I
think a short note regarding book prices is in order. Several readers have
contacted me wondering why my book Foraging New England
is listed at an outrageously high price. I appreciate people telling me about
that, since I was aware of it.
Anyway,
I found out the reason and it is nothing that I have any control over. When
books are about to go out of stock or when a new version is about to be
released, prices skyrocket. And since I recently revised Foraging New England,
and the existing supply of the current version is dwindling, the distributors
have jacked the price up to a ludicrously high amount. Why they do his is beyond my ken.
I
would suggest that anyone wanting a good foraging book for New
England buy Wild Plants of Maine. Most, if not all, of the
plants in that book also grow throughout New England .
Of the two books, I like Wild Plants of Maine better.
The
reason for that is because of the publisher. Foraging New
England is published by Globe Pequot Press, a company I have
written for for over 20 years. But GPP is a big, national publisher and as
such, has hordes of copy editors, whose job it is to parse, change, delete and
in general remove the author’s original wording anywhere possible. These are
freelance people who subcontract for the company and their eviscerating of
manuscripts is a way for them to justify their existence.
So
what people read in a nationally-published book, not just my books but
anyone’s, is often a far cry from what the author originally wrote.
On
the other hand, Wild Plants of Maine is from a Maine-based publishing house.
And except for correcting spelling errors or accidental syntax errors, what you
read in WPOM is what I wrote and what I meant. The publisher of this book, Just
Write Books, Topsham , Maine
That,
for anyone interested in getting into writing and publishing books, is the
difference between national publishers and smaller publishing houses.
Again,
I apologize for that ridiculous price spike on Foraging New England. It’s a
good book, but not that good.
By the way, I appreciate the nice comments about my cabin fever piece. Take heart...spring is coming.
Tom
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