I've been keeping my mouth shut on a hot-button issue that’s been gnawing at me: the death of paperbacks! More specifically, the impending extinction of mass-market paperbacks. It’s all thanks to an utterly bewildering decision by Readerlink, the behemoth that decided it would be best for the entire publishing world to stop distributing those beloved, pocket-sized paperbacks by the end of 2025. Naturally, the BookTok crowd erupted with glee, claiming they can’t stand mass-market paperbacks because they’re too inconvenient for their “sensitive” hands and that they’re a blight on the aesthetic landscape of literature. I can’t help but cringe at the thought that these so-called book lovers may not even be articulating their true feelings. They seem to be riding whatever wave is trending, which might explain their penchant for recommending literary disasters to the masses. Watching the dumbing down of today’s youth is a grim spectacle indeed, and it’s happening right before our very eyes.

To be fair, I get why Readerlink is making this move; sales have plummeted to the point that distributing mass-market paperbacks is simply not worth the headache. So now we’re left with trade and premium paperbacks, while the market teeters on the brink of unveiling a new paperback size—if that ever happens. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll witness a glorious resurgence of mass-market paperbacks—until then, readers in the U.S. who cherished them for their unique cover art, convenient size, and budget-friendly prices are forced to fork over more cash for larger formats that gobble up space and drain our wallets. What really grinds my gears is the sad reality of my local landscape: no bookstores in sight, just Walmart, where the book sections have shrunk considerably since the pandemic. And with the removal of mass-market titles, our choices dwindle even further; the shelves will be crowded not with classics or favorite genres, but with titles that are trending on BookTok, gathering dust for weeks or even months until an employee gets around to restocking.