Given a choice between a hardcover and paperback book with the same cover design, I will almost always pick the paperback. Paperbacks take up less space in my bags and bookshelves, are much lighter and are much handier when reading. The one drawback they have measured against hardcovers is that their spines crack very easily. Still, I am very determined at preventing cracked spines. At the same time, I don’t like squinting into the shadows of a book that is hardly open.
Some people have asked me to share how I keep my paperback books in such a pristine condition. That’s why I’m sharing a step by step guide on how to prevent cracked spines, complete with photos.
Step 1: Pick a book
I usually do this just before I start reading a book. Technically I could do it when I haul them but I’m afraid I’ll forget or accidentally skip a book. Before reading is the most foolproof time. Here’s an example with my paperback edition of Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.
Step 2: Place book with spine facing down onto a flat surface
It’s important to use a flat and sturdy surface. Using a soft surface like a mattress or carpeted floor might result in a cracked spine, which is what we’re actually trying to prevent.
Step 3: Open up the front and back covers and flatten onto the surface along the creases
Paperbacks usually come with a natural fold along or near the spines. Follow along those as a guide.
Step 4: One by one, open a page on each side
Technically it’s fine to open up a few pages in one go but I don’t like uneven gaps to form between the pages, so I’m more meticulous by opening only one page at a time.
Step 5: Continue with Step 4 until the spine curves and the pages fan out, then open up a few pages at a time
After opening up about 10% of the book, the spine should start curving. Leave it that way. Don’t force the spine to remain flat on its back. You want the spine to curve.
Step 6: Keep going until you reach the centre, taking care not to fold the spine
Be very careful to maintain the curve along the spine. Don’t be too forceful in opening up the pages. If the spine threatens to fold/snap in the centre, then let the centre pages be. The book probably has been bound too tight.
Step 7: Flip the pages front to back a few times
Flip through front to back and back to front. This will even out the pages of the book while loosening the spine some more. Now when you open up the book to read, the spine will curve instead of crack.
Done and Ready to Read
There you have it — a paperback book with a spine that won’t crack too easily. I’ve been able to open my books normally while reading without worrying too much about cracked spines. Following these steps won’t completely prevent cracks but they keep them to a minimum and in the very least make them lighter and not so visible. If the spine still feels stiff after breaking it in, repeat the above steps once or twice more.
I buy 2 of each paperback book. The best conditioned one I keep on my shelf in case I want to read it again later and my other one I read without care; crack the spine accidentally, toss it in a bag on the go, or accidently my spill coffee on it. Then I give it away when I’m done reading it.
1. 2 paperbacks are still cheaper than a hardback.
2. I’m OCD about my books and can’t stand cracked spines or dings/dents/tears/folds of any kind.
3. Someone else always gets my used book for free and I tell them to pass it along.
I tried doing this, and the spine cracked in two places from it :(
Mine did, too, but it was an old book (1972) and most of the spine survived. It now lies flat when open, which means the spine shouldn’t crack again and the pages will be safer from tearing or folding through the middle.
Hello! My 7th-grade son was just charged $85 for a broken spine (pages falling out) on his algebra textbook (hardcover, 3 years old). I contend that the fault is the BOOK, not my son, who was not rough with it in any way. He used it normally every day for the year. Do you have any advice about how to argue against this fine? Thank you!
Im about to buy a 1200 page book… will this work? Or should i just go for a hardcover edition? :/
I wish I could give you a concrete answer for this but I rarely read books that exceed 600 pages. My guess is it won’t work as effectively because the pages will likely weigh the book down too much. If you don’t want to see cracked spines, the hardcover’s probably a better option. Or, if available, like for some Brandon Sanderson books, get the two paperback volumes that equal that one book. Hope my thoughts help!
Joséphine very very very thank you for the help. It totally worked . I wish I knew this for my previous book too
I’m thrilled to find your site! I’m writing a friend about working in my Elementary school library when I was in fifth grade, and just googled
“What is the word for opening new books at the middle and smoothing down the pages from each side so the spines don’t crack?”
Inelegantly worded , but remembering it at a remove of over half a century. And though I still hope to find a term for it, your illustrations and the ensuing discussion from others feels like I imagine a spa would.
I’ll be back to revel in the rest of the site when I finish my letter.
hello, I would like to know if this same process works for mass market paper backs as well.
Hi Dominic, I’ve not tried it with mass paperbacks, though my guess is it won’t work as well. Their spines tend to be much weaker than those of normal trade paperbacks.
Should this process be done for hardcovers too? Even if they’re very heavy with a high number of pages? Also, how do I know if a spine is cracked/broken?
I’ve come across book binders who do recommend this for hardcovers as well. Personally, I only do this with paperbacks. Cracked spines have visible folds that mar the original smooth surface.
How do you do this with really really big books? I want to read Harry Potter part 5 (800 pages in English..) and I’m just scared to read it or try this method. I did it with part 4 but it already cracked because I was doing this. Help!
Oh dear, I’m sorry Desiree, I didn’t see your question sooner!
I don’t have that book in hardcopy, so I can’t refer to it specifically. For big books, though, it helps to have a second person to prop up the centre pages, so they don’t weigh down and crack the spine while breaking it in with this curving process.
As I demonstrated with my images, the important thing is to keep the spine curved throughout the process, so that it’l keep that bend naturally while reading.
That looks like a lot of work, but I would definitely go through this process. I’m always careful with my spines and I’ve learned how to read a book in such a way that it doesn’t crack the spine. It’s all about the right angle, haha.
