[Dixielandjazz] Musical Quote

[Fred Spencer]

Scarecrow Press seems to have moderated its prices by publishing more paperbacks instead of its expensive hardbacks such as "This Horn For Hire" (Pee Wee Erwin), at $62.95 in 1987, and "Jimmy Dorsey. A Study in Contrasts" at $88.00 in 2000, neither of which, as far as I know, has ever been reduced in price either in a paperback edition, or in a mail order or internet sales catalog. Contrast this with the Oxford University Press (OUP), a prolific jazz book publisher, which reduces its prices in its sales catalogs such as the $49.95 "Oxford Companion to Jazz" on sale for $15.00! The OUPalso publishes less expensive paperback editions after a year or two.
I am surprised that you are allowed to sell your book directly at a reduced price. My understanding was that academic presses do not do this. Certainly The University Press of Mississippi doesn't allow me to rerduce the $35.00 price of my book, "Jazz and Death. Medical Proflies of Jazz Greats", nor did the University of North Carolina Press with a medical book I co-authored.
As for reviews, I edited a medical journal and reviewed many books, some with reserve, but any quotes I remember seeing by an author from these reviews were, naturally, favorable even if I had not been too benevolent. Virginia Wolff in her essay, "Reviewing", wrote that " the reviewer has to write in haste and to write shortly...he knows he is hampered, distracted, prejudiced." Despite these shortcomings, these are four of the many good reviews about my book --"an invaluable compendium, for jazz fan and scholar alike." (Ask About Jazz), "has combined his medical knowledge and love of jazz into a truly unique volume." (Jazz Beat), "after several [5] years of effort he has produced a highly valuable reference book" (IAJRC JournaL), and "a valuable supplement to the growing library of jazz biographies and even to some larger and more substantial reference works" (Midwest Book Review). 
Two reviews from France seem equally flattering, but my German is too limited to present.a Teutonic viewpoint. Regards.
Fred.
  ----- Original Message-- r
  From: Charles Suhor 
  To: Fred Spencer 
  Cc: Dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:06 PM
  Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Musical Quote 


  On Mar 22, 2005, at 10:48 AM, Fred Spencer wrote:


    Dear Charles,
    Thank you for your suggestion about using the Inter Library Loan (ILL) progam. It is certainly a wonderful source of books that are out of print or too expensive to consider owning. Occasionally the ILL librarians have been able to locate what I want in a nearby state, college, or university library which means that I haven't had to wait for a week or more for the volume to be mailed. Along those lines, Scarecrow Press and Greenwood Press publish a lot of jazz books that are almost all prohibitively costly. Regards.
    Fred



  Interesting you should mention Scarecrow Press. My Scarecrow book now retails at $47 ("Jazz in New Orleans: The Postwar Years Through 1970"). It's part of their cooperative series with the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies, mostly things you won't find elsewhere, so they can be pricey. (I can sell authors' copies for $35, which lowers price resistance some.) I went with Scarecrow/Rutgers because my topic fit the concept of their Studies in Jazz Series, plus they have a reputation for not tinkering endlessly with your manuscript, and they keep your book on their list rather than dropping it as out of print. Of course, many books for niche audiences don't have big print runs so the prices are higher than the larger publishing houses. 

  Charlie Suhor


  Here's a sampler of the positive reviews of my book. All told, there were 23 plusses and three negatives. You can't win 'em all. 

  JAZZ IN NEW ORLEANS--THE POSTWAR YEARS (2001; 330 pp., 34 photos)

  "recommended highly and without hesitation..." Tom Jacobsen, MISSISSIPPI RAG

  "a valuable book...I just sat back and enjoyed it..." Paige Van Vorst, JAZZBEAT

  “Suhor speaks with both authority and immediacy..." Tommy Sancton, New Orleans jazz clarinetist, former Paris Correspondent, TIME Magazine

  "insider's insights prevail...a unique perspective..." Geraldine Wycoff, JAZZTIMES

  “an extremely informative read…” Butch Thompson, BUTCHTHOMPSON.COM

  "Brilliant...one cannot help but be charmed by this writing..." Gilbert Erskine, IARC JOURNAL

  "conveys an authentic feel of New Orleans...a perspective that one just does not get from the histories...written from the outside..." Tom Pizza, NEW ORLEANS REVIEW

  "a must-read...enlightening...well-researched...the most accurate and comprehensive picture to date of jazz in New Orleans from 1945 to 1970..." Bill Milkowski, JAZZ NOTES

  "essential reading..." Jonathan Tabak, OFFBEAT

  "worthy of a wide audience..." Jason Berry, NEW ORLEANS

  "first-rate...alive with insight...fresh anecdotes..." Patricia Parker, JAZZCOOKIN.COM

  "Suhor rises above advocacy, partisanship and politics to put jazz in New
  Orleans in historical and stylistic perspective..." Doug Ramsey, author, JAZZ MATTERS

  "Suhor teases out the quirky, only-in-New-Orleans themes..." Jamie Hutchinson, AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW

  "a remarkable work..." Larry Nai, CADENCE

  "Suhor is able to deal with equal empathy with the traditionalists and the modernists..." from the Foreword, Dan Morgenstern, INSTITUTE OF JAZZ
  STUDIES, Rutgers University