Prince-Nez wrote on 02/08/07 at 17:45:16:



That's very surprising, I had no idea that so much was taken out of John's book. I wonder why they would do this?
It would be interesting to know how much the printing costs for a publisher rise as the size of the book increases. The cost would certainly not rise on a 'linear' scale (e.g. a book of 200 pages would not be twice as expensive as the same book with 100 pages... though of course it would have to be slightly more.) From the publisher's point of view, I guess there are two things to take into consideration. Obviously a higher page count will raise the printing costs (though I suspect by a relatively small degree). However there is also a benefit: as long as the quality if pretty good, if the public can see that they are getting a lot of pages for their money then presumably this will have a positive effect on book sales. Also the author gets paid the same whether they produce 175 or 375 pages - again, from that perspective the publisher is getting better value for a larger book (obviously from my perspective, I now realise that I could have written mine as two volumes and doubled my money!)  

Considering all that, it seems even stranger that they would cut so much out of Starting Out d4. I haven't seen the material that was cut, but I know John is an excellent author so it is hard to imagine it was to do with the quality.

As for my book, there was never any mention of cutting it down, even when it became very clear that it was going to end up on the long side. Why did they cut John's book yet leave mine, despite it being even longer? I have no idea, you will have to ask the Everyman management!

Antillian wrote on 02/08/07 at 19:41:17:


Not quite just on a "sideline."  Over half the book is on the RL w/o 3...a6 and fourth move alternatives too. 

I agree with you on Quality Chess:  Liberal page counts and high quality effort and analysis.  

Of course Everyman and Gambit are also turning out a lot of excellent stuff too!  

TopNotch wrote on 02/08/07 at 18:19:50:


Perhaps White has to work so much harder for an advantage after 1 e4 e5

IMJohnCox wrote on 02/08/07 at 17:32:31:


Perhaps you could post those 100+ pages here?    

I hope IM Greet will tell us why he was given so much space.  Superficially, I would have guessed that such a generous allotment would only be given to an author with a proven track record.  

Was it because the book is on the Ruy Lopez?  Or perhaps they were just so impressed with Andrew's work they didn't want to cut it. 

Good question. Starting Out 1d4 had easily 100 pages worth of material cut from it, and it would have been a lot better with it left in IMHO.

I think the answer is the relationship between the price which Everyman perceive as what the public will pay for a chess book (regardless of length) and the cost of publishing that chess book. I find this curious, but I expect they know their business.

Not sure why Andrew's been allowed so much more space; I'm a bit jealous!

Willempie wrote on 02/08/07 at 12:54:59:


Yes, I was also a bit shocked when I saw the page count! At least no-one can say it's not good value for money (in terms of a cost per page ratio)!

Curious how the line with 5.Nxe5 has received a lot of attention yet 4.Nxe5 has been virtually ignored.

As for the Be2 Open Sicilians, I'm afraid I don't have too much experience in them so it's unlikely. Still I suppose there could be a market for a book entitled something like: 'A positional Repertoire For White in The Open Sicilians", based on 6.Be2 against almost everything.
A 3.Bb5 (+) Sicilian repertoire book could be a possibility though, some time in the future.

Willempie wrote on 02/08/07 at 08:17:20:



Many thanks for the positive comments! I must say I had no idea that anyone had analysed 4.Nxe5 on this forum, so I too would be interested to see Markovich's analysis if anyone knows where to find it.