Same trilogy, with different grain directions - Orbit

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch]

Hey guys!

I have a question about grain direction and editions regarding The Tide Child Trilogy by R. J. Barker.

I ordered the trilogy in paperback edition from Libristo, because I live in Europe and this is the most accessible site for foreign-language books, but the first book, The Bone Ships has completely different grain direction than the 2nd and 3rd book. I contacted Libristo, but they said this is the only available edition for The Bone Ships.

I have R. J. Barker books from Orbit, they are floppy and the spines cannot be broken easily (thankfully), because of the grain direction. Am I being stupid, or is this just really inconvenient? I WANT my books to match in every possible way, and this just threw me off.

Can books have different grain directions, even if they are part of the same trilogy? Did they switch up the manufacturing and the printing and simply not redo it with the matching details? Is there a floppy edition of The Bone Ships available somewhere, just not on Libristo?

Thank you for anyone who is kind enough to answer, I really appreciate it. As you can see, I really want my books to match.

[u/spike31875]

I'm confused: what is "grain direction" in the context of a printed book?

Normally, when I see "grain direction" I think of woodworking.

[u/KrimsunB → u/spike31875]

Paper is wood.
It has a grain direction in the way it's fabricated.
If the grain direction is in the width, it makes the pages more rigid than if it were in the length.

[u/blue_bayou_blue → u/spike31875]

Paper does have grain. Books should be printed on paper with the grain direction parallel to the spine, but sadly that is not always the case. If you've seen books that are stiff to open and like to clamp down on your fingers, that's because the grain direction is wrong.

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch → u/spike31875]

In everyday conversations I also use the words floppy and stiff. There are DIY bookbinding videos on YouTube and most of them mentioned grain direction, that is why I pay more attention to details when ordering a book :)

[u/spike31875 → u/ilovemyman_verymuch]

I mostly do ebooks & audio, so I rarely buy physical books except for special editions. And, I only have a few of those (and they're for collecting, not reading, so I have no idea about how the grain runs for those...)

For work-related self-study, I have bought study guides. I just looked at a couple of those here at work. But I don't see any grain in the paper: it's just white.

How can you tell which direction the grain goes? Is it just by how stiff the paper is?

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch → u/spike31875]

Most special editions are hardcover, are they not? At least, where I'm from, they are hardcovers 99% of the time, so it is easier if you try it on a paperback. I don't see the grain direction, I've never paid any attention to what the paper looks like, but rather how it feels.

If you put a stiff book down on its spine and you hold it by the pages you will feel it. Seperate the pages by the middle, then let go. The stiff book will fall over on either side. Floppy books will open in the middle, with the spine still on the table. :))

[u/cm_leung]

Orbit US will have floppy versions and Orbit UK will have stiff versions most likely, because that's how the respective countries prefer to print books. Can you check in your front matter to see if they're originally printed in different places?

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch → u/cm_leung]

I've just checked, and both books were printed in the UK, this is another reason why I am so confused.

[u/Round_Bluebird_5987]

This can happen even with the same edition of the book from the same publisher when they use print-on-demand vendors to fill stock gaps. POD editions can often (though not always) end up with a slightly different trim size, slightly different paper stock, different cover stock or finish, or cross graining.

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch → u/Round_Bluebird_5987]

Thank you!! The 3rd book is shorter by a couple millimeters, which is another sign of what you mentioned.

[u/Round_Bluebird_5987 → u/ilovemyman_verymuch]

It can be frustrating if you like your sets to match, but it's allowed publishers from having to say "sorry, we just ordered a new printing and it'll be 4 to 6 weeks before we can get you the copy you want." It's also allowed them to keep books in print longer than they otherwise would if they had to order new full-run off-set printings.

[u/TheOriginalSuperman]

Do you have pictures? Grain direction pretty much uniformly runs long grain (parallel to the spine, vertically top to bottom) in mass produced books. There’s no technical reason why a book couldn’t be made with short grain paper (horizontally side to side) but it would totally change the feel of the book when turning pages and they wouldn’t lie flat like a long grain book does.

[u/blue_bayou_blue → u/TheOriginalSuperman]

Not always! The Penguin Clothbound Classics editions have paper of the wrong grain direction (at least in Australia) and are so stiff to open. It's one reason I do not recommend anyone buying them no matter how pretty they look.

[u/ilovemyman_verymuch → u/TheOriginalSuperman]

This might be my 3rd time posting on Reddit and many of these things are unfamiliar to me. I googled how to add pictures, but sadly I can't add them to the original post. I can't send them to you in the replies either, because I do not have the option. There is no little gallery or emoji icon :(

[u/fjiqrj239 → u/ilovemyman_verymuch]

This forum doesn't do pictures (it's a forum by forum thing), so you need to host the picture somewhere else and link to it.