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Post by wordswortheditions on Feb 5, 2009 12:02:41 GMT
Very much looking forward to your list of contenders for the poll(s)! Polls are now up. Looking forward to seeing the results!
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Post by unholyturnip on Feb 19, 2009 20:59:01 GMT
I must say I've enjoyed pretty much all of the Wordsworth editions. It's great to see classic authors being brought back into print, affordably. A lot of these authors lose their canonicity by virtue of not being available (I don't mean canonicity in an academic sense, more regarding general buyers).
The new Edith Wharton volume is great. I have a similar one in hardback, but the thing with hardback is it's not good for travelling. The reverse also works too though. There's some authors that are only available in expensive hardbacks, and I'm not gonna go spending £30+ on an author I know nothing about just on strength of hype.
I think the only bad Wordsworth edition I've come across was the Amelia Edwards one. There was a lot of great stuff could have been in that, and a lot of lesser stuff could have been left out. Being as she's one of my favourites, I was a bit disappointed there, but there's plenty of other great editions. The expanded collection of D.K. Broster's 'Couching At The Door' I think is fabulous. I've never heard much praise for her work, but having read the Wordsworth edition I rate her far above some of the BIG name writers of that period. She's almost up there with Onions and Buchan in my book.
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Post by lobolover on Feb 24, 2009 18:38:50 GMT
The problem with that is many works are more then equal the atention of th readr's, but their obscurity make them absolutely unfindable. The only place you are up to come to them is either through an Ash Tree Press edition , or by some REALY ovr priced book seller, the most pricey being L.W.Currey. These two make finding hard to find gems even harder, because Ash Tree doesn't seem to understand the logic of "more people introduced through cheaper editions= larger popularity= bigger editions with more copies sold ► "obscure author very rarely referenced, though of evident briliance sold in very limited extremely pricey editions=only colectors will ever buy them, and they will never be a common bookreaders choice", but they go about publishing extremely rare books at extremely outrageous prices. To make matters worse, the day I see a used Ash Tree Press book sell for LESS then the original price will be worth of a national celebration.
L.W.Currey also tends to add around 150-300% to the price the same book edition has elsewher, if there be such a case.
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Post by wordswortheditions on Feb 25, 2009 12:36:33 GMT
I think the only bad Wordsworth edition I've come across was the Amelia Edwards one. There was a lot of great stuff could have been in that, and a lot of lesser stuff could have been left out. Just out of interest, are there any particular stories that you would have liked to see in there? We like to expand the books to make it better value for money (e.g. we're adding Dracula to Dracula's Guest and Other Stories, due to print in May 09), so if there are any popular stories that have been overlooked then we'd consider adding them to the collection. Emma@Wordsworth N.B. I'm leaving Wordsworth this week, but Derek will be checking the site from time to time. This might mean your queries don't get answered as promptly (as Derek is a very busy man!) but if you have any burning questions/suggestions etc, he can be contacted directly via email: derek@wordsworth-editions.com
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Post by dem bones on Feb 25, 2009 15:26:17 GMT
And just when I swore never to buy another edition of Dracula for as long as I live .....
Thank you for putting up with all our questions Emma, it must have taken the patience of a saint! I wish you every success in the future and, should ever you feel a powerful need to read a load of miserable blokes moaning on and on about their horror books, you'll always be welcome on Vault.
Sincere kind wishes to you.
