very selective. I joke to my wife that she might have to open that “last package”…It just seems to be an area of rising popularity. 

[Darwination]

I'll hop in here, Bob.  No doubt, the paperback thread here is a special one with lots of interest and enthusiasm - it's been an eye-opener for me in both the material and the level of engagement.

My thing is magazines (and I sure like comics, too), but the paperbacks have some special things going for them.  Let me just break it down real simple like from a newbie's perspective.

The material: The art kind of starts where the golden age of illustration leaves off.  A lot of painterly talent that didn't necessarily have a place to go ended up in the paperback market.  Sure, much of it is the type of talent that was in the pulps or would have been in the pulps, but there's masters in the paperbacks as well.  Particularly of interest to me is the intersection of all this - the companies that printed pulps (and other magazines) also printed comics when those got popular.  Those same companies pivoted to paperbacks and digests when that market exploded and the pulps and comics faded out. Goodman, Fawcett, Lev Gleason, Ace, and many others were in all these areas.  There's plenty of artists (take Norman Saunders for instance) that did work in magazines, pulps, comics, and paperbacks.  And the subject matter   I love comics, but this isn't kid stuff, we're talking man-sized thrills.  Women, sex, violence, and gritty sleaze. And sci-fi and westerns and spy books and war books, etc. Plus, I'm a reader.  I love short stories, but the novel is king, and that's what most pbs are.  Book lovers realize quickly how cool the vintage pbs are.

Collectible upside:  You can collect by author.  You can collect by artist.  You can collect by publisher or line.  They've got numbers like comics.  I'm no completist but see people here putting together runs just like comics collectors do or just scooping up "keys," etc. And the price is right - ten bucks, twenty bucks, thirty bucks.  Sure, the scarcest or neatest ones are more, but it's not like comics or even pulps for that matter.  Some books are ghosty, but lots of books are more common.  Finding them "in grade" may be harder to do, but for a lot of the mass market books it seems possible, and to be blunt I don't even want a pb in grade if I'm gonna read it, or just like comics, a mid grade might be the best of both worlds.

Collectible downside: Yep, I'm going there.  Affordability as a downside? Not in my world, but does that keep them from being "the next big thing?" Maybe.  A weird double-edged effect.  Size? (and this may just be me) - I like bigger art. Comics are awesome, but pulps and magazines are even more awesome when it comes to the size of cover art.  Of course pbs are still beautiful, and the small size means they don't take up as much room for the space conscious.  Not to mention a book on a bookshelf is a lot more easy to access than hauling out a box and flipping for the issue you're looking for.  On the other hand pbs can mean a lot of wasted space on deeper or taller shelves.  I imagine a lot of people have special shelves for their pbs. My non-vintage pbs get kept on shelves in the attic while my hardcovers get the prime real estate in the A/C, but that's not the case with the vintage ones I'm picking up. PBs are fragile?  Yeah, kind of.  It's not like a brittle ish comic you think is gonna detach from the staples or split at the spine with any handling, but you can lay a comic on the desk and flip pages, it lies flat.  When I read a pb, it's likely gonna get manhandled.  You hold that sucker for hours as you flip from one page to the next.  I'm sure there's a learning curve on being gentle, but I don't like to even think about such things while I'm reading a good book. And some of em are just gonna fall apart.  You figure out quickly the binding on a cheaply made or mistreated book is gonna split during reading, sort of a so-be-it situation.  Really, I can make peace with that and just read em.  Lastly, small print.  I think they're perfect handling size in many ways, but the print is smaller than a full size modern printing or hardcover. Old people may need to break out their readers

But, damn, they're cool.  I love the boardie sales - Randall's this weekend was a stunner.  It's all new to me, and I don't know what treasure is gonna pop up next which is part of the fun.  I don't see myself going nuts with em but I definitely can see picking up a couple a month, the best covers or just as a neat alternative to a modern printing on a book I want to read.  It might be a little bit more dough, but you get a much cooler package.

