nonbook

[ non-book ]

noun

1. a book without artistic or literary merit or substance, especially one that has been developed primarily to exploit a fad or make a profit quickly:

   After the very public spectacle, several nonbooks quickly appeared, filled with psychological claptrap attempting to explain the event.

adjective

1. of or relating to a book without artistic or literary merit.
2. relating to or indicating what is not a book:

   pens and other nonbook items for sale in the bookstore.

3. Library Science. relating to or indicating a holding other than a book, as a DVD, map, or art print:

   For a small rural library, their nonbook collection was surprisingly large.

Word History and Origins

Origin of nonbook¹

First recorded in 1925–30; nonbook def 1 was first recorded in 1960–65; non- + book

Example Sentences

But there’s a whole host of other nonbook things you can check out from L.A. libraries, too.

From New York Times

Various accounts indicated their aim was less to sell books than to promote Prime membership and perhaps some nonbook products.

From Washington Post

And while books are the most obvious casualty, bookstore staff are struggling to obtain nonbook items as well.

From Seattle Times

His greatest book-length work was, in fact, “a quintessential nonbook,” as Zenith describes it, having translated one edition: “a large but uncertain quantity of discrete, mostly undated texts left in no sequential order, such that every published edition — inevitably depending on massive editorial intervention — is necessarily untrue to the nonexistent ‘original.’”

From New York Times

The first nonbook merchandise Amazon began selling was CDs.

From Seattle Times