Patrick Nielsen Hayden
@pnh.nielsenhayden.com
Retired SF and fantasy editor, winner of three Hugos and a World Fantasy Award. Amateur musician, bibliophile, genealogist, layabout.
He, his. Anti-trans dingbats, get lost.
Signal: pnh.09
He, his. Anti-trans dingbats, get lost.
Signal: pnh.09
cue “Bonar Law” jokes
February 8, 2026 at 3:47 PM
cue “Bonar Law” jokes
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
OK so Margaret Killjoy's infomercial for "Shut the fuck up" is my new favourite thing.
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 2:05 AM
OK so Margaret Killjoy's infomercial for "Shut the fuck up" is my new favourite thing.
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
"When I get arrested, there's only one strategy I trust...
I shut the fuck up!"
- @margaret.bsky.social
In the unlikely event that you follow me and have never read this, fix that right away.
My Hugo and Nebula award winning novel Among Others about a science fiction reading girl with fantasy problems is on sale as an ebook for $2.99 www.amazon.com/Among-Others...
Among Others: A Novel (Hugo Award Winner - Best Novel)
Among Others: A Novel (Hugo Award Winner - Best Novel)
www.amazon.com
February 8, 2026 at 2:01 AM
In the unlikely event that you follow me and have never read this, fix that right away.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Grocery stores barely rack magazines any more, much less tons of paperbacks ☹️
February 7, 2026 at 4:40 PM
Grocery stores barely rack magazines any more, much less tons of paperbacks ☹️
Also, that you could go to a large grocery store (Safeway, A&P, etc) and expect that the 144-pocket paperback display would include reprints of all the middlebrow hardcover bestsellers, fiction & nonfiction alike, of eight months to a year ago. Novels by Gore Vidal. Silent Spring. Future Shock. Etc.
February 7, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Also, that you could go to a large grocery store (Safeway, A&P, etc) and expect that the 144-pocket paperback display would include reprints of all the middlebrow hardcover bestsellers, fiction & nonfiction alike, of eight months to a year ago. Novels by Gore Vidal. Silent Spring. Future Shock. Etc.
Not talking about Walmart or any such modern big-box outlets. I mean Sears, Montgomery Ward, a thoroughly different kind of retail, and decades before anything Ike Walmart (or Costco etc) existed.
February 7, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Not talking about Walmart or any such modern big-box outlets. I mean Sears, Montgomery Ward, a thoroughly different kind of retail, and decades before anything Ike Walmart (or Costco etc) existed.
Oh definitely
February 7, 2026 at 4:38 PM
Oh definitely
And so much of it is forgotten by almost everyone. Not one in a hundred people remembers that for decades, one of the biggest channels of bookselling was…department stores. 5/4
February 7, 2026 at 4:24 PM
And so much of it is forgotten by almost everyone. Not one in a hundred people remembers that for decades, one of the biggest channels of bookselling was…department stores. 5/4
Of course, once MMPBs started selling in hundreds of thousands in drugstores, train stations, etc., carriage-trade bookstores decided they’d take them after all.
I digress. It’s a long story. 4/4
I digress. It’s a long story. 4/4
February 7, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Of course, once MMPBs started selling in hundreds of thousands in drugstores, train stations, etc., carriage-trade bookstores decided they’d take them after all.
I digress. It’s a long story. 4/4
I digress. It’s a long story. 4/4
American MMPB publishers were driven to this because actual bookstores (of which there were stunningly few anyway, by modern standards) persistently refused to stock early attempts at cheap softcovers, because the space taken up by two 25-cent PBs was the same as that taken by one $2.99 HC. 3/4
February 7, 2026 at 4:24 PM
American MMPB publishers were driven to this because actual bookstores (of which there were stunningly few anyway, by modern standards) persistently refused to stock early attempts at cheap softcovers, because the space taken up by two 25-cent PBs was the same as that taken by one $2.99 HC. 3/4
— and could provide a platform for getting MMPBs into tens of thousands of non-bookstore outlets, so long as MMPB publishers made their product as much like periodicals as possible. IE, monthly releases (rather than seasonal), unsold stock refunded by stripping, etc. 2/4
February 7, 2026 at 4:24 PM
— and could provide a platform for getting MMPBs into tens of thousands of non-bookstore outlets, so long as MMPB publishers made their product as much like periodicals as possible. IE, monthly releases (rather than seasonal), unsold stock refunded by stripping, etc. 2/4
“We”, assuming you mean paperback publishers, didn’t “hire truckers”. The American MMPB industry came into being in the postwar era because the very robust wholesale newspaper-and-periodical distribution industry already existed — 1/4
February 7, 2026 at 4:24 PM
“We”, assuming you mean paperback publishers, didn’t “hire truckers”. The American MMPB industry came into being in the postwar era because the very robust wholesale newspaper-and-periodical distribution industry already existed — 1/4
I can’t hear you, I’ve driven a nail through my tongue
February 7, 2026 at 3:58 PM
I can’t hear you, I’ve driven a nail through my tongue
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Been a long time since I found a cheap ebook at a thrift store or a Free Little Library. Been a long time since a friend pressed a loved and weathered ebook into my hands. Been a long time since I bought extra copies of an ebook just so that I could give them away to friends.
