New Caves of the Peak District guidebook

will you be buying a new copy of Caves of the Peak District

  • yes

    Votes: 114 96.6%

  • no

    Votes: 4 3.4%
  • Total voters
    118
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
'course I'll be buying one - I never even paused to think twice.

I'd like to bet that many cavers have no idea just how much effort and work goes into getting it all together. That book will contain all the assimilated information arising from many generations of exploratory cavers. COPD is also a winner because it includes loads of useful references as well. Whatever it costs it will be extremely good value.

My thanks to those who have been working on this project. Charge what you like as far as I'm concerned.
 
paul

paul

Moderator
Since second-hand "Caves of the Peak District" have been selling on eBay for ?30 to ?40, there must still be a reasonable demsnd for them. I well of course be buying one as soon as it is ready.
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
Yes please, definitely. And i second Pitlamp's point of "charge what you like", it's a must buy situation! I've been derbyshire caving 6 years and have been waiting for the new release before buying a COPD...
 
Sally-J

Sally-J

New member
I'd probably get several copies as it should make a great present for cavers who already have everything
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
I'm sure you've already taken this into account, but with a book of this genre (i.e. a guide book that i'm likely to pick up and use 4-500 times in it's life) quality of paper/binding is extremely important, compared to a fiction book that you read once then forget about.

Especially if it's gunna run out of print and become irreplaceable...
 
Duncan Price

Duncan Price

Active member
Peter Burgess said:
I have used lulu for several years now. Of late they have had an appalling stretch of dreadful customer service. They have a users' forum which is pretty much left alone by lulu and has some interesting threads on it. I have decided to slowly move away from lulu. This will take some time, and there will still be things I want to do through them. Yes, there are 'vanity publishers' on there. If I tell you I have ordered some 1000 copies of my own books, 1000 on behalf of a mining trust, and used them for our club journal without too much trouble, you can see that I have made reasonably good use of them.
Click to expand...

Not quite in the same league as Peter but I have used them for several CDG publications.  Whilst I'm happy with them, I wouldn't use them for a book with the anticipated volume of sales that a regional caving guide would attract. (I'll buy a copy too).

The best option is to get a publisher to do all the work - printing, marketing and distribution.
 
cap n chris

cap n chris

Well-known member
Indeed; so everyone who has signalled their intention to purchase a copy can now forward their names and addresses to the publisher, once selected. Me, I'll most likely wait until it's in the shops just to avoid the complexity and P&P!
 
S

Speleokitty

New member
I'd be interested in three copies, maybe more if it wasn't available through the usual outlets.

Since there are only likely to be a handful of well known places selling the book I don't see why you need a publisher. Surely all you need to do is a subscribed print run to caving shops and maybe some individual cavers as well.

Kitty
 
Duncan Price

Duncan Price

Active member
Speleokitty said:
Since there are only likely to be a handful of well known places selling the book I don't see why you need a publisher. Surely all you need to do is a subscribed print run to caving shops and maybe some individual cavers as well.
Click to expand...

I depends how much work you want to do and financial risk you want to take.  You will also need put at least 100% mark-up on the production cost to make it economically viable.  Shops won't stock your book if they can't make any money on it...(don't worry, you won't make any money).

Getting a publisher would save a lot of effort and is more likely to lead to wider accessablity of your work.
 
al

al

Member
I'll definitely buy one as, I'm sure, will anybody who regularly caves in the Peak.

Makes you wonder though how long it will be before the issue after this ... if it's another 30 years, then this could be the last one I ever buy!  :eek:

It makes you realise that a book as a format, nice though  it certainly is, is never going to keep up with the prolific activities of the Peak diggers and discoverers.
 
Moose

Moose

New member
I just wish you would hurry up...... Last time the COPD came out we discovered the White River Series and immediately made it very out of date.

Publishing guide books and surveys seems to be a good way of encouraging caves to capitulate.

I'd happily buy several copies if that helps?
 
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