diff --git a/lib/magazines.ts b/lib/magazines.ts
index 37268b78..635c42ee 100644
--- a/lib/magazines.ts
+++ b/lib/magazines.ts
@@ -208,26 +208,13 @@ export async function getMagazineIssue(
       where: { book_slug: { book: bookCode, slug } },
     });
     if (doc) {
-      // Support both paragraphsJson (string) and paragraphs (array) formats.
-      // The seed script stores paragraphs as a JSON string to avoid
-      // MongoDB BSON wire protocol issues with large string arrays.
-      let paras: string[];
-      if (doc.paragraphsJson) {
-        try {
-          paras = JSON.parse(doc.paragraphsJson);
-        } catch {
-          paras = [];
-        }
-      } else {
-        paras = normalizeParagraphs(doc.paragraphs);
-      }
       return {
         book: doc.book,
         volume: doc.volume,
         part: doc.part,
         title: doc.title,
         slug: doc.slug,
-        paragraphs: paras,
+        paragraphs: normalizeParagraphs(doc.paragraphs),
       };
     }
   } catch {
diff --git a/prisma/schema.prisma b/prisma/schema.prisma
index 50719592..aaf6f024 100644
--- a/prisma/schema.prisma
+++ b/prisma/schema.prisma
@@ -224,15 +224,14 @@ model MagazineMeta {
 // paragraphs: array of HTML paragraph strings (all articles concatenated)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 model MagazineIssue {
-  id             String   @id @default(auto()) @map("_id") @db.ObjectId
-  book           String
-  volume         Int
-  part           Int
-  title          String
-  slug           String
-  order          Int
-  paragraphs     String[]
-  paragraphsJson String?
+  id         String   @id @default(auto()) @map("_id") @db.ObjectId
+  book       String
+  volume     Int
+  part       Int
+  title      String
+  slug       String
+  order      Int
+  paragraphs String[]
 
   @@unique([book, slug])
   @@index([book])
diff --git a/scripts/seed-magazines.ts b/scripts/seed-magazines.ts
index 87a432b2..d3561c03 100644
--- a/scripts/seed-magazines.ts
+++ b/scripts/seed-magazines.ts
@@ -107,25 +107,35 @@ async function seedOneMagazine(
       const rawParas = (issue.paragraphs as string[]) || [];
       const cleanParas = rawParas.map((p: string) => sanitizeString(String(p)));
 
-      // Store paragraphs as a single JSON string to avoid MongoDB BSON
-      // wire protocol issues with large string arrays.
-      // The data layer will JSON.parse() this back into an array on read.
-      const paragraphsJson = JSON.stringify(cleanParas);
-
-      const doc = {
+      // Insert the base document without paragraphs first, then $set paragraphs.
+      // This avoids the MongoDB BSON wire protocol "Not null terminated string"
+      // error that occurs with large string arrays in insertOne/replaceOne.
+      const baseDoc = {
         book: bookCode,
         volume: issue.volume,
         part: issue.part,
         title: issue.title,
         slug: issue.slug,
         order: issue.order,
-        paragraphsJson,
-        paragraphs: [] as string[], // Keep empty array for schema compat
+        paragraphs: [] as string[],
       };
 
-      await issuesCol.replaceOne({ book: bookCode, slug: issue.slug }, doc, {
-        upsert: true,
-      });
+      await issuesCol.replaceOne(
+        { book: bookCode, slug: issue.slug as string },
+        baseDoc,
+        { upsert: true },
+      );
+
+      // Now set paragraphs in batches using $push to avoid BSON limits
+      const BATCH_SIZE = 200;
+      for (let bi = 0; bi < cleanParas.length; bi += BATCH_SIZE) {
+        const batch = cleanParas.slice(bi, bi + BATCH_SIZE);
+        await issuesCol.updateOne(
+          { book: bookCode, slug: issue.slug as string },
+          { $push: { paragraphs: { $each: batch } } },
+        );
+      }
+
       inserted++;
     }
     console.log(`  📄 Issues: ${inserted}`);