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Post by unholyturnip on Feb 25, 2009 21:08:38 GMT
The problem with that is many works are more then equal the atention of th readr's, but their obscurity make them absolutely unfindable. The only place you are up to come to them is either through an Ash Tree Press edition , or by some REALY ovr priced book seller, the most pricey being L.W.Currey. These two make finding hard to find gems even harder, because Ash Tree doesn't seem to understand the logic of "more people introduced through cheaper editions= larger popularity= bigger editions with more copies sold ► "obscure author very rarely referenced, though of evident briliance sold in very limited extremely pricey editions=only colectors will ever buy them, and they will never be a common bookreaders choice", but they go about publishing extremely rare books at extremely outrageous prices. To make matters worse, the day I see a used Ash Tree Press book sell for LESS then the original price will be worth of a national celebration. L.W.Currey also tends to add around 150-300% to the price the same book edition has elsewher, if there be such a case. I don't get Ash-Tree. I mean their books are great, but they do a run of like 500 and then that's it. I think they've reprinted like three books in their entire existence. I was still in school when they published their old stuff! So folks like me are basically excluded from ever reading some of these authors (unless some other author picks them up that is) because Ash-Tree only seems to care about their 500 or so regular buyers. They're elitists for lack of a better word. I can't afford to spend £300 on some author. I think the publishing price (£30) is very steap, and I'd certainly not go much over that. At the end of the day, I'm not bothered about how good these things look on my shelf, I'm bothered about reading good stories. That's it. I'd rather have it in hardback if I can, but ultimately I just wanna read. On the other hand, they Ash-Tree do publish some absolutely awful authors as well as the greats. Just because it has a ghost in it doesn't necessarily make it worth publishing, but I sometimes think that's the attitude they go in with. I admire the quality of their books, but not their business sense or their lack of vision for the genre.
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Post by lobolover on Feb 25, 2009 22:21:44 GMT
The problem is, they could actualy make much more money if they made bigger cheaper editions and reprinted them, alongside their "deluxe" editions, because it would make more people notice them, which would result in more sales.But again, this simple logic is tuged out the window , being replaced by "You want it? You gotta PAY!".
Take for example the Hipocampus Press edition of Sinister House and Cold Harbour. That cost 15 dollars, whereas a year before Ash Tree puiblished just Cold Harbour for 50 bucks- you could get three HP books for that price.
I mean, I heard so much praise for Metcalfe, but if I want it, im screwed. I mean, I cant even find Ape's Face by Fox, not even the Ash Tree press edition, in a library will send it out international like. Why, because their expensive and very limited. That's a huge diference between WW I think, though I am undecided what to want to buy.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 25, 2009 23:06:28 GMT
I often wonder why Ash Tree haven't branched off into publishing paperback editions off their books. Surely that would satisfy both the elitist bastards who only want factory sealed editions to frame, fondle, sell to mugs at grossly inflated prices on ebay (i'd rather go without, thanks) or whatever it is they do with them, and those of us who actually buy books to read and don't much care how scruffy they are just so long as they have all the pages. Just give 'em a decent cover and we're happy.
Tell ya, a mighty blow was the collapse of Equation before they could publish Frederick Cowles' Fear Walks The Night. Ash Tree snapped it up, published the usual limited edition which, I believe, sold out before it went to print, and was soon changing hands at the ever popular obscene prices. Wordsworth. I've nothing but praise for their efforts. Now, if only they could tie up a deal to become Ash Tree's paperback imprint ...
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Post by The Lurker In The Shadows on Feb 25, 2009 23:23:11 GMT
I know that there was talk of Ash Tree's (still not materialised yet) revised reprint of "A Pleasing Terror" being available as a paperback with a wider release, but there's been no news on that one for ages.
I've never bought direct from ATP, mainly because their online ordering system always seemed somewhat arcane, so the few volumes I have from them have all come from other dealers.
And, while I do think "A Pleasing Terror" is a lovely volume in itself, I'd love the same contents in a cheaper binding all the same. And with my Wordsworth edition of the Collected Ghost Stories, I'm happy to shove a copy in my coat pocket for reading on the bus whenever I feel like some MRJ.
