Why are American paperbacks floppy?

[pigamus]

But ours aren't?

[Fr.Bigley]

Because they an be substituted for bread in times of great struggle.. Grapes of wrath and bologna please.

[pigamus]

I prefer the floppiness

[buttgammon]

It seems a lot easier to splay an American paperback open without breaking the spine.

[pigamus]

There are floppy British ones - I've got a Penguin one here - but all American ones seem to be floppy as far as I can see. If it's better then it must be bad for you - is it more acid in the paper or something?

[Noodle Lizard]

I thought the quality of printed books was just going down due to eBooks. But yes, now I think of it, this shift in quality did seem to happen around the same time I moved to the US ...

[Keebleman]

American books are far superior in this respect.  Impossible to read a British paperback while eating without having to force it to stay open, usually by jamming it under the rim of the plate.  I've got Robert Caro's 1500 page The Power Broker in a US paperback edition and it stays flat no matter on which page it's open.

[studpuppet]

They're printed long grain (the grain of the paper running from top to bottom) - Europe tends to print cross grain, although nowadays lots of PBs are printed on digital short-run presses that mean they end up being long grain. If you order a new book and it's a backlist title, it's most likely been printed this way. Amazon even have ISP (In Stock Protection), that means if you order for next day delivery and they can't get it from the publisher in time, they'll spit out a print-on-demand copy from one of their fulfilment centres to get it to you, and then charge the cost of it back to the publisher.

The upside of printing cross grain is it prevents the book from wrinkling (or 'cockling') up when humidity changes, as one of the sides that would wrinkle is held flat in the binding.

[Neville Chamberlain]

I think it's because they inject them with cheese.

[pigamus]

Ever had a hard spine? Like concrete and won't bend no matter what? That appears to be a British thing as well

[Retinend]

I love American paperbacks. You're right: how do they do it?

[Mister Six]

It's because they use corn syrup instead of cane sugar.

Ever had a hard spine? Like concrete and won%u2019t bend no matter what? That appears to be a British thing as well

Morning stretches, regular visits to a chiropractor and antiinflammatories in an emergency do it for me.

[buttgammon]

Another thing about American paperbacks: the covers usually feel a lot grainier than British/Irish ones. They're almost always matte as well. I have a few American Penguin Classics here and the texture, finish and rigidity are all very different to the other Penguin Classics in my collection.