Winning One Pocket for Sale

This is America. There's absolutely nothing wrong with selling anything at whatever price the traffic will bear. The demand drives the market. If someone thinks the price is too high, better yet, if everyone thinks that the price is too high, and no one buys, then the price comes down. That's capitalism at it's finest, and we should love it so...Tom
 
CreeDo said:
I just feel that it's exploitation to sell some things for a high price just because they're hard to get. It's only hard to get because someone (publisher, reseller, let's not nitpick) screwed up and failed to see the demand, not because the book is the printed equivalent of a diamond.
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You wouldn't happen to have a Mickey Mantle Rookie Card I could have for 3 cents would ya' :D
 
Russ Chewning said:
Fatboy and Scottster, thank you for being the voices of reason..

I guess other people in this world believe that all books, video, and music should be free. And an HDTV in every home!

Russ
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I'm not as vocal, but I'm with you, too, Russ. The reason they have copyright laws is to protect the investment of the originators of the book, video, music, etc... We all love the great new stuff (and certain old stuff), and what's wrong with showing some respect for the bloke that busted their ass and went out on a limb to create the material originally. Just because modern technology makes it especially easy to pirate copies, those that created the content deserve the respect and protection of copyright laws. A good many artists/writers, photographers, videographers get by on a shoestring -- most are not like JK Rowling, Steven Spielberg, the Rolling Stones, etc... especially in a niche market like pool, or double niche, like One Pocket!

As far as why Eddie Robin doesn't reprint, I think he may have legal woes -- yet another expense to bear. In fact, he has scant few remaining copies of his own book, and is very happy to get lucky and reacquire copies now and then, which he sells on eBay. I am sure he would be offering us more if he had them.

I do however, take exception to guys like Garth Brooks, that want a SECOND cut of USED CD sales of their music, not just new. That is over the top, IMO, and even if I liked his music, I would be inclined to boycott, because that is double dipping :)
My .02...
 
Russ Chewning said:
(It limited me to 10 frowns)

Russ
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Let me help.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: (BTW - These are actually mads' which I think are much more appropriate. Frowns are purple.).

I happen to have just bought both of the Eddie Robin books recently for about the same price a piece, although mine is the second edition with all(?) the typos and grammatical errors corrected.

As any one pocket afficionado will tell you, its worth every penny.

I do agree though that Eddie needs to either make a new batch or sell the copyrights to someone who will. Anybody who wants this information should be able to have access to it; legal access that is.
 
It would be cool if the author of the book would convert it to .pdf (or some other digital format). Then they could sell it for a reasonable price online. Of course, then it would spread around online like wildfire but the author isn't getting any money from the resale of this book either, so might as well make a little something and, at the same time, make the book available at a price that would actually make the book affordable for most people.
 
ghost ball said:
Yeah, I hate them too! Especially when its done fraudulently. For example, rather than let the Iraqi people re-build their own country, no bid contracts are awarded to companies and in turn, they pay their employees ridiculous wages to get the job done. Sheesh. I can't believe some of these thieves over there stealing jobs from the Iraqis and getting overpaid to boot! Gawd I hate 'em :mad: :mad: :mad:

ghost ball
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OOoooooooh! I wuuuuuuuuv it when uneducated people spout the party line. Shall I post for you the hundreds upon hundreds of Iraqi companies that have been awarded building contracts? Oh yeah, and that was after those companies were given FREE training on modern building practices and techniques.

I suppose you'd like the Iraqis providing security for getting the energy infrastructure back up? Boy, that would make it easy for Sunni or Shiite militants to get in and conduct sabotage..

The only contracts the Iraqis are not allowed to bid on are those specifically dealing with military bases over here. You simply cannot have Iraqis working on power generators and communications equipment. The opportunities for sabotage and espionage are too great.

As it is, we employ Iraqi cleaning crews who act as forward observers for the militants launching mortars on our compound. Not all of them, but some of them, for sure. I suppose you'd let them run the communications equipment too? Idiot.

And trust me, there just aren't a whole lot of Iraqis who are capable of doing a job like mine. I KNOW this, because I was sent out to train a few iraqis to do a job similar to mine in another area. They were IT guys. They weren't the brightest bulbs in the bunch. But they knew how to plug in a computer, at least.

Maybe you should try to educate yourself a little before you spout the party line. Every single contract that is safe enough to give to the Iraqis has been given to them.

Russ
 
I owe at least kirkwood an apology. I really polluted this thread and all he wanted to do was let people know he had a pool-related ebay item up. I shoulda kept my trap shut.


