The Spyderco Story: Time For A Sequel?

[JD Spydo]

Yesterday afternoon I was wanting to do something I haven't done in a while. I used to be an avid reader of many different books. So I went to my personal bookshelf in my room and pulled out my copy of "The Spyderco Story" book by Kenneth Delavigne. I always enjoy going through all the great history of the Spyderco company when reading in that great book.

If you want to know what got Spyderco to where they are now you absolutely must read that book of theirs published by the old Palladin Press of years gone by. That book pretty much tells you the story of how they were from the beginning up to probably the late 90s.

I've been kind of disappointed that there hasn't been a sequel to that great book. There are very few examples of super successful American Entrepreneurism like Spyderco has been in our modern times. I hope some of you agree with me that it's high time for a sequel to "The Spyderco Story". What do you all say?

[rycen]

If I remember correctly there was a sequel in the works but something happened to delay it.

[Cheddarnut]

If I remember correctly there was a sequel in the works but something happened to delay it.

PM 2 exclusives.

[Doc Dan]

I would certainly think that with all that has gone on with Spyderco and the advancements they've made that there needs to be an up to date sequel.

[JD Spydo]

If I remember correctly there was a sequel in the works but something happened to delay it.

Yeah I do remember some talk about it maybe a couple of years ago? But there has been so many new products and innovations that I feel they are way overdue for another book to cover it all.

That Kenneth Delavigne sure did a great job on "The Spyderco Story". To cover everything that Spyderco has accomplished from the year 2000 till now is going to be a huge undertaking to be sure.

[nerdlock]

I haven't read that book and I'd love to, someday. For the sequel, I'd love to have chapters dedicated to Sal's "talkin' story" series. It's one of those posts that I look forward to everytime I see Sal's green name on a thread.

[Ngati Pom]

I would definitely be interested in a reprint and its sequel.
And more of Sal’s stories.

[JD Spydo]

I would definitely be interested in a reprint and its sequel.
And more of Sal’s stories.

That's an interesting thought>> a reprint of the original "Spyderco Story". It was "Paladin Press" who did the original and they are now out of business from what I was told. I guess it depends on who owns the rights to it. As many new Spyderco enthusiasts as we've gathered over the past 8 to 10 years I would think a re-print of the original would be worth while if there were not too many legal hurdles to go over.

It would be interesting to know just how many of the original that "Paladin Press" printed in the first place. I do know that after they printed the Hard Cover version they later did a soft cover version as well. But I have no idea how many they ever did in the first place. It can't be too many because aftermarket prices of the Spyderco Story are very lofty.

[Ramonade]

I tried to see if I could get the original... as much as I love books, i can't spend 1300€ for it!

[nerdlock]

Curious if there ever was an e-book version of this? That would make it more affordable and readily accessible for international customers.

[Araignee]

I tried to see if I could get the original... as much as I love books, i can't spend 1300€ for it!

It can be yours for as low as 180€ zo

[JD Spydo]

Curious if there ever was an e-book version of this? That would make it more affordable and readily accessible for international customers.

I'm not sure about whether or not the Spyderco Story was ever available in "e-book" form. It's been quite a while since "Paladin Press" closed their doors so I'm kind of doubtful about that one. And Paladin Press was kind of a renegade type bookseller anyway.

In other words it's extremely doubtful you would ever see any of Paladin's books at any local public library. I tried ordering a soft cover version of the Spyderco Story book through my local Barnes & Noble store and they told me that they had no access to books from that publisher>> and that's been quite some time ago too.

[Michael Janich]

Hey, All:

I worked for Paladin Press from 1994-2004 as their Video Production Manager. Prior to that--and during and after my tenure--I was also an author for them. I also helped out a bit as an in-house technical advisor on "The Spyderco Story" book. Despite its reputation as the "World's most dangerous publisher," the vast majority of Paladin employees did not have an active interest in the topics on which they published.

At the time "The Spyderco Story" was published, Paladin was still doing old-school publishing--physical negatives of every page and offset printing in big printing houses. As they gradually moved into the digital age, they changed their ways. However, books published with the old method, if they were to remain in print or be brought back into print, had to be converted from negatives to digital files. That was a time-consuming process, so the priority was based on the book's initial (or ongoing) success and the subjective desires of the owner, Peder Lund. Although "The Spyderco Story" was and is a fascinating and well-done book, its sales to Paladin's broad market were limited. I believe most of the copies sold went wholesale to Spyderco. As such, it never "made the list" for conversion to digital form.

