Recently, a few readers asked me why the paperback edition of my new book, THE ANSWERS YOU SEEK, isn’t going to be available until October (the ebook is going to be available April 12th) on Amazon. They prefer paperback, but want to be able to read it right away next month.

There’s actually going to be two physical book editions: a mass market edition will be available in October and a trade paperback edition will be available in April. Someone asked me last week, “What’s the difference?” So, I showed them this picture:

I explained a trade edition is that nice larger size that’s closer to a hardback edition, and a mass market is the smaller book you always see on the spinner rack or near the check out at the pharmacy. This is the first time I’ve ever had two physical editions of one of my books available. I wasn’t really sure why the trade edition wasn’t available for preorder just yet, so I emailed my publisher yesterday to find out. Here’s their explanation:

It is how editions work with advanced catalog releases. Because the mass market was made available for stores to order out of the distributor’s wholesale catalog, Amazon lists those titles sometimes more than a year in advance. The trade printing usually appears for preorder after the ebook, 2-3 weeks prior to release or when books arrive in the warehouse. Our trade printing is still being affected by supply shortages and shipping delays, but it should appear any day now.

So, I decided to search Amazon by ISBN hoping to find the trade edition of my book. ISBN stands for “International Standard Book Number” and is basically a book’s social security number. It’s a cataloging number that helps determine all kinds of good information. Almost all books have them. Just look on the back of a book above the UPC code and you’ll see it. Here are the two ISBNs for my book:

Trade Paperback: 9781641083478

Mass Market: 9781641083485

And Eureka! Both work! Amazon hasn’t merged the listings together just yet, but when you search by ISBN you CAN find the trade edition that is due out in April. Here’s a link to it! Notice this listing doesn’t even show a photo of the book. I’m pretty sure after the book publishes on April 12th, this listing will merge with the other listing for the Ebook and Mass Market and all will be well. But for now, you can at least preorder the trade edition at that link!

Here’s a link again to the Mass Market option. Notice when you click on the Paperback option it says the pub date is in October.