Recent novels that came out in hardcover first and then paperback?

Any paperback edition or mass market paperback?

George R.R. Martin’s A Feast for Crows was out in Hardcover then (Mass Market and Paperback; come to think of it all his A Song of Ice and Fire books fit that I believe, except maybe the last one which might still be just HC.

Dan Simmons’s Drood was out in Hardcover then Mass Market and Paperback.

Steven Erikson Dust of Dreams was out in Hardcover then (Mass Market and Paperback) others in that series did the same, including the next one which isn’t out in MMPB yet, but I’m not sure how far back they did HC first.

Jonathan Littell The Kindly Ones was out in Hardcover then Paperback (not mass market to my knowledge.)

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and the other two books in that abbreviated series.

All of them. That’s how novels are usually published. But for the purpose of your research all Terry Pratchetts novels were published in hard back first then paperback about 6 months later.

Jeff Lindsay’s “Dexter” novels. The most recent is “Double Dexter”, but that’s not in paperback yet, so far as I know.

Last year’s release is called “Dexter Is Delicious”.

Wait, they were released in a Trade-size paperback. Is that not what you’re talking about?

If not… let me think… R.A. Salvatore books usually go from hardcover to pocket-size paperback pretty quickly. I don’t know what his most recent release is.

I’m a little confused by the question too. Isn’t that how almost all books, except maybe romance novels, film novelizations, and the “ripped from today’s headlines” true crime books, that sort of thing are published? First in hardcover, then in paperback?

How recent? On my shelf right here I have the hardcover edition of Shelters of Stone, 2002, weighing in at 753 pp; and the mass market edition weighing in at 895 pp. Hope this helps.

I thought it was just the opposite @lillycoyote. Almost all of my authors came out it only in paperbacks then as the grew more popular, they started issuing hard covers first (then it was sold in paperbacks). I may be wrong, but think it’s pretty rare for a new author to come out in hardcover right away.

OK, although this is a bit off topic, this is coming from ten years in the book business. Before the days of ereaders, most titles (except formula romance and some genre authors) tended to come in hardcover first, then 9 months to a year later, they came out in mass market. If the sales on a new author didn’t support it, they never came out in the mass market format. Genre fiction, considered kind of pulpy by the publishers, used to come in only mass market.

Readers who didn’t want to spring for a hardcover used to say “I’ll wait until it comes out in paperback” because that was the usual progression. These days far fewer novels start out as hardcover; they go straight to paperback. Publishers are understandably wary and not making the big hardcover investment just as a matter of course.

But that is not the point anyway. The point is, I’m looking for recent titles that have come out in both formats so I can compare their length.

How recent? The Auel was sitting right there, I might be able to find a more recent if I had an idea when you were looking for.

I didn’t know that. I thought the exact same thing that @JilltheTooth thought.

Any of the John Grisham novels. The most recent two were The Confession (hardcover 432 pages, paperback 528 pages) and Ford County hardcover 320 pages, paperback 368 pages).

The Confession went on sale in hardcover on October 26, 2010. The Confession went on sale in paperback July 19, 2011.

Ford County went on sale in hardcover on Novermber 3, 2009; paperback on August 17, 2010.

Recent = a few years; say 10. Recent only because standards and formats change over time and I am looking for a more or less current model.

I’ve heard novelists in recent years exult when they were able to get a publisher to bring out their book in hardcover first because to many folks that’s still a real book and signifies that you’ve made it.(Selling is another matter.) I’ve also heard authors say that these days it’s perfectly respectable to come out first in paper.

Times are changing. If you can get a traditional publisher even to look at your book, never mind publishing it, it’s something of a miracle; holding out for hardcover would be insane. Self-publishing authors these days typically do only paper covers—that is, unless they go straight to e-publishing.

This could be an efficient way to go about your research:

New York Times hardcover fiction bestsellers 2009

New York Times hardcover fiction bestsellers 2010

Those two years should give you plenty to work with. It generally takes about a year before a hardcover goes into paperback, but if it is still selling very well in hardcover, it could take longer. And any novel that was a NYT bestseller will certainly be issued in paperback. Though, depending on the publisher, and the book, the first paperback issued may be a trade paperback rather than a mass market paperback.

It kind of depends… sometimes the hardcover is released simultaneously with a paperback of the same size, which is sometimes called an “export edition”. More and more, these large paperbacks are replacing hardcovers entirely. They will have the same page count, because they literally use the same pages.

Some novels, usually literary novels, will be released in trade paperback (the trim size will be smaller than the hardcover, but larger than mass-market) some months after the hardcover. These will likely have a different page count.

Finally, the novel will be released in a mass-market, or pocket book, or rack size, format. This is the smallest format, and the page count will likely be different from both of the previous paper editions.

Classically, the release of these paperbacks is staggered, but it is increasingly common to have multiple formats released at the same time, or for one or more of these steps to be dropped. Authors who have had a long career, and therefore a trained audience, will probably be faithful to the old model, so look for authors like Danielle Steel or John Grisham for mass-market page counts. Otherwise, be sure to check the dimensions of the paperback to be sure that it’s the type of paperback that you want to compare to the hardcover.

Thanks very much for all the specific suggestions—and for the lists, @lillycoyote. I think I can take it from here.

Pretty much any Stephen King novels, though a few have come out in paper back or in Kindle versions only.