Nernstian59 wrote on 07/11/24 at 03:02:11:


Covering the Marshall Gambit in twenty-four pages might be a touch ambitious also

cathexis - I noticed that Thinkers Publishing is releasing several new books soon, and they're all hardcovers except for one on puzzles/tactical exercises, which presumably has a wider audience. As I recall, books from this publisher were always paperbacks until a few months ago.  Maybe they recently decided to adopt the boutique model.

Quality Chess used an approach such as the one you describe where certain books, such as the series authored by Boris Gelfand, were first released as hardcovers for those who had to have them immediately. Paperback versions would follow about a year later for those who preferred to wait.  We'll have to see if any of these hardcovers from Thinkers eventually come out in paperback.

Perhaps that's the reason. IIRC, the usual tradition in book sales is to issue a limited run of HC for a given title, then follow with PB based on sales numbers. Another thing that is more common today than years ago is the rise in the number of "boutique" publishers who basically issue limited print runs of pricier titles whose "special" qualities justify a higher price. A little bit like those Steel-Book video sales; the actual movie is the same, you're just paying for the fancy clamshell case and maybe video extras.

From their web-site:
Quote:


They're trying to justify that price. Sounds boutique-ish to me.

Thinkers Publishing will soon be releasing an addition to their "Modernized" series of opening books. It's The Modernized Semi-Slav by Milos Pavlovic. The book is in the "Announcements" section of the Niggemann site, which also offers a sample that includes the book's Preface and Table of Contents, plus a preview of the chapter dealing with the Meran Variation. Based on the page count shown in the ToC, the Meran section is the longest in the book. Among other chapters are those on the 6.Qc2 Anti-Meran, other White 6th moves, and the Marshall Gambit. 

In his Preface, Pavlovic notes that he doesn't analyze the Botvinnik Variation in response to 5.Bg5. I found his reason for this avoidance to be a bit odd, namely that he had already published various ideas on the Botvinnik in several magazines. Pavlovic doesn't specify what his recommendation is - only that it's "a modern approach". Whatever it is, it allows him to cover 5.Bg5 in about 20 pages. This relative brevity on what would otherwise be a lengthy subject results in a 176-page book, according to the information provided by Amazon. 

Given this rather slender volume, I was surprised to see the price listed in the $45-$49 range for pre-order from various sites. I then noticed that the book is offered as a hardcover only, which apparently accounts for its higher than expected price. The publisher's other recent opening book, The Modernized Queen Gambit Declined, is also only available in hardcover. I wonder if this is a new strategy from Thinkers Publishing, where declining sales of opening works is addressed by switching to hardcovers, whose higher price allows the publisher to build in a larger profit per book sold.