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Re: Four Ways West book dents and dings
Author: WAF
Date: 07-05-2011 - 18:26
Jim Wrote:
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> As far as I know, they are still in business with
> the same owner (Joe Shine).
>
> They don't put out very many new titles anymore,
> and when they do, they don't print very many. The
> Milwaukee Road Passenger Trains Vol. 2 went out of
> print within 6 months. The Katy book published a
> few years ago and now it commands $200 for a poor
> quality copy if you can find a used one (and I
> didn't think that was one of their better books
> either with poor quality photo reproduction).
>
> Several other recent titles sold out within a year
> or two also.
>
> Not sure what's up. He publishes a new book that
> obviously took a lot of work, but then doesn't
> print very many copies so it becomes out-of-print
> and unobtainable very quickly. Or some guy on
> eBay is charging a fortune for it.
>
> I kind of wonder if they are pretty much winding
> down now.
Unsold books are a drain on capital. One must have a realistic idea of what they can sell to avoid playing warehouse for years to come. What Joe is doing is correct. The book market has fallen greatly over the last 10 years.
-------------------------------------------------------
> As far as I know, they are still in business with
> the same owner (Joe Shine).
>
> They don't put out very many new titles anymore,
> and when they do, they don't print very many. The
> Milwaukee Road Passenger Trains Vol. 2 went out of
> print within 6 months. The Katy book published a
> few years ago and now it commands $200 for a poor
> quality copy if you can find a used one (and I
> didn't think that was one of their better books
> either with poor quality photo reproduction).
>
> Several other recent titles sold out within a year
> or two also.
>
> Not sure what's up. He publishes a new book that
> obviously took a lot of work, but then doesn't
> print very many copies so it becomes out-of-print
> and unobtainable very quickly. Or some guy on
> eBay is charging a fortune for it.
>
> I kind of wonder if they are pretty much winding
> down now.
Unsold books are a drain on capital. One must have a realistic idea of what they can sell to avoid playing warehouse for years to come. What Joe is doing is correct. The book market has fallen greatly over the last 10 years.
