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You may have heard about terms like "paperback," "hardcover" or "tankobon" (a Japanese term for thin books). It's important we get to know each of them so I'm gonna try my best to keep it short and easy to remember.
Paperback vs. Hardcover
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A paperback basically has thin, flexible paperboard cover and is often held together with glue. This is perfect to take with you during trips, doesn't take up space in your bag and can be bent in any way you like. They can either be classified as trade paperbacks (somewhat larger and better quality) and mass market paperback (which are cheap, low-quality and can be bought in airports or your local stores).
A hardcover, also known as a hardback, has thick and durable covers. A book usually gets a hardcover on its first release before getting a paperback. They can be pretty expensive and found in many libraries or bookstores.
Kindle
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It's like a reading tablet (e-reader) where you can read a lot of books from Amazon Kindle. I am personally not a fan of the platform, but I heard the books there are worth a dime.
Japanese formats A lot of these terms apply to "manga" or Japanese comics.
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A tankobon is usually standalone book which may consist of a single story or a few collection of other stories.
Also known as the collector's volume edition, the aizōban is consisted of books that would come with a beautifully-designed slipcase. However, only popular manga series get them. One similar example I can give is the "Keeper Of The Lost City" volume collection.
A bunkoban or "bunko" translates to a paperback edition, comes with more pages/volumes and is a lot thicker than the tankobon. (P.S. Not to be confused with bunkobonor small-format paperback).
If you're looking for a published material that has color pages, posters and interviews, then you might want to check out the complete collection or sōshūhen. They are also a standard format used by Shueisha (the company behind Shōnen Jump).
A kanzenban typically has individual chapter covers, color pages, posters and side-stories from the main story. Imagine if we get to have an individual story focused on each character from "Stranger Things."
Lastly, a wide-banis like a huge, wide book where a story that was originally published as a tankobon copy with several chapters gets republished into this format. The difference is you have many more pages as it gets reduced to a lesser number of volumes. If you originally had ten volumes, there will just be five of them instead. This one is common among adult-oriented manga.
