The E-Sylum:  Volume 5, Number 51, December 22, 2002, Article 5

MORE ON WHY BOOKS OUGHTA COST MORE

Granvyl Hulse, Numismatics International Librarian,
writes: "Frankly, it is the difference between fiction and
non-fiction. The former relies almost solely on your ability
to do creative writing (my only attempt earned me a pink
slip), and the latter on your determination to undertake
detailed research. This is where we will always lose out.
I can recall, when working on my booklet on the modern
coins of Ethiopia, receiving a bill of $125.00 for some print
ready photographs from the Austrian mint. That was not
my only cost, and if I recall correctly I have made the grand
sum of $2.50 by selling one of the booklets myself.

The only time I have ever made a profit were from the
short "Numystery" articles I sold for $10.00 each to the
old "Whitman Numismatic Journal." For the rest of my works
it has been a lost cause. The costs of photographs alone are
staggering. I have just finished a book on the inns, hotels and
restaurants from 1800 that existed in the village I am living in.
Happily, I have a deal with the publishers to have them printed
in lots of 20, but ninety-eight cents profit on each sale will in
no way reimburse me for even the cost of the photographs.
Anyone writing non-fiction has to be completely dedicated to
his or her subject, independently well off, and a trifle mad."

[Well, I guess that's why we'll the BiblioMANIA Society.
We're all a bit off-kilter. Sometimes I figure that if I worked
the late shift at McDonald's instead of compiling the E-Sylum
in my free time, I'd at least have some lunch money for my
efforts. But numismatics and fellowship are good for the
soul, so who needs money? -Editor]

From Italy, Ferdinando Bassoli adds: "Please remind your
gentle correspondent and associate Howard A.Daniel III that
(as the old Horace said) "carmina non dant panem" (poetry
doesn't bring bread). I wish only to remember my happy
experience with my book on European numismatic literature
which was published in the USA last year by an editor whom
I don't name simply because he doesn't need my humble praise.
The book was published in a very elegant and accurate
translation at the price of about $50, a not indifferent sum.
I wish the editor a good success, but I had to contribute for
half of the translation expenses, with the only reward of some
complimentary copies. This notwithstanding I am glad to have
my work distributed and spread, and this is all which I expect
should I write again a book."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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