do we need another one?

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 5:03 am

It,s all very well to be surrounded by well intensioned yes men .But you also need to look into the facts of such an endeavour , getting a book published can work out a very expensive business .A publisher wont take in on unless you can show that you can sell enough to cover the costs of printing, plus a little profit .
.The other option of course is to get it printed privately and foot the expense yourself and maybe with the help of some sponsors that would be the way to go

It was put to Terry Moylan one time as a fund raising idea ,to put together an extended version of the pipemakers list from a few years back,giving a brief biography of each of the working pipemakers of the day.but it was decided that it would not make any money
The uilleann pipe market is just to small .It was remarked that a similar idea for the GHB would be more feasible .

RORY

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:48 am

Do you know anything about making pipes? Haven't been following your career. I don't like most of what's being made these days purely on a cosmetic basis. Don't like the sound of lots of pipes on recordings either. You could assemble a bibliography for this subject on this forum and send interested parties in the right direction. There are plenty of good articles out there. You could send some articles to Wally Charm (American piper's club) if you want to let the world know.

I think a coffee table book with accompanying CDs would do the world more good, so people can examine pipes in all their variety. Sort out the wheat from the chaff, you know. You could skip publishers entirely and just make a CD-ROM or two. It'd take a jet setter with a good camera to pull it off though. Or, I don't know, any photographer/pipers living in West Clare?

Some of my ideas about "wheat": Wooff Angus J. Kennedy. Bill Haneman's pipes look very nice too, maybe they're unplayable and horrible sounding but I kinda doubt it seeing's how nice they look. I'm sure he'll chime in here too, Bill is good people.

liestman · Post by **liestman** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 6:48 am

If I can make a recommendation: When I wrote my book on Northumbrian smallpipes, I decided to self produce it entirely, meaning that I bought a laser printer that could print on both sides without manual intervention (Brother 1850 model) and a comb binding machine. I print and bind copies in smallish batches based on orders. (Phtotocopying them does not deliver the right quality to photos unless you spend way too much money.) This also allows me to update the book when I found typos (um, one or two. . .) or want to update the information. I found my own retailers (stick to the places that would naturally be interested, not Amazon and the like) and promote the book through my website. In a small world like NSPs or uilleann piping, people will find your site. Getting the book reviewed by some relevant society is a big plus. In my case, some of my retailers are pipemakers and instructors.

Trying to go with a publisher and all that is not productive for small run publications but doing it yourself is great - you end up being somewhat in contact with many of your readers.

Another alternative would be to publish it on CD only. I decided against this only because my book has a fair bit of sheet music in it and most folks I polled said they would not enjoy playing from a computer display and would have to print it out anyway.

Hope that helps. Doing it all myself has been a great experience.

billh · Post by **billh** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 7:49 am

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:...
I think a coffee table book with accompanying CDs would do the world more good, so people can examine pipes in all their variety.

You rang?

There's a project in the works regarding the work of some pipemakers no longer living. Can say no more at the moment, but it could be helpful in this regard.

Some of my ideas about "wheat": Wooff Angus J. Kennedy. Bill Haneman's pipes look very nice too, maybe they're unplayable and horrible sounding but I kinda doubt it seeing's how nice they look. I'm sure he'll chime in here too, Bill is good people.

Thanks for the vote of confidence Kevin. I'm still edging my way onwards-and-upwards, but mostly I'm pretty encouraged.

(BTW, I'll be offline for a couple weeks for the holidays...)

Reedbiter, I expect Wally has already contacted you about articles for The Review.... I agree that self-publishing makes sense; so IMO does breaking the subject into smaller chunks. And just because something has appeared in The Piper's Review doesn't mean no one would want to buy a collection containing said info (witness David Daye's Pipes and Pipemaking CD-ROM).

All the best,

Bill

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:12 am

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:Do you know anything about making pipes?

Reedbiter (a.k.a. David Boisvert) has been making pipes for over a decade now and I do believe that Mr. John Liestman wrote an article on David for The Review a good while back, featuring his narrow bore D stuff.

I think it is a noble venture and one I support, especially as it further promotes awareness of the instrument and its construction from the viewpoint of at least one of its makers. And though there may not be a large market for the resulting book, I am certain it could end up on the coffee tables of a lot of pipers world wide.

Doc Jones · Post by **Doc Jones** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:46 am

"Since the moment I picked up your book, I haven't stopped laughing. I hope someday to read it."

-Groucho Marx, commenting on a book written by a friend.-

I'm in for a copy, Dave. Let me know when they're ready.

Doc

Bill Reeder · Post by **Bill Reeder** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 8:52 am

Joseph E. Smith wrote:
Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:Do you know anything about making pipes?
And though there may not be a large market for the resulting book, I am certain it could end up on the coffee tables of a lot of pipers world wide.

Great... now I have to go out and buy a darn coffee table ...

snoogie · Post by **snoogie** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 9:00 am

My sister recently published a book and did the self publishing route after studying all the alternatives.

http://www.amazon.com/Forever-Child-God ... F8&s=books

She wrote her book as much for therapy after loosing her husband to cancer as well as possibly helping others suffering a similar ordeal.

The personal journey aspect makes it a good read, and in your case would help give a theme to your book, and IMO provide more appeal than a series of 'how to' articles. Although a collection of all the articles on pipemaking in one place would also be interesting.

Self publishing is not as expensive as it used to be, and is much easier than trying to find a publisher willing to take on a book with small potential readership. What she found was that after a few friends and relatives bought copies, that many church libraries also were interested and started buying copies.

I'm trying to find an email she'd sent me about how she did it. If I can find it, I'll forward it to you...otherwise, PM me and I'll ask her again for the info.

Regards,
Gary

Kevin L. Rietmann · Post by **Kevin L. Rietmann** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:13 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:Reedbiter (a.k.a. David Boisvert)

Ohhh...is that how it's pronounced?

Darn aliasasas!

Yeah, fire away Dave, God speed! You're building "wheat" from the looks of things too.
Will this Mystery Book of yours have detailed measurements, Bill? That's one spot where the available tomes aren't really doing the trick, Ginsberg's Egan chanter with the 3/16" throat for instance.

Love that quote from Groucho, Doc!

billh · Post by **billh** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:49 pm

Kevin L. Rietmann wrote:
Will this Mystery Book of yours have detailed measurements, Bill?

I have nothing to do with it, really, and I doubt it will be a book. Photos only.

SRS is still the best source of measurements. Stay tuned.

Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas to all, I'm away.

Bill