Local Histories: Boon or Bane for Bookstores

Two books capturing the slice of history that was the Christchurch earthquake were big successes for their publishers and for book shops this year.

Pushing publishers to prodigiously quick turnaround times, Random’s The Big Quake from The Press newspaper team and Quake: The Big Canterbury Earthquake of 2010 by Dave Wethey and Ian Stuart from HarperCollins were both on the market within five weeks of the event. Fears that one would cannibalise the other in the market proved false as many Cantabrians and Kiwis bought both.

Ian Stuart, NZPA Bureau Chief and author of Quake said he wanted to make a record of the Christchurch earthquake so that the devastation would not be forgotten.

“Drive past the Abbotsford landslip in Dunedin now and there’s nothing to indicate that 69 houses tumbled down the cliff. I wanted to do the book so that in ten years time, when everything is repaired and restored, people could look and say: Gee, I didn’t realise the quake was that bad!”

He teamed with respected news photographer Dave Wethey who shot 240 photographs for Quake. Ian Stuart says the HarperCollins book is now into its fifth reprint.

The Big Quake from The Press saw Random take advantage of an existing relationship with the newspaper. Random’s Jenny Hellen got immediate agreement for her book proposal from The Press, but it had a slow start – their building had to be evacuated and no images were available for a week.

“When we got the material, it was in and out of our offices in 12 days,” says editorial director Nicola Legat. Random’s quake book included a DVD. The Big Quake has sold over 50,000 copies to date and reprinted three times.

Surprisingly, local histories can do really well even outside their regional area as Castlepoint: Coastal Station and Settlement by Alex Hedley, Peter and Nan Laing, is proving currently.

Castlepoint is published by David Hedley, the Masterton bookseller and publisher. He describes the book as a labour of love for the Hedley’s – author Alex is his son – as the family association with Castlepoint beach goes back more than 30 years. The book is full of the characters of the area, and much has been gleaned from a massive oral archive, fortunately already transcribed. The history goes back to the days of Cook and Colenso, the early settlers and their clearing of the land, but concentrates on the golden age of farming, from 1950 -1980.

Hedley handled the production of the book and its 70 photographs in house and used Printlink in Wellington for the print process.

“It seemed wrong for a heartland story to be printed in China,” David said. “The price here was competitive and I’m delighted with the quality of the work.”

The book has sold nationwide, to chains PaperPlus and REDgroup and to many independents including those in the Leading Edge group.

Such is Castlepoint’s unexpected success that David now only has stock available for his own store and consideration will have to be given to reprinting in 2011.

It seems life on our farms is always of interest to kiwis, even city slickers. David Hedley recalls the many reprints of Ngamatea: The People and the Land, Hazel Riseborough’s AUP book of 2006 about life on the large central North Island station.

Christine Fernyhough’s The Road to Castle Hill also gained a New Zealand wide audience for a book about her life in Canterbury. Dust to Gold by John Perriam is another.

So what else is currently on offer in local histories? The North Shore: An Illustrated History by David Verran was a Random House September release this year. It is currently a good mover at Takapuna’s The Booklover says Tom Beran.

Urban Village: The Story of Ponsonby, Freemans Bay & St Marys Bay by Jenny Carlyon and Diana Morrow, a 2008 title also from Random, is a continuing seller at Beran and Helen Drummond’s other bookshop, Dear Reader in Grey Lynn.

Nicola Legat says that publishers of local histories have to be careful as the catchment areas are small. “In the case of Urban Village, there are only three bookstores in the immediate Ponsonby Road area,” she explains. “Fortunately some other bookstores like Unity also stocked the book in the city.” Limited area or not, Urban Village has sold over 4,000 copies.

Random expects The North Shore to sell about 90 percent of its print run on the Shore though the title is distributed nationally. “It has done really well,” comments Nicola. “We are nearly to reprint.”

She says publishing histories with their need for so many photos to illustrate the text ‘is an economically difficult thing to make work – multi images are very expensive.’
Nevertheless, Random has a companion volume to Urban Village, by the same authors for release in May titled A Fine Prospect: Remuera, Meadowbank & St Johns.

Other quality titles in the genre The Read has come across in 2010 include Coolangatta: A Homage by Peter Macky, documentation of an outstanding Remuera Arts and Crafts home before its demolition in 2006. (Even more sadly, no attempt was made to save family records and furnishings, or to recycle kauri, matai and jarrah timbers, casement windows and other features.)

Macky, a relative of previous owners of Coolangatta, published the book at June as Livadia Publishing. He explains that the NZ publisher he approached did not feel the title would be financially viable.

Peter Macky is candid about the endeavour – he gained great publicity, and the book has gone on to sell 70 percent of its modest print run in less than six months at a retail of $65.00. While selling primarily in Auckland, there have been booksellers in Christchurch and Wellington stocking the title, and some copies were bought by Whitcoulls. He admits it was a labour of love – he will never be able to pay himself as an author – but the book sales are now at break-even with costs.

The Mackenzie Country: a fine plain behind the Snowy Range by David Relph was released by David Ling Publishing in July. The enthusiastically reviewed book about the spectacular region has sold well says David Ling.

“Relph’s book is not just history but also about the landforms and contemporary life in the Mackenzie which gives it a wider appeal”.

To reach the tourist market in the actual area – not well provided with bookstores – Mackenzie Country has been sold through other retail outlets  as well as bookstores.

The Cutting Edge: A History of the Waipa Sawmill 1939 -2010 by Kevin O'Connor and Kevin Lyall is another just released local history. It was commissioned by Red Stag Timber, current owners of the mill. McLeods in Rotorua are the sole retail stockists of the title and say it is selling well.

However, there is another side of the coin for local histories. The Read contacted Nikki Wynne of Wainuiomata Books and Gifts to ask how Wainui Days: Growing up in Wainuiomata by Philip Marshall was selling. Nikki said they had had a customer ask for it, but were unable to source the book.

As The Read discovered, this is a self published title available on the PublishMe site at $20.45.

So what is a bookseller to do? Source the book and give it a commercial markup only to have the customer discover she could buy it for less?

It is a dilemma most booksellers understandably choose to avoid!

Nikki has had experience of three other locally printed books sold in her store. So she is aware of the disappointments the authors suffered in getting their manuscripts professionally edited and printed, in some cases the finished work still had the odd spelling mistake, clumsy layout or even covers that fell off.

“The end result sometimes just doesn’t have a quality look. The authors are devastated and the book is not easy to sell,” she comments.

McLeods Booksellers in Rotorua have long had local histories as an important part of their stock, many written by Don Stafford who died earlier this year.

Lynne Jones of McLeods says the store has a constant stream of self published authors offering their books. David Thorp says “Now and then there’s a beaut – but most are of the vanity publishing line.”

The more diplomatic Lynne says she feels obliged to take the local efforts – but does so on a sale or return basis.

Local and family histories still have good tales to tell and with self publishing and other services, getting a book to print has never been easier. The Read’s advice to wannabe authors is to check book trade processes and ideally talk to a local bookseller before pressing that PRINT button.

by Jillian Ewart, writer for The Read.