Picador to Publish Literary Fiction in Hardcover and Paperback

In an effort to “save” the literary fiction genre, Picador UK is going to simultaneously release literary fiction in both hardcover and trade paperback because it believes that only a tiny number of authors have sufficient reader loyalty to support a hardcover release.

If more publishers do this, will there be a shift in value afforded trade paperbacks? I think that there is already some belief that books in the trade paperback format as better quality that those in the mass market format. The New York Times recently modified its bestseller lists to include a separate list for trades.

Via GalleyCat.