our books are indeed hard to find

An e-mail from a customer to blog editor Geoff Churchman and the reply...

***************************

Hi Geoff

Still enjoying the blog. I must have bought just about every railway related book you've put out over the years and recently treated myself to "1950s Steam in Colour". I really like the production and its good that this great collection has got more exposure. I could be speaking only for myself but I think there is endless demand for good quality collections of colour pics from that 50s to 80s period. The trick I'm sure is keeping quality up but price reasonable.

I was prompted to write as when I moved back to NZ a few years back a box of railway books had vanished. I've been slowly building them back up and have been trying to track down a replacement copy of your Fiat Railcar book. Very hard to find, and I see the ones that have come up are selling for between $40 and $50. Have you thought about republishing it perhaps with some new pics and the additional info thats come out over the years? I'd say there would be a good nostalgia market, lots around from the era that remember them.

Just a thought. Hope alls going good

Cheers

Bevan

Hi Bevan,

Many thanks for the nice comments about my books on NZ railways. I'm astonished that the Fiat Railcar book is selling second hand for as much as the range you mention. 

Yes, the thought of new editions of old books including that one has often occurred but it's a case of having to be very selective these days about anything at all, as the number of outlets for new books has fallen substantially in the past 5-6 years and the ones that are left are run by women who have little or no interest in transport and technology themes, unless there's a TV tie in or it will be the subject of a big publicity campaign. 

There's been a triple whammy in NZ since 2010 with the Government's hiking GST on books and the Christchurch earthquakes wiping out about 30% of the market - in addition to the world-wide problem of people being distracted by small screens. Don't count on more than about one booktrade title a year from now on having the transpress nz imprint.

regards

Geoff


and his reply:-

Yes I know the industry as a whole is in decline. To be honest of course there are lots of other leisure distractions now (I think the whole ebook thing is a bit overdone as a threat at the moment) but I think the biggest problem is just how poorly run the big book chains have been, especially Whitcoulls. I worked there in the 90s at the Corner and can remember the increasing pressure for head office control by buyers who usually came from the Warehouse or similar and didn't understand either books, local markets or the importance of offering a range.

I was disgusted when I came back from the UK to see the piles of tat they sell these days. Really good books like the "Changing Times" history of postwar NZ that would have a broad market get a single spine out copy if they're lucky while the promotional areas are filled with cooking remainder or 'packaged' stock chosen for margin rather than quantity.

OK rant over!