I’m seriously impressed by how much effort you put into preventing cracked spines for your paperbacks! I honestly don’t really think too much about this, because I’ll just crack open a book and start reading right away. But your post makes me want to try and be more careful with my paperbacks (even though I generally prefer hardcovers)! Thanks for sharing :)
Does this mean cracked spines don’t bother you at all? I’m only ok with this if I’ve read a book many times over, so it’s inevitable that that’ll show.
Interesting process! I don’t think I’ve ever cracked a spine. I just take care and somehow make it through without any damage, which is good because I don’t think I’d have the patience for this! But glad it works for you :)
I rather invest a couple of minutes saving my book spines than sadly stare at cracked ones in my shelves. Haha. Plus, I read a lot on the go which makes it harder to maintain.
I had a problem with cracking spines when I was younger but now not so much. I’ve gotten more careful with how I read and they just don’t crack, even my most read books are still in pristine condition. It’s a blessing, really.
Ah, yeah. I’ve paperbacks from when I was younger with cracked spines. But I think that’s also because the bindings of children’s books aren’t always of the best quality in order to keep the production & sales costs down.
Interestingly, like many other commenters, I just hold my book in specific way and they come out okay in the end, but this is such a great look at how to perfect it for people who want to be free in reading their book, so thanks for sharing it with us Josephine! :)
Always happy to share! :) I think this is especially useful for those who read a lot on the go like I do. In the subway it can be rather difficult to hold a book without bumping into people. To worry about cracked spines then can be somewhat frustrating if you absolutely hate them.
I always prefer paperbacks too unless it’s a really really really gorgeous cover, then I would choose the hardback. But yeah, hardcover books are so heavy and I’m always afraid I’d drop one on my face while reading because I tend to fall asleep. This is an awesome tip to not break the spine! I’ll try it when I read one of my PB books :)
Yes! If the paperback cover is hideous, then I do succumb to the hardcover as well. Thankfully I’ve never dropped a hardcover on my face. That would be really painful!
Thanks for posting this! I’m obsessed with keeping my books in pristine condition. I’ve always preferred hardcovers to paperbacks because they are so much more durable, but maybe I’ll start buying paperbacks more often now.
Yesss! I’m so bent on keeping my books in the best possible condition too. Which’s why hardcovers and their dust jackets annoy me. Even the slightest nick on the jacket or a wrong fold upsets me.
Great tip! Like you I’ve always like paperbacks more but because I don’t like ruining spines I tend to go for ebooks more. I’ll definitely do this the next time I open a paperback. :)
Score on the paperback advocacy front! Lol. I’m happy you’ve one less reason to worry about over paperbacks now ;)
Genius!! Love this so much! I hate when I read a book and then close it only to realize I cracked the spine! Thanks for the tip!
~Sara
Hope you’ll put this tip to good use, Sara :) I’m so paranoid about cracked spines, I check several times while reading if the book’s still fine. Heh.
Thank you for this!!!
Glad you found this useful!
I just tried to do this with a massive paperback I won in a giveaway, and the cover immediately started to rip. Help!
I’ve never seen a book rip while doing this :O And I’ve been doing this for a couple of years already. Is the quality of the material that bad?
I guess it must be, because I didn’t do anything crazy to the book. I just opened it!
I learned about this a few months ago & it is GREAT! I tend to buy most of my books used, so I’m not really too intense on whether the spine or cracked or not, but i i buy a book that hasn’t been cracked yet, no reason to shorten the book’s life just because. Though, I don’t think I tend to hold books in a way that cracks the spine. I think I kind of automatically only open them as much as needed, and not flat like many people, which is the way I’ve always held them. The majority of paperbacks I bought new before learning this trick still don’t have cracked spines.
A well-worn library sound nice too! :) Just not the stray cracked spines. Though I find it rather uncomfortable to open books half-way and find myself squinting when I do that. I also hold my books one-handed when I commute, so I need my spines to be as sturdy as can be. Haha.
SHEESH, how do you do this for every paperback you own without getting bored? I don’t think I’ve ever cracked a spine (unless you count the intentional cracked spine of my Wreck This Journal) but I’m pretty sure people who’ve borrowed my books have cracked them. All I do is hold my book in a certain way when I read and nothing happens. On the subject of hardbacks vs paperbacks, I LOVE hardbacks because the covers are sometimes/always much cooler, however I love paperbacks for reading ,travelling with, shelving and everything else. And my favourite book covers have matte covers, shiny books are ok, but I’m not really a fan.
Cracked spines make me cry. Therein lies my motivation. It doesn’t take more than 2–3 mins for me to do this. Those couple of minutes are nothing against having a cracked spine stare at me for the rest of my life. Lol. The only way I’ve seen people hold a paperback without cracking is opening a book half-way, which I don’t like doing because for me that means squinting at the words. Not fun.
Hardcovers look pretty neat on the shelves, especially since they tend to be more standardised in terms of size. But I don’t like jacket covers because they are always in the way, so all in all, paperbacks own my heart ;)
That looks like so much work LOL Are you actually doing this for every book?
Thank goodness I never had the problem with not breaking the spine. I just have a certain way to hold the book that automatically worked for me, I would be way to lazy to do this. Interesting though!
Lol. Yes, I do this for every paperback. Hardcovers I just leave be. I hate holding a book half-open while reading just because I don’t want to crack the spine. It gets faster with practice! :)
I have them a lot more than half open too. I just hold them in a way that the spine is round and doesn’t crack (and no it’s not some weird uncomfortable way to hold the book) :D
Yay for perfecting your art! :D Though paranoia and one too many cracked spines will see me doing this for every last one of my paperbacks. Hoho.