As for finding them in the wild?  I'm giving up on that mess.  There's more of a chance of finding pbs at antique malls or flea markets than magazines (which are usually misshapen from being displayed floppy and upright for decades) but I almost never find good ones or nice copies and the price is usually not great.  Just like with comics, I'm tired of thumbing through all the drek.  Point me to the box of golden age or a special shelf with the good stuff, please, and I'm happy to pay a fair price (and find flippers much easier that way, too).

I prolly should have skipped the coke at dinner, this is gonna be tl;dr for most, what else is new

Edited March 11 by Darwination

[jimjum12]

For me, it's a lot to do with economics. It's not that I don't care about comics anymore, just can't afford what I like. Paperbacks that I collect have painted covers by exceptional artists, stories by authors I enjoy, and nostalgia from my youth, when I first caught the "book bug", or caught that movie adaptation. There are some true rarities in the field and a fairly large collector base to make things interesting. People have been avid collectors for years, I think the attention is from comic collectors discovering it as an alternative to comics that are more affordable. Tons of variety to choose from. GOD BLESS ... 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[johnenock]

I can't even crack any of the sales threads before they get picked over or sold out! Leave it to me to abandon the comic market and fall into a hot collectibles market. 

However, are these hot or the next big thing? It could be just the 10 or so active people on the pulp portion of this sight bringing heightened awareness to each other i.e. I haven't seen that, maybe I should go look for it on eBay. When I buy a book I look at past sales on eBay etc. and often find that most of the things I am buying haven't sold in over 6 months even though there are multiple copies available. People buying in the sales threads have been the same 4-6 people as far as I can tell. Would be 7 if I didn't miss all of the threads.

I don't think that pulps etc. will be "hot" until there are more books on the registry and fairly accurate pricing data..like GPA for comics.

However, if I can get books, pulps, and digests that I think are cool for under 50 or 100 dollars count me in. Far cheaper than comics!

[shadroch]

What is the audience for these vintage paperbacks?  It seems to me the buyers tend to be older white men. I cant recall the last time I sold a 1950s/60s paperback to anyone under 55.  That doesn't speak well for the future. 

[Robot Man]

All good points posted here. Do I really think PBs are taking off? Not really. I have just seen a lot of renewed interest in them. They are hot sellers when I take a box out to a show. Just can’t keep them or replace them when I sell them. The young hipsters really eat them up. The folks here on the boards have pretty good sell through at a brisk pace when they post them.

Like Pulps, they seem to sell best based on the covers or subject matter. And heck, like slabbed comics, the cover seems to be everything. I have always been primarily a cover collector for Pulps and PBs. I do occasionally read some but don’t often have the time anymore.

Compared to comics, the prices are very low and I see that is a strong attraction. That, and the fact that there is very little information to draw upon. Will they ever see huge price spikes like comics or now  pulps? I doubt it. But a fun and affordable as well as challenging area of paper collecting. I no longer go out of my way to find them but find it hard to not buy them when they turn up.

[Robot Man]

On 3/11/2024 at 8:29 AM, shadroch said:

What is the audience for these vintage paperbacks?  It seems to me the buyers tend to be older white men. I cant recall the last time I sold a 1950s/60s paperback to anyone under 55.  That doesn't speak well for the future. 

I do it all the time at flea markets. The young “hipster” crowd that buy my vinyl records love them. They, of course only do so when priced right and often buy several at a time. The problem is finding them again at a price where I can make enough if a profit to make it worth while…

[GrasshopperFF]

This is a timely thread because I am really new to the PB hobby. I’m more interested in first editions — the more rarity the more interest. Anything that is rare, and that has a coolness factor or historical significance, garners my attention.  And I love to read. Books and ideas in them hold special value to me. I won’t be reading any first edition purchases because I am not gentle enough. I hope to find either a beater to read or find it on Audible or Spotify. 

I really like the historical books — Natzi’s / KKK hoods / books with a “banned” nature — not because I believe in their outlandish ideas, but because we need to remember the history. No whitewashing or blurring truth. Those books, in first editions, get my interest. 