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Post by lobolover on Feb 26, 2009 8:59:49 GMT
I saw that they made some "cheaper" editions of some books, which cost like 35 bucks. Yeah, paperback I dont care if the front of the book is just uni colored in green or red with simple fonts, In fact id prefer it to the kind of trash covers you see in all bookshops on trash space opera sci-fi's, all I want is the book to hold together, have all the pages and preferabely some introduction about the work and author, I think im the only one who reads them first, so no one minds avoiding spoilers while writing these anymore, by the way. Sure I love hardback as much as the next person so the books keeps open on the page I open it and I dont have it hold it open all the time, but if I can buy it cheaper in paperback, I will. And I wont "waste" 50 bucks plus shiping on one book by an author of which Ive read nothing. Thats why common people dont buy em. To WW, Im íindecisive which I should try out. Ridell, Everret or the Benson brothers colab, "The temple of death"?
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Post by wordswortheditions on Feb 26, 2009 9:55:45 GMT
Thank you for putting up with all our questions Emma, it must have taken the patience of a saint! I wish you every success in the future and, should ever you feel a powerful need to read a load of miserable blokes moaning on and on about their horror books, you'll always be welcome on Vault. Sincere kind wishes to you. Thanks for the kind words, I'm sure I'll pop in from time to time! One last thing before I go... We've been approached about doing a collection of Australian ghost stories - would there be any interest for it?
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Post by dem bones on Feb 26, 2009 10:51:39 GMT
These are vintage, out of copyright Australian ghost stories, right? Well you've at least one person would buy it.
One last query, if i may. This came up on another thread, but I was curious if the three Dennis Wheatley reprints had achieved respectable sales and wondered if there were plans to reissue more of his Black Magic titles in the future?
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Post by David A. Riley on Feb 26, 2009 11:23:32 GMT
I agree with Dem, a collection of vintage Australian ghost stories would be something I'd welcome. Sounds intriguing.
David
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Post by pulphack on Feb 26, 2009 12:04:25 GMT
regarding the whole issue of why the likes of Ashtree are so expensive and don't do cheap paperbacks...
personally, i'd rather have a bunch of cheap paperbacks rather than one expensive h/b with beautiful packaging, but i can see why Ashtree do it this way, and don't go the p/b route. it's about their business model.
in essence, they run like a boutique label - small runs, lovely packaging, designed for serious collectors and to encourage that elitist feeling. might bne wrong in many ways, but you can't argue wiht the fact that it enables them to sell and make the profit necessary to go on to the next book.
the p/b route can be more expensive initially. you have a greater print run - have to in order to make the money back. and if you want to make a profit, even if you shop around for cheapness, you still have to overprint and face remaindering on your expected sale to get the per-unit cost down.
then there's distribution. and storage - any idea how much space 10,000 p/b's takes up, compared to 500 h/b's?
wordsworth are doing well with this line, sure. but they already had printing, distribution etc in place. they did research on reaching their markets (like landing up here!), and their speculation was based on underlying income from their already existing classics line. Ashtree,etc don't have this. think about it - every time there's a Dickens or Austen on tv or the cinema, a good few thousand (at least) of those watching go and buy the book. they gonna go for the OUP or Penguin at six/seven notes, or the 1.99 job? and using this sales and retail base, wordsworth were better equipped to ship their new line.
laser printing could be the answer, but perhaps not yet. i don;t know about on-demand houses inthe US - what's the quality or price like? i do know that in this country it can be hard to find an on-demand printer that won't demand guarentees of big orders upfront, or payment up front for a certain amount. one large publisher are starting on-demand which they can do cheap - but that's only because they can use their muscle to get a good deal, whereas you or me would get laughed out the door.
the Ashtree business model allows them to do what they want. if the titles attract attention, then rights can be farmed out, or another publisher could pick up the out of copyright stuff and explout the attention.
but at the end of the day, it comes down to the simple fact that very few people are actually into this kind of stuff. so anyone who wants to publish it has to find a model that works or else they're screwed.
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Post by David A. Riley on Feb 26, 2009 12:47:55 GMT
Ash-Tree sometimes do bring out paperback versions, though they are far from as cheap as Wordsworth's. Whose are? www.ash-tree.bc.ca/atp141shadesofdarkness.htmI haven't checked how many other titles have paperback versions, but I suspect not many. I would add that this is a very handsome paperback, though I must admit £16 is a lot. David
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