## Metadata - Author: [[Study Hacks]] - Full Title:: On Paperbacks and TikTok - Category:: #🗞️Articles - URL:: https://calnewport.com/on-paperbacks-and-tiktok/ - Read date:: [[2025-12-26]] ## Highlights > these new paperbacks had “tapped into a huge reservoir of Americans who nobody realized wanted to read.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpcdgwtg4aqf8qxyt78k7t)) > This, in turn, required a significant loosening of the standards for what was worthy of publication, leading, among other changes, to the sudden prioritization of genre fiction writers who could churn out serviceable potboilers at a rapid clip. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpcke9nqn3gn8ptvv5112k)) > this new class of writers included a young Michael Crichton ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpd13apgjqdrkcdmzhbxqm)) > the new prominence of these lower-quality genres concerned the elite class. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpdjjar27nrkj8ggysp042)) > There was a fear that the mass appeal of these cheap books would eventually lead to the elimination of the more serious hardcover titles that had long defined publishing. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpdrgd1y1vjrzyp4harx5c)) > Ultimately, the explosion of these cheaper, often lower-quality books didn’t lead to the elimination of more serious titles. In fact, the opposite happened. Vastly more hardcover titles are published today than they were before the Pocket Books revolution began. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpeehqxk46pc4hb4dnbc01)) > by vastly increasing the market for the published word, paperbacks also vastly increased the opportunities to make a living writing serious books ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpf08m6rksms2sz3wmnm8x)) > Stephen King, for example, sold the hardcover rights to his first novel, *Carrie*, for around $2,500 in 1973 ($18,000 in today’s dollars). This was a nice bonus, but hardly enough to live on. The paperback rights for *Carrie*, by contrast, sold for $400,000 (almost $3,000,000 in today’s dollars), allowing King to quit his day job and become a full-time writer. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kdcpfsrhd83pp45x11hatyfv))