I also like the tough-guy detective scene. Philip Marlowe and company. The PB’s with beautiful, scantily-clad women are fun to see on the boards, and I’d pick up the more rare, tasteful covers, but I need to pass on having my kids discover a stack of naughty ladies of the night laying around! 

Of course, I may look back on this post and realize my interests have changed. These are my initial interests — guttural attractions. The boardies have been a great help, so far. Surfing Alien’s knowledge and willingness to help has been great! Same with JimJum12. 

[OtherEric]

On 3/11/2024 at 8:29 AM, shadroch said:

What is the audience for these vintage paperbacks?  It seems to me the buyers tend to be older white men. I cant recall the last time I sold a 1950s/60s paperback to anyone under 55.  That doesn't speak well for the future. 

I'm only 52, but that doesn't really argue against your basic point that well.

[Darwination]

I was thinking the same thing, but I'm 49 and close enough

That said, I see interest in the general subject of pulp fiction (if not pulps/pbs in particular) from at least some of the younger crowd that I'd think would translate.

I don't hit the LCS very much any more but am pretty amazed at the diversity when I do.  Very different from years gone by. Ofc, the owners still look at me funny when I say the word "pulps," so that hasn't changed -

[shadroch]

Having just moved to Tucson in the past few months, I'm still exploring the various comic/card/toy/ shops and what I'm most struck by is how empty they usually are.  New comic day and weekends are busy, but I can count on having a long conversation with the staff the rest of the week.

[jimjum12]

On 3/11/2024 at 12:06 PM, GrasshopperFF said:

but I need to pass on having my kids discover a stack of naughty ladies of the night laying around! 

My kid likes the smut, but he's 30 something. I told him I'll save him a few.  One thing about PB's, I don't really care if anyone is around to buy them or not. They're like comics used to be, something cool to hunt for. When I paid 20 bucks, (talked down from 22 because all I had was 20) for my NM copy of FF 5, I actually thought I was just stupid. but I didn't care. I miss that, but that train left the station decades ago. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

We also don't see this sort of thing in the funny book dimension ...

Edited March 16 by jimjum12

[Surfing Alien]

I suspect it's a little of all of the above ^ 

Our little main thread has always had interest but there's definitely been some enhanced spirit lately with great participation by new folks (to these parts of the board)  I've had an Ebay store since 1998  but ramped it up quite a bit when I started actively collecting pb's again, around 2017. I sell very steadily out of the store but hadn't thought to do a board sale until I saw Randall Dowling sell some vintage pb's early last year and quite a few got "takes" so I decided to do one and sure enough, people bought books.

Part of the perception of what makes something "hot" is what you see. With no visible sales here, no one saw these pretty things unless they came nosing around the pulp section. I'm positive the sales threads we've been doing has created some interest, just by their happening and folks seeing cool looking books. There's no doubt that tons of vintage pb's have the same cool cover appeal to comic collectors, and then there is the crossover appeal stated above that everyone has favorite books, authors and topics like Science Fiction or Noir, that would spur them to buy books regardless of how cool the cover is. But if they don't see them, they don't know what they are or might not think to acquire them.

It isn't just here though,  there has been a ton of interest spurred by Facebook and Instagram groups that have orders of magnitude higher participation than these boards. I see people of all ages in those groups - plenty of young writers who love noir, for instance (though plenty of us old codgers too )

The competition for high grade books is palpably higher these days, whether on the bay or elsewhere on the web. Many books that used to be of the variety that there were always 5 or 10 copies for sale are no longer that way. But it is always highly variable in the pb field. You can see three copies of a tough book surface in a month, but then not see another for a year.

All that said, they're still dirt cheap compared to so many other collectibles, so I think it's pretty easy to hit that "Take" when you see something like a great Belarski or Maguire GGA cover for $30 or $50 or even $100. There's a pretty big sweet spot between $20 - $100 where so many great books lie.

 

[alecholland]

I think paperback collecting is a very niche market but I'm not entirely sure it is only comprised of white males over 55 (although I am a 57 year old white male ). I watch a guy called Bookpilled on Youtube and although he is white, he is probably in his mid 30s. He has over 38,000 followers and I'm sure many if not most of them are probably in his same age group. 