February 7, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Been a long time since I found a cheap ebook at a thrift store or a Free Little Library. Been a long time since a friend pressed a loved and weathered ebook into my hands. Been a long time since I bought extra copies of an ebook just so that I could give them away to friends.
It’s why every goddamn online conversation on the subject is blighted by at least one I Know How To Fix Publishing blowhard, inevitably male, who is the first person in the history of the world to bring logic and reason to the challenges facing the industry.
February 7, 2026 at 3:56 PM
It’s why every goddamn online conversation on the subject is blighted by at least one I Know How To Fix Publishing blowhard, inevitably male, who is the first person in the history of the world to bring logic and reason to the challenges facing the industry.
Almost nobody knows this stuff. Everyone talks about the current circumstances of publishing and bookselling as if they were created ten minutes ago according to some central plan, instead of being the residue of decades and centuries of prior improvisation amidst overwhelming difficulty.
February 7, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Almost nobody knows this stuff. Everyone talks about the current circumstances of publishing and bookselling as if they were created ten minutes ago according to some central plan, instead of being the residue of decades and centuries of prior improvisation amidst overwhelming difficulty.
This model can’t be resurrected just by printing some small paperbacks and offering them at low price points.
JFC, I’m going to have to write about this, aren’t I. So tired. 2/2
JFC, I’m going to have to write about this, aren’t I. So tired. 2/2
February 7, 2026 at 3:38 PM
This model can’t be resurrected just by printing some small paperbacks and offering them at low price points.
JFC, I’m going to have to write about this, aren’t I. So tired. 2/2
JFC, I’m going to have to write about this, aren’t I. So tired. 2/2
What made “mass-market” paperbacks _mass-market_ wasn’t a trim size, a set of printing techniques, or a low price point. What made them mass-market was a distribution model that got them into literally tens of thousands of non-bookstore retail outlets. A distribution model that no longer exists. 1/2
February 7, 2026 at 3:38 PM
What made “mass-market” paperbacks _mass-market_ wasn’t a trim size, a set of printing techniques, or a low price point. What made them mass-market was a distribution model that got them into literally tens of thousands of non-bookstore retail outlets. A distribution model that no longer exists. 1/2
That’s because those two things are different from one another. 3/3
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
That’s because those two things are different from one another. 3/3
Most sensible authors are fine with used book sales—they’re well aware that the second-hand trade is part of the ecology that sustains the industry. The same authors, by and large, are not so okay with their ebooks being infinitely replicated without them getting paid a dime at any point. 2/3
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Most sensible authors are fine with used book sales—they’re well aware that the second-hand trade is part of the ecology that sustains the industry. The same authors, by and large, are not so okay with their ebooks being infinitely replicated without them getting paid a dime at any point. 2/3
I actually think this is an issue with some nuances, which is why I was one of the people instrumental in getting Tor to stop using DRM back in the early morning of ebook time.
But the resaleability of used printed books is not equivalent to the infinite replicability of electronic files. 1/3
But the resaleability of used printed books is not equivalent to the infinite replicability of electronic files. 1/3
February 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
I actually think this is an issue with some nuances, which is why I was one of the people instrumental in getting Tor to stop using DRM back in the early morning of ebook time.
But the resaleability of used printed books is not equivalent to the infinite replicability of electronic files. 1/3
But the resaleability of used printed books is not equivalent to the infinite replicability of electronic files. 1/3
John Clute.
Who do you want to guest host a potential revival of The Muppet Show?
Here’s Who We Want to Guest Host ‘The Muppet Show’ If It’s Revived
February 7, 2026 at 2:37 PM
John Clute.
“We’re MUCH better off with ebooks as the cheap/disposable reading format of choice.”
Mass-market paperbacks could be bought in unmonitored cash transactions, and even-cheaper used copies were widely available. Not true of ebooks. The fundamental circumstances of my childhood are now impossible.
Mass-market paperbacks could be bought in unmonitored cash transactions, and even-cheaper used copies were widely available. Not true of ebooks. The fundamental circumstances of my childhood are now impossible.
February 7, 2026 at 2:30 PM
“We’re MUCH better off with ebooks as the cheap/disposable reading format of choice.”
Mass-market paperbacks could be bought in unmonitored cash transactions, and even-cheaper used copies were widely available. Not true of ebooks. The fundamental circumstances of my childhood are now impossible.
Mass-market paperbacks could be bought in unmonitored cash transactions, and even-cheaper used copies were widely available. Not true of ebooks. The fundamental circumstances of my childhood are now impossible.
Reposted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Albums, books, and other works of art are gonna have "Human-Made" labels. Orgs will say,"Look for the human-made label."
seems like we are moving into a world where "indie" will basically mean "not slop"
February 6, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Albums, books, and other works of art are gonna have "Human-Made" labels. Orgs will say,"Look for the human-made label."