paperback books

One of my pet peeves is that newly published books always come out in hardcover first, and then trade paperback, and then sometimes mass market paperback.

I understand it has to do with extracting as much money as possible from the book-reading public, but I'm impatient, cheap, and I'm sick of having to maintain a list of "books to buy when they come out in paperback". If it's about the money, I'm willing to live with a system where books are priced according to publication date (most recent being most expensive), instead of by format.

I like holding books in one hand, and hardcover books hurt me. I also like walking around the house with my books (yes, I can ascend and descend stairs while reading), which means the lighter the book is, the better. And, what's the deal with the modern, paper dust jackets? They're totally useless; all they do is rip and give me paper cuts.

I suppose one could argue that hardcover books are more durable, but in twenty years of reading and rereading books, I've only ever had to buy three books for a second time. The first one I dropped in a swimming pool, so the book split into two parts; I bought a second copy for my bookshelf, while I continued to use the original taped-together copy for reading. The second book was nearly 1400 pages long, and I read it probably a hundred times before the pages started to fall out. The last one I lent to a friend, and well...suffice to say that I haven't lent her another book since.

So what's my point? I want to buy small, light, paperback versions of books. I would prefer to buy them immediately, for the lowest possible price, but I am willing to pay more, on occasion, if necessary. What I can do, as a consumer, to convince publishers to print paperback books that are as small as practical, as soon as possible?