Personally, I don't think paperback collecting will ever be the "next big thing", or at least I hope not. Comic collecting has for the most part become cost prohibitive for me over the last half dozen years or so. I do still collect a couple titles, but these days every time I consider spending more than $100 on a comic, I think about how many cool paperback books I could buy instead.

I think the paperback thread here and some of the recent sales threads have simply unveiled several board members who, in addition to collecting comics and/or pulps, also collect books. I've been buying paperbacks for about the last 12 years, ever since a Half Price Books store opened near where I used to work. I went there on my lunch hour at least once a week and would buy half a dozen old sci-fi paperbacks and spend maybe $15 total. It was awesome. I didn't think of myself as a paperback collector though until the last couple years when I realized I had about 500 paperbacks and I said to my wife, "I think I collect paperbacks." She was like, "duh."

Anyway, I think we have just uncovered several board members whose tastes/preferences either for financial reasons or just for a change of pace have switched to book collecting. Perhaps comic and/or pulp collecting has also lost some of it's appeal because the "thrill of the hunt" isn't there as much anymore as well. When I first started collecting comics again 20+ years ago, there were quite a few comics that I thought were rare or at least hard to find. However, I've since realized almost everything I want really isn't that tough to find anymore. Plus, the comics that are actually rare, I can no longer afford. So, paperback book collecting presents a new and exciting challenge for me and I think many other board members feel the same. It has much of the same appeal to me as comic collecting did when I first started - there is some fantastic cover art, some true rarities, and I enjoy kicking back on a lazy Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and reading for an hour or two. I also don't worry as much about accidentally chipping or bending the corner of a $20 paperback as much as I do a $200 comic if I decide to read it.

Anyhow, that's my . I rambled, sorry. 

Edited March 11 by alecholland

[Randall Dowling]

All the booksellers I talk to say that business is way up and the biggest problem can be finding material to sell.  From what they tell me, there are a lot of younger people collecting some of these books due to the salacious and, by current standards, completely inappropriate cover art and language.  You don't have to search very hard online to find tons of t-shirts, coffee mugs, and poster reproductions of classic paperback covers.

I'm obviously biased because I love paperback books.  But it feels like the next logical stage for a collector of comics to evolve to books and magazines.  It makes me happy to share these cool books I've found with others that appreciate the same stuff.  In a lot of ways, that's one of the reasons I enjoyed comics for so long- the camaraderie with other collectors.  And I've been blessed to have a number of knowledgeable collectors share the wisdom with me.  So, I try to pass on what I've found and pay it forward.

I watch a lot of auctions on eBay and the number of bidders is definitely going up all the time.  I've sold a lot of comics to fund magazines and books.  And I'll probably sell a lot more.  As always, my recommendation is to buy what you enjoy.  I love looking at my shelves and seeing all the different titles, pulling them down and looking at the covers by master illustrators- truly amazing talents that make comic art seem a little raw by comparison.  It's a lot more fun than buying slabs.

The thrill of discovery and exploration is real. 

[Randall Dowling]

On 3/11/2024 at 5:55 PM, alecholland said:

Anyway, I think we have just uncovered several board members whose tastes/preferences either for financial reasons or just for a change of pace have switched to book collecting. Perhaps comic and/or pulp collecting has also lost some of it's appeal because the "thrill of the hunt" isn't there as much anymore as well. When I first started collecting comics again 20+ years ago, there were quite a few comics that I thought were rare or at least hard to find. However, I've since realized almost everything I want really isn't that tough to find anymore. Plus, the comics that are actually rare, I can no longer afford. So, paperback book collecting presents a new and exciting challenge for me and I think many other board members feel the same. It has much of the same appeal to me as comic collecting did when I first started - there is some fantastic cover art, some true rarities, and I enjoy kicking back on a lazy Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and reading for an hour or two. I also don't worry as much about accidentally chipping or bending the corner of a $20 paperback as much as I do a $200 comic if I decide to read it.

100% this.

