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Re: [GWL]: Timber Press

Title: Re: [GWL]: Timber Press
All but one of my titles published in the US by Timber Press are co-editions of books which originated in the UK. My UK contract specifies royalties from any US sale. The one contract I do have with directly with Timber Press in the US is for a book for which they originally took a co-edition, then the UK publisher did not want to reprint; so Timber took it over, paid a modest advance, reprinted it without changes and so the book was able to stay in print and earned, well, more than gravy but not too many four course meals.

It is true that Timber used to be exclusively a publisher of highly specialist books but in recent years they have broadened out noticeably. They have acheived this partly by taking co-editions of a broader range of books from the UK - these include Christopher Lloyd's Garden Flowers, Stephen Anderton's excellent Urban Sanctuaries and my own Discovering Annuals. As more mainstream US publishers have become more selective in their buy-ins from the UK, a wider nage of titles have become available to Timber and they have taken advantage. At the same time, as US publishers have cut back their lists, American authors too have found their way to Timber. Pamela Harper's other books have been published by larger houses.

They do produce lovely books, they seem very tolerant of late delivery of manuscripts and they pay a pittance. No one else would have published Purple-leaved Plums it's true, so they do play a most valuable role. But for writers tryting to make a living, rather than nuserymen writing the occasional book, they should not be first choice. Anyone with a specialist book that would also interest a British readership could also try BT Batsford (www.batsford.com), for whom I consult, and a number of whose books have been taken by Timber for the US.

I hope this helps shed light on Timber's way of publishing. They're an invaluable house, publishing many books no one else would take; but no one will make a living publishing with them.

Graham Rice

http://grahamrice.com

We'll let Graham answer the specifics of his deal, if he wishes. However, as a general rule, "resale" is part of the original contract, and usually works on a flat rate basis. The second house pays a flat rate to the original publisher. How that money is divided is determined by the contract between the author and original publisher.

Book club sales are a similar deal, only worse.

Most of the time, resales don't add up to a hill of beans. So, yes whatever results is gravy. But there isn't enought of it to cover your mashed potatoes.


Brook
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