“Your new book is coming out . . . Do you want it to appear in hardcover or trade paper original?” In an in-depth investigation for Bookninja, novelist Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer studies the questions behind binding choices: “What effect does the binding have on the reader, the author, the publicist, the reviewer, the editor, the publisher and the price point of the book? Are the differences perceived or do they have real world implications?” She talks to publishers, writers, and critics about “the prestige, economics, and artistic considerations behind the publishing decision to go with hardcover or TPO.” In addition to quotes from Toronto Globe & Mail books editor Martin Levin and writer Zachariah Wells, Kuitenbrouwer also includes this interesting observation by George Orwell of some of the first paperbacks: “In my capacity as a reader I applaud the Penguin Books; in my capacity as a writer I pronounce them anathema. Hutchinsons are now bringing out a very similar edition, though only of their own books, and if other publishers follow suit, the result may be a flood of cheap reprints which will cripple the lending libraries and check the output of new novels. This would be a fine thing for literature, but it would be a very bad thing for trade, and when you have to choose between art and money — well, finish it for yourself.”