The New Shape Of Sharp

[dubya3]

I recently found this book online and was ready to order up a copy until I saw the secondary market price tag of $219+. Has there been any thought of re-releasing a revised edition of this book, something with the newer products added and a ratio price tag for those of us that'd like one? I'd imagine there would be plenty of Spydie nuts that would love to have a copy.

[JD Spydo]

About 10 years ago I got my copy of "The Spyderco Story" By Kenneth Delavigne for $22 :eek: But at that time there were a few of those books floating around and they weren't that hard to get at the time. I don't know why Palladin Press quit printing that book and I was told that they did print a run of them in paperback. Mine is a hardback edition and I wouldn't trade mine for anything. Because if you're any kind of a Spyderco fan that book has some valuable information in it. It's an incredible story as to how Spyderco progressed into the stalwart knife manufacturer that they have become.

Yeah I've seen that book as high as $300+ :eek: on certain websites. I'm sure if Palladin Press knew for a fact that they could sell a 1000+ copies of the book then I'm fairly certain that they would probably do another run of the paperback edition. But from what I"ve been told about the book business is that the profit margin is so low that you have to sell thousands and in some cases millions of copies to even make it worth their time at all.

It is a great and well written book and I've been banging my drum for a few years now for them to write a sequel to that book. Because GOD knows there has been a lot of new innovations and changes at Spyderco to write a sequel about. Because you basically would be giving an account of what has transpired since the year 2000 and that would cover a lot of subject matter.

If they ever do another book or even a sequel to this book I would be one of the first in line to get one myself.

[dubya3]

The one I found for $219 was actually a paperback, I don't even want to see what the hard cover copies go for. It's a stretch but I think I'll keep my eyes peeled for a copy at yard sales and used book stores, one is bound to pop up at a decent price eventually.

I have a friend that's written a few books on Lake Superior Agates and he's had a few revised editions already. I'm not sure how many have sold but if palidan already has everything to run more copies I can't imagine it'd cost THAT much more to make a revised edition, half the book is already written but I really don't know how all that works.

Edited: I found a used copy for $120, I might just get that one in a week or two if I can't find any cheaper.

[JD Spydo]

The one I found for $219 was actually a paperback, I don't even want to see what the hard cover copies go for. It's a stretch but I think I'll keep my eyes peeled for a copy at yard sales and used book stores, one is bound to pop up at a decent price eventually.

I have a friend that's written a few books on Lake Superior Agates and he's had a few revised editions already. I'm not sure how many have sold but if palidan already has everything to run more copies I can't imagine it'd cost THAT much more to make a revised edition, half the book is already written but I really don't know how all that works.

Edited: I found a used copy for $120, I might just get that one in a week or two if I can't find any cheaper.

I'm glad you made mention of Used Book Stores :) Because we have a lot of them here where I live and I think I'll ask some of them if they have a copy. But even the paperback editions are getting to be a super find now a days. I haven't even seen a hard cover edition for sale since about 08 or 09. I would be curious as to how many hard backs and paperbacks that Palladin printed to begin with.

But it does seem kind of strange that no one has attempted to do a sequel of the SPYDERCO STORY :confused: Because there plenty to write about that has transpired over the past 15 years or so. Just what they have done with collaborations would be a book all by itself IMO. Many of our newer Spyderville citizens aren't even aware of the book at all and I'm hoping that at some point Palladin Press will do another run of them.

[jabba359]

At the very least, they should release the book again in digital format. I'm sure it's already digitized and wouldn't be much work to turn it into an e-book. That way they wouldn't have to worry about trying to recoup an investment into printing physical copies, as there's no inventory to produce and sell.

Another option would be to list it on one of the print-on-demand services, where they print up a book when someone orders it. Sure, the per-book price is higher than a mass produced run since there's no economy of scale, but it would be far cheaper than current secondary market prices, they wouldn't have to carry any inventory, and it would generate some income for Palladin (which the book isn't doing right now).

[v8r]

I haven't seen one for sale for a long time either. I was given mine as a gift about 4 or 5 years ago.

[v8r]

One for sale on Flea Bay for $250.00 buy it now.

[bearfacedkiller]

I would love to see this released in digital format. That would be awesome!

[DougC-3]

+1 on the ebook or reprint or revised edition + a sequel. IIRC I started a thread on this a couple of years ago myself, just after a became a Spydophile.

[DougC-3]

Sorry, multiple posts during nightly server shutdown :o

[DougC-3]

Got triple post during midnight server maintenance apparently. IIRC, in the old forum, we could delete the whole post when this happened :confused:

[Michael Janich]

I was working for Paladin at the time The Spyderco Story was published and helped push them to accept the title. Although it's a very cool book, it was not a strong seller. It was also toward the end of the "old-school" publishing era before digital stuff became the norm. To bring it back into print would require scanning the negatives (or, less preferably, a printed copy) to digitize it. That would allow print on demand (which Paladin did in-house for a number of years) and e-books, but the e-book format would probably not allow flowing text.

Having written a few books of my own over the years, it's not as easy as you might think--especially if your determined to do it well.

Stay safe,

Mike

[DougC-3]

I would be happy to get even a non-flowing PDF version.

[dubya3]

I'm all about the physical copy but if a PDF is all I could get I'd still be happy.

[JD Spydo]

I was working for Paladin at the time The Spyderco Story was published and helped push them to accept the title. Although it's a very cool book, it was not a strong seller. It was also toward the end of the "old-school" publishing era before digital stuff became the norm. To bring it back into print would require scanning the negatives (or, less preferably, a printed copy) to digitize it. That would allow print on demand (which Paladin did in-house for a number of years) and e-books, but the e-book format would probably not allow flowing text.

Having written a few books of my own over the years, it's not as easy as you might think--especially if your determined to do it well.

Well Mr. Janich you've sort of confirmed much of what I've heard about the sad reality of the book business. Because I was sort of shocked when a very popular book store chain known as "BORDERS BOOKS" closed their doors here in the Kansas City, MO/KS area. And everytime I went to either one of the BORDERS or BARNES & NOBLE bookstores they always had a lot of people in those stores and many people were indeed buying items there as well. But apparently even with the popularity of BORDERS they still couldn't make enough of a profit to justify keeping the stores open unfortunately which confirms that the profit margin in the book business is not that great compared to other merchandise

But back to the subject at hand and that being the SPYDERCO STORY book written by Kenneth Delavigne and a very well written book by the way too. I get my copy out about every two months or so and spend time in it and enjoy learning Spyderco's great history. But when you mention the lackluster sales it really doesn't surprise me>> and now I think I know why we will never see a sequel to that great book unfortunately BEcause knife enthusiasts like many of us here on the forum are very small in numbers when you look at the big picture>> good example being the recent demise of TACTICAL KNIVES magazine which was a lot of knife lovers favorite publication>> myself being included.

The more I think about it I'm now sort of surprised that the book even got off the ground sales-wise to begin with being that the market for such a specialized book is a small one indeed. I'm even wondering if Palladin or Kenneth Delavigne ( the book's author) ever made any decent money on it at all? I think that the one Brother's suggestion of checking the used bookstores is probably your best bet for finding a copy. Because when you look at the big picture it still amazes me that as long as Spyderco has been in business and with as many sales as they have made over the years I don't run into many people here in KC, MO that even know that Spyderco even exists>> much less is there any significant fan base here in KC or anywhere else for that matter.

[Mad Mac]

Maybe the 40th Anniversary this year will inspire an author to write a sequel to The Spyderco Story. In the meantime there are 15 used and new on Amazon from $145 and two on eBay.