In the 2000's and early 2010's, Paladin switched to on-demand publishing and leased or bought a huge printer/binder to publish their own stuff. Although it brought costs down considerably and made them more nimble with regard to quantities, they never managed that process well. Many of the books that got converted to digital were early Paladin titles that had run their course and could not be resurrected profitably. Sadly, "The Spyderco Way" still did not make the list. Paladin also made a deal with the devil--Amazon--and most of their sales shifted from consumer-direct to deep discounts to Amazon.

Paladin's author contracts always specified that, if they "went away" for any reason, the rights for books and videos would revert to the author. When Paladin was in decline, they reached out to many, but not all, of their authors offering digital files of their titles--if they existed. I doubt that Ken Delavigne received such files, which would also be the best basis for publishing an e-book. Although the rights to the book clearly rest with him since Paladin's closure, bringing the book back into print without digital files would be challenging. All original physical negatives in Paladin's library were destroyed.

Stay safe,

Mike

[MyelinSheath&Borborygmi]

Digital version of the book exists and can be found on the internet.

[JRinFL]

An existing copy could be scanned and converted to digital via OCR. There are services for this or it could be done by a dedicated individual. It would still need a human editor to review and correct the result. Once in digital form, Spyderco could sell it in a protected form direct from their website. All the related legal matters I would leave to Spyderco's and the author's attorneys to work out.

[Accutron]

A digital copy of The Spyderco Story exists. It's in .djvu format with 600 ppi searchable body text. It does not appear to be a community-originated scanned hard copy, but rather a professionally produced e-book derived from official scans or prepress materials. The file has been linked on this forum several times in the past.

[Michael Janich]

A digital copy of The Spyderco Story exists. It's in .djvu format with 600 ppi searchable body text. It does not appear to be a community-originated scanned hard copy, but rather a professionally produced e-book derived from official scans or prepress materials. The file has been linked on this forum several times in the past.

If that's the case, that's great news. I am still skeptical that the original files came from Paladin Press, however.

The thread on this forum regarding the .djvu version (viewtopic.php?t=47914) is still there, but the links in it are dead. A Google search revealed other sources claiming to offer a PDF, but those links are dead as well.

This one to ZLibrary (https://u1lib.org/book/727326/497a15) claims to offer the book as an ebook, but the random mix of English and Cyrillic (I think) text makes that site sketchy enough that I'm hesitant to click on anything. If someone else is braver than I am and is successful in downloading the ebook, please let us know.

It's also interesting to note that ZLibrary also offers Paladin's banned explosives books. The Patriot Act basically forced Paladin to stop publishing those books, but others went on to sell them for years afterward...

Stay safe,

Mike

[JRinFL]

Lots of books have illegitimate copies in digital form. I avoid them.

[James Y]

I would love to see a sequel to The Spyderco Story. Maybe it could be called something like “Spyderco CQI (Constant Quality Imorovement): The History, the People, the Knives.”

I’m glad I found my hardcover copy of The Spyderco Story many years ago at a local gun show. IIRC, it cost me around $70 at the time.

Jim

[Ngati Pom]

A digital copy of The Spyderco Story exists. It's in .djvu format with 600 ppi searchable body text. It does not appear to be a community-originated scanned hard copy, but rather a professionally produced e-book derived from official scans or prepress materials. The file has been linked on this forum several times in the past.

If that's the case, that's great news. I am still skeptical that the original files came from Paladin Press, however.

The thread on this forum regarding the .djvu version (viewtopic.php?t=47914) is still there, but the links in it are dead. A Google search revealed other sources claiming to offer a PDF, but those links are dead as well.

This one to ZLibrary (https://u1lib.org/book/727326/497a15) claims to offer the book as an ebook, but the random mix of English and Cyrillic (I think) text makes that site sketchy enough that I'm hesitant to click on anything. If someone else is braver than I am and is successful in downloading the ebook, please let us know.

It's also interesting to note that ZLibrary also offers Paladin's banned explosives books. The Patriot Act basically forced Paladin to stop publishing those books, but others went on to sell them for years afterward...

Stay safe,

Mike

Presumably the original author can lay claim to copyright of any copies of his original text whether print or digital.
With Paladin press no longer in play. If the author or their estate were to give permission,
and given the advances in E-publishing, would it be possible to print directly from a digital file?
Would there be sufficient interest to justify doing this?