[PRCo] Re: Equipment Question

[Herb Brannon]

I have never done books, only trackless trolley calendars. But I did all the
work myself including layout, printing, and sales. For the three or four
years I did this, I was able to break even and maybe make a dollar or two on
each one I sold. But then I wasn't paying myself wages or paying anyone else
except for the paper, laminating, ink and binding materials. I even did the
binding myself. As for proof reading, I had some very good volunteer help
between Ken Josephson and the late Don Gault. But it was not a venture which
would allow me to "quit my day job". I just did it for the hobby value and
experience. I see your point, however.
BTW, are any of the route maps still floating around?





On Fri, Feb 25, 2011 at 10:50, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:

> Absolutely not.   It was a way of saying that I chose only the good photos
> while others might have published the crap in their books.
>
> There was a problem with the way we did it ... we had a huge volume of
> contributors, all of whom had a notion that they should get a free book and
> it was impossible to give away a hundred free books.   We gave away a few
> freebies and offered the rest a chance to buy a book very cheap, which
> offended some who thought they deserved a lot more for one picture.
>
> The other option would have been to do it the Harre Demoro did it ... use
> mostly his own pictures.
>
> No, Herb, I do not want to go back into the publishing business.  For one,
> the audience has dried up.   A small local railroad book with pictures that
> looked, as Lucius Beebe would have said, "were screened through a Navajo
> blanket" would sell 2,000 copies 50 years ago.   A really good trolley book
> might go 20,000 copies and a good railroad book could go 30,000 or more.  By
> the time I did the PCC books, the first one was down to 4,000 and the second
> was 2,000 and they were considered best sellers in 1980.   Today Arcadia
> figures on several hundred copies for a book.  You notice that Border Books
> is bankrupt and closing one in three of their stores because people are not
> buying books.
>
> Herb, since 1980 the entire small book publishing business has changed.
> In 1980 we still had publishers out there who paid royalties to authors for
> giving them a book.   The standard trade royalty was 10% of net sales.
> That is, if the jacket price was $40 and the publisher actually realized
> about $30 between full price to some railfans and discounted sales to book
> dealers, then the author would get $3 a book.   Out of that $3 he had to pay
> for the pictures and everything that went into the book!   Out of the $30
> the publisher got, he had to pay his costs including printing and
> distribution.
>
> Today, most publishers refuse to pay any royalties.   Furthermore a lot of
> them expect the author to deliver the book already laid out, edited, and
> ready to go on the presses.   In other words, they want you to do their
> work!   I have a friend who has a contract with Indiana University Press
> which specifies that he has to write the book, then lay it out in some
> computer software such a Pagemaker, and deliver it to IUP with all the
> pictures scaned and in place.   In otherwords, all the camera and stripping
> work that used to be done by the printer is now part of the author's work
> and he has to learn how to use a computer.   Absurd.   And who is editing
> those books?   It used to be the publisher.   Don Duke, who used to own
> Golden West Books, once had a team of friends who read books out loud to
> find the mistakes ... or so he said ... one doesn't believe everything my
> buddy Don always said.  But I've watched him reading and red penciling
> manuscripts while he did his laundry. He!
>  edited what he published.   If you expect the author to do it, then every
> mistake you see me put into an e-mail will be in a book I do.   You cannot
> proofread your own work.   Someone and particularly two or three or four
> people have to read it.   Then after typesetting it has to be read again ...
> of course if the author is sending it on disc ... then you only correct his
> disc but still, others need to read it.
>
> Arcadia's idea of royalties is to sell the authors so many books at the 40%
> trade discount so they can hustle and make a few bucks.   Hell, man, any
> reputable publisher in the past sold books to its authors at a trade
> discount in addition to the royalty.   This isn't a royalty.   This is
> cheating.
>
> Do you really think at age 70 I should go back into the publishing business
> and be swindled?
>
>
> On Feb 24, 2011, at 11:27 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
>
> > Thanks.
> > While I have you here, Fred. I finally read the "Preface" to PCC-From
> Coast
> > to Coast" today. It is stated that 3/4 of the photos were not used and
> also
> > that route maps could be made up. Have you ever thought of a supplement
> to
> > that book with more photos and the maps?
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 23:01, Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net
> >wrote:
> >
> >> Freight cars were numbered in the F series.   I posted a roster twice in
> >> recent years to the website and here is the line item from it that
> applies.
> >> Group 16b Cars 3551-3554, ex Washington and Canonsburg 201-204. These
> were
> >> the original W&C interurban cars. Built in 1903 by St. Louis Car Co.
> under
> >> builder‚s contract #358. Trucks were St. Louis 47-A. At least in later
> >> years, the cars had 4 Westinghouse 93A2 motors
> >> 2and K35 control. Between 1916 and 1919 the four passenger cars became
> >> freight cars F6 to F9, several of which lasted through the 1950s.
> >>
> >>
> >> On Feb 24, 2011, at 10:53 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:
> >>
> >>> Does anyone know the history of this car? Also, why is it numbered with
> >> the
> >>> letter "F" rather than the customary "M" for work cars ?
> >>> --
> >>> Herb Brannon
> >>> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -- Attached file removed by Ecartis and put at URL below --
> >>> -- Type: image/jpeg
> >>> -- Size: 58k (60069 bytes)
> >>> -- URL :
> >> http://lists.dementia.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/PRCo%20Old08.jpg
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Herb Brannon
> > In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
> >
> >
>
>
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park