[lbo-talk] Quality never dates

Daniel Davies d_squared_2002 at yahoo.co.uk
Thu Mar 10 03:43:39 PST 2005



> On Wed, 9 Mar 2005, Doug Henwood wrote:


> > None. I could theoretically earn a few hundred bucks in royalties over the
> > next couple of years, but only theoretically, since Verso - how to put
> > this gently? - isn't always reliable about making royalty payments. I'm
> > trying to decide whether it's worth the effort of doing a second,
> > seriously updated edition, but that's a totally different question. I
> > spent six years writing Wall Street and made <$10,000 on it, and would
> > like to squeeze another couple of bucks out of it if I could. But that
> > doesn't seem likely, so I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do with
> > it in its present, slightly outdated form.

I don't really think it's all that dated - my copy happened to make its way off the shelf when I wanted to look up a quote about prostitutes and I'm rereading it at the moment. There are a few nostalgic moments; I had to raise a smile at the point that "some obsessive analysts make as many as 300 phone calls a month" (the day I read that, my management information system informed me, was also the day when I made my 600th phone call in the month of February). But the vast majority of it is solid background stuff of the sort that doesn't date.

What the hell do Verso think they're playing at anyway, letting it go out of print? I've half a mind to start an internet campaign. Is there any way you can wrest the rights away from them (in particular, is there any way that you can do an updated edition with a new publisher). I think that so far from giving it away, you should jack up the price to $85 and go after the textbook market. It's certainly easier reading than Brealey & Myers and arguably more accurate.

dd

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