Nelson & His World

Discussion on the life and times of Admiral Lord Nelson
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 Post subject: Newsflash: Jack Tar
PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:38 pm 
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Location: mid-Wales
Roy and Lesley Adkins' latest book 'Jack Tar' has received excellent reviews and has sold out - a tremendous achievement in view of the preponderance of celebrity memoirs and cookbooks in the bookshops at the moment.

If you have not yet ordered your copy - mine's in the post from Amazon and I will review it in a few days - please be patient. More copies are being printed and should be in the bookshops soon.


Last edited by tycho on Fri Dec 05, 2008 7:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:40 pm 
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Location: Devon, England
Thank you for giving out this information. We cannot believe that in a recession, a publisher would allow a book to go out of print just before Christmas and lose sales. This also happened just before Christmas with our last book with them! And as all authors know, publishers have short memories and always blame the author later on if sales were poor. As far as we can see, most bookstores still have copies of Jack Tar, but not a single online store has copies in stock (Amazon, Book Depository, WH Smith, Blackwells, Waterstones, play.com etc etc). So we hope that your copy does arrive from Amazon! We are told that reprints will arrive today, 5th December, but that's only to the publisher's warehouse. So if anyone wants to set up a thread on books and publishing, we will be happy to contribute a few choice comments!

Lesley and Roy Adkins


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 7:09 am 
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As most viewers will be aware, 'Jack Tar' was very well received but, as Lesley informed us above, the publishers mismanaged the print run and stocks were quickly exhausted which meant that sales were lost in the run-up to Christmas.

Roy and Lesley also had some bad luck when the audience for their talk in Bath last Friday was much reduced: of those who bought tickets a huge number was prevented from attending by the snow (including me - holed up in Wales.) There was a brisk sale of books but, of course, there would have been many more but for the weather.

Writing serious books which are of value to Nelson enthusiasts is hard enough without these attendant problems, and it is in our own interest to ease these where we can. So this is a plea, really. If you haven't yet bought 'Jack Tar,' treat yourself and please make it known to other enthusiasts and encourage them to buy.

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Anna


Last edited by tycho on Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 9:37 pm 
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Anna, That's very kind of you to give a plug to 'Jack Tar', and a big thank you to the 50+ valiant people who made it to our talk at Bath (120 were booked). The snow had been thawing nicely in Bath, but another fall overnight put paid to a full house. We ourselves had an interesting trip home, as nine inches of snow had fallen here in Devon! The Theatre Royal is a wonderful venue for talks, and even with a reduced audience, there was so much enthusiasm that we could probably have stayed all afternoon with Q&A. The snow and ice reminded us of how wretched conditions must have been at times on board warships - and ice falling onto vehicles on the Severn Bridge is similar to contemporary accounts of ice falling from the rigging, often with fatal consequences.

Yes, you're right, Jack Tar has had a turbulent voyage so far, which has been very frustrating as there was a big demand for the book before Christmas (we were sent several emails asking in desperation how to get hold of a copy!). It hasn't helped that the publisher's overall company (Hachette) has been in dispute with Amazon over terms for more than a year, and so no longer supplies books to Amazon direct. Then the demise of Woolworths also took down two book wholesalers, EUK and Bertrams, which meant that the other wholesalers were overloaded.

For 2009, we should all probably try to bring about a resurgence in maritime-Nelson-naval books, either by buying them or borrowing them from the library - otherwise there really will come a time when virtually nothing new is published.

Lesley


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 9:18 am 
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Yes, the Theatre Royal in Bath is a lovely venue - one of the most elegant Georgian buildings in a city with more than its fair share of exquisite architecture. Mercifully, it survived the Blitz in Bath during WW2 when many treasures were destroyed. Living nearby, we are regular theatre-goers and the venue adds to the pleasure - not to mention a meal at the Olive Tree beforehand! What a pity that Nelson never attended a performance there: the New Theatre Royal dates from 1805. If he did go to the theatre when in Bath that would have been the old theatre in Orchard Street.

I've made a post about Nelson at the Theatre Royal on another thread.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed May 06, 2009 8:30 pm 
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I am delighted that Jack Tar has received a splendid review after the bad luck with which its publication has been dogged.

http://www.swmaritime.org.uk/article.ph ... 11&atype=r

If you haven't yet bought your copy please do so and keep authentic researchers in business. The book trade seems to be going further and further down the path of celebrity memoirs and cookery books. It is in the interests of everyone who values our past, and particularly our maritime past, to read and BUY the work of committed researchers and historians/writers like Roy and Lesley.

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Anna


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon May 11, 2009 11:40 am 
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That's very kind of you to mention this review. The paperback will be published in September, so it's unlikely that the hardback will be reprinted after that.

It's worth mentioning that the review is on the website of the South West Maritime History Society, and their homepage is www.swmaritime.org.uk -a very active society that is well worth joining, with members not just restricted to the south-west.

Lesley


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