This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you. *** The mass-market paperback is dead. Last year, headlines decried the end of the once-ubiquitous, affordable, and pocket-sized editions, which have been phased out in favor of hardcovers and standard paperbacks. But amid the fall of a beloved format and talks of an affordability crisis, many readers are choosing a far more expensive option, sometimes forking over hundreds of dollars for their favorite books.  Mass-market paperback sales have been on the decline for years, and though millions of mass-market editions still sold in 2025, major book distributor Readerlink made the decision to stop selling them amid a steep decline in sales over the last two decades and as the wholesaler market has consolidated. In their place, ebooks have become the go-to cheap format for many readers, but even as digital is on the rise, another medium has become a major contender for avid readers: premium editions.  In 2022, science fiction and fantasy author Brandon Sanderson broke records to have the highest-earning Kickstarter. Readers backed his four-book campaign to the tune of more than $40 million. Though Sanderson’s project was unique in its bundles of ebooks, audiobooks, and physical books — as well as merchandise and optional add-ons — each “premium hardcover” book sells today for $55. Featuring duotone printing for color accents and faux-leather covers, the copies are a step up from the typical hardcover experience.  Another tier above these editions are leather-bound books. Authors such as Sanderson sell gorgeous, foiled hardcovers to grace the bookshelves of loyal, aesthete readers. While these books can easily cost over $100, readers who can afford the price tag keep the demand high enough that authors continue releasing these special editions for each new novel. Books like these offer their readers not only the latest stories from their favorite writers — and these are often big-name writers who pull in big numbers even without premium editions — but also something real with which to experience the story. Custom endpapers, show-stopping illustrations, and embossed covers make the physical form of the story into an artwork. Many editions are also signed, offering readers a hand-done touch to add to their bookshelves.  Even public domain titles have found a home among these high-end books, often for a non-luxury price. These stories are all available for free online or for a few dollars in a cheaply-made paperback version, but publishers such as Penguin Random House also offer them in clothbound versions for around $20. Thousands of Amazon purchases testify to just how much readers are willing to shell out a few extra bucks for a special copy. And on the high end, specialty booksellers such as the Folio Society offer premium editions of public domain works with prices hovering at $100.  Just as younger generations rediscover the joys of physical media like vinyl and CDs, the value of a book you can hold, own, and admire is higher in an age of the ephemeral. Of course, paper will eventually decay, but the cloth-bound books from the early 1900s and late 1800s that sit on my own shelves are a testament to how long a carefully handled and well-crafted tome can last. Though my shelves also have mass-market paperbacks gathered from the 1990s and 2000s, their covers are tattered at the edges, spines are sporting creases, and pages are held together with packing tape. These are books that are, fundamentally, made to be replaced sooner rather than later. They are not the pages that I could hope to read to my grandchildren or expect to last for decades longer.  But just as many adult readers are picking up high-quality editions for themselves, there is also a market to pass down this appreciation for beautiful books to the next generation. Passage Press, for example, recently announced the launch of Chapter House Books, a curriculum of curated classics for young and growing readers. While the content of these books is perhaps the biggest selling point, the books themselves are also beautiful objects. They are clothbound in linen, color-illustrated, and feature classic and new artwork. They are the sort of volumes you hope to see pass from one child to the next, reaching your grandchildren one day as a family heirloom and treasure-trove of reading memories.  Parents are investing in these premium classic books to craft young minds delighted in and appreciative of art. In a world increasingly full of clicks and bytes rather than pages and real beauty, it’s a worthy investment. Certainly, there are other repercussions of the fall of mass-market paperbacks (such as author royalty structures and ongoing book sales). And as sad as I am to see the beloved mass-market paperback decay to dust, especially with the memories the little volumes hold, I gladly spend the extra dollars on these luxury books. I want something beautiful on my shelves and in my home, and I hope that one day my children will pick up some of these volumes and discover the same beauty I have found — between the pages, and on the cover. *** Jordan Jantz is the assistant editor at IW Features as well as a freelance writer, editor, and website designer.