[Surfing Alien]

On 3/11/2024 at 6:55 PM, alecholland said:

It was awesome. I didn't think of myself as a paperback collector though until the last couple years when I realized I had about 500 paperbacks and I said to my wife, "I think I collect paperbacks." She was like, "duh."

[Robot Man]

On 3/11/2024 at 3:58 PM, Randall Dowling said:

All the booksellers I talk to say that business is way up and the biggest problem can be finding material to sell.  From what they tell me, there are a lot of younger people collecting some of these books due to the salacious and, by current standards, completely inappropriate cover art and language.  You don't have to search very hard online to find tons of t-shirts, coffee mugs, and poster reproductions of classic paperback covers.

I'm obviously biased because I love paperback books.  But it feels like the next logical stage for a collector of comics to evolve to books and magazines.  It makes me happy to share these cool books I've found with others that appreciate the same stuff.  In a lot of ways, that's one of the reasons I enjoyed comics for so long- the camaraderie with other collectors.  And I've been blessed to have a number of knowledgeable collectors share the wisdom with me.  So, I try to pass on what I've found and pay it forward.

I watch a lot of auctions on eBay and the number of bidders is definitely going up all the time.  I've sold a lot of comics to fund magazines and books.  And I'll probably sell a lot more.  As always, my recommendation is to buy what you enjoy.  I love looking at my shelves and seeing all the different titles, pulling them down and looking at the covers by master illustrators- truly amazing talents that make comic art seem a little raw by comparison.  It's a lot more fun than buying slabs.

The thrill of discovery and exploration is real. 

The thrill of discovery as well as affordable prices was what drew me to Pulps and PB’s in the first place.

Back in the ‘80’s, local SO CA folks like Redbeard, Dave Smith and John McLaughlin introduced me to PB’s. They were hot in this area and bringing, at the time, pretty good money for a lot of them. They were also pretty available at flea markets, garage/estate sales and other out “in the wild” places I was frequenting. I often bumped into boxes of some of the rarest and in demand books at usually a buck apiece. I amassed quite a collection.

I realized I could sell or trade them for comics I wanted more. A lot of stuff that wasn’t very hot then like now. So, I parted with most for Avons, LB Cole and a guy I didn’t know at the time, Matt Baker. As well as obscure GA WWII publishers, that were just off most people’s radar back then.

Luckily, I hung on to most of my favorites and have slowly picked up a lot of the ones I gave up over the years.

Sadly, the flea market days are pretty much over but I still pick up a few here and there once in a while.

[jimjum12]

On 3/12/2024 at 12:17 PM, Robot Man said:

The thrill of discovery as well as affordable prices was what drew me to Pulps and PB’s in the first place.

Back in the ‘80’s, local SO CA folks like Redbeard, Dave Smith and John McLaughlin introduced me to PB’s. They were hot in this area and bringing, at the time, pretty good money for a lot of them. They were also pretty available at flea markets, garage/estate sales and other out “in the wild” places I was frequenting. I often bumped into boxes of some of the rarest and in demand books at usually a buck apiece. I amassed quite a collection.

I realized I could sell or trade them for comics I wanted more. A lot of stuff that wasn’t very hot then like now. So, I parted with most for Avons, LB Cole and a guy I didn’t know at the time, Matt Baker. As well as obscure GA WWII publishers, that were just off most people’s radar back then.

Luckily, I hung on to most of my favorites and have slowly picked up a lot of the ones I gave up over the years.

Sadly, the flea market days are pretty much over but I still pick up a few here and there once in a while.

Several of the LCS' around here started as Newstand/Book Stores and did a lot of business with used PB's before they began focusing on comics. You can still find cool stuff around here if you have some time to look. Prices range from $2 to less than $15, and more popular stuff like Frazettas are separated. A mentor of mine in comic sales actually dropped comics and switched to PBs almost 40 years ago, he said the percentages were better. He was getting lots at 50 cents per, mostly adult, because a lot of the 2 FOR 1 PB Stores didn't like displaying them. People were bidding them up from $5 to well over $100 for what he called "ringers". He's moved on to Vinyl now. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[moonpool]

Paperbacks will never become the next big thing. They are the small thing to be ignored.