Country Cracks: The story of N.S.W. country tennis by Ron McLean. Hardcover book published by Ron McLean (no date, 1980s), 144 pages with black and white photographs.
Tennis is a popular sport… maybe not everywhere, but here in Australia it is fairly popular. The author of this book has had a long association with Country Tennis in New South Wales, both as a player and in administration. I like the idea that someone who has been intimately involved has written this history, it gives the whole thing a certain amount of credibility. The author is also the publisher and he has managed to take some time out from playing, administering, writing and publishing this book, to sign it as well. The personal touch is a nice thing, considering how busy he must of been.
There are lots of great photographs which as a Victorian non tennis playing absolutely no interest in tennis person such as myself, can find quite interesting. These people have been photographed at a point in their lives that was important to them and to those around them. It is a proud history captured in the moment. I’m tempted to write “forgotten history”, but I don’t know that the tennis clubs and tennis people of N.S.W have forgotten them. If they have, then this book should rectify this issue.
So I’ve written some nice things about this book. What I haven’t written about is how it hasn’t sold at this point in time and how I have very little confidence that it will sell. A book that is so specific in its scope is also specific in its audience which may or may not be saturated with copies. Also, this publication is from the 1980s and there is possibly a more up to date volume on the same subject, which sort of makes it a little obsolete (...the book, not the subject). When I picked the book up, I thought that it was worth a go on ebay. Here i am on the second ebay listing and all I’m thinking is how my effort has been wasted and... whoops, I’ve made another mistake.
As a fellow bookseller, I'm not sure that you have made a 'mistake' listing this book, even if it doesn't sell.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how good (in any sense) a book may be, there is always a chance that nobody will notice it. It's unreasonable to expect that ALL books will sell, so you have to judge success by just what overall percentage sell.
Having said that, I do see many books advertised on ebay that I think are very unlikely to sell - but yours always have something in their favour. Good luck with this one!