Even though I probably sound like a crazed fan of pirating everything, I'm not. People deserve money for their efforts. In this case, I'd rather see the author get hundreds of dollars than a reseller, but I can't fault the reseller either. It'd make no difference if he put the starting bid at 1 penny, eventually it would bid up to hundreds of dollars on its own. That's just how capitalism works.

Sorry again kirkwood, and good luck with your auction.
 
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Yum Yum Chew Em Up

Scottster said:
You wouldn't happen to have a Mickey Mantle Rookie Card I could have for 3 cents would ya' :D
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Go as high as a nickel and I'll take the GUM.
Doug
( I'll take Issue #1 of "On The Snap" magazine for $2.50 )

How much is Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 of "The Blue Book of Cues" going for ?
 
Jimmy M. said:
It would be cool if the author of the book would convert it to .pdf (or some other digital format). Then they could sell it for a reasonable price online. Of course, then it would spread around online like wildfire but the author isn't getting any money from the resale of this book either, so might as well make a little something and, at the same time, make the book available at a price that would actually make the book affordable for most people.
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The author would love to sell it in hardcover, softcover, digital, or any other format at a reasonable price, but he can't. I don't know all of the details, but he has been fighting the publisher to try and get another printing for years. I think that unfortunately the original publisher has exclusive rights to it, and refuses to let go of them.
 
If the writer is having so many issues with the publisher getting another reprint, why not recreate the info in another way and go around the stupid publisher? I'm no writer or know ANYTHING about the process, so I'm asking, but it seems to me the main part of the creative process comes from and belongs to the writer.

That being said, I had the opportunity to borrow copies of these books and honestly I understand the teaching, but I play a vastly different game then those books teach, I'm not saying better, just different.

Gerry
 
Fatboy said:
good thing is if you ever do sell your going to be fine, unlike the rest of the books in the world
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Not true...Jack White's book, "Let Us To Billiards Away", when you can find it on eBay (it's out of print), routinely sells for $200+...after originally selling for less than $15. :D I will agree that most pool books lose their value quickly.

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
CreeDo said:
It's only hard to get because someone (publisher, reseller, let's not nitpick) screwed up and failed to see the demand, not because the book is the printed equivalent of a diamond.
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How much impact do you think the Derby City Classic has had on the games people play? The book was published several years prior to the first DCC, and the growing turnout in the one-pocket tournaments every year suggest more interest now in one-pocket than there was back in the early '90s when it came out. How were the author and publishers supposed to know that a few years later we would have massive turnouts for something other than 9-ball tournaments. Think about Freddy the Beard's two books on Banks, would we have those if the DCC had never began?
 
the product on the market is limited while the demand is huge, that causes high prices. But at the same time whoever manages to re-print present Eddie Robin's books and issue new ones (like on straight pool he was planning) will make a fortune. I hope it comes true before it is too late (Mr Robin is in his old ages now). Strange the publishers don't fight for the right to print 'em.
 
The DCC notwithstanding, it seems straightforward to me... if the publisher is holding the rights and doing nothing with them and not giving them up either, that publisher is simply an idiot. He is making absolutely no money. He can sell the rights back to the author and make some money, or sell them to someone who has some idea what to with them.

He can also simply publish it. It's very easy to make money on a publication that has a very limited audience or has little demand - print a limited run and stick 'em up for sale on the internet.

This publisher is a dinosaur.

I also wonder if the author can't do some kind of legal end-run and just re-release the book(s) in slightly changed form, and call it 'the ultimate eddie robin compendium' or something.
 
CreeDo said:
...I also wonder if the author can't do some kind of legal end-run and just re-release the book(s) in slightly changed form, and call it 'the ultimate eddie robin compendium' or something.
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This last idea sure sounds like a free-fall into yet more legal wrangling :)
 
I finally got to have a look at the book, and it seems like a great instructional. I like how he blends shot diagrams with player pics and biographical info to keep the reader's attention. There's also a neat little "how would you handle this?" no-diagram quiz that I think is unique in the world of pool books.

The best part is towards the end - an entire chapter with a cool story on each page about a particular match (probably all big money matches) with one of the combatants describing an awesome shot he made (or the other guy made), plus a pic of the person telling the story and a diagram of the shot. For example Grady has a situation where he's hidden from four of his opponent's balls, and he has no obvious banks, so he makes a not-so-obvious bank - he hits a ball sitting very near the side rail (close enough that a normal bank is impossible) with massive inside english so that it banks up table, cutting away from the opposite corner pocket then spinning off the rail so that it heads into grady's pocket.

This is such a cool approach to a pool book that it should be used everywhere, but I've never seen it.

So I guess I've changed my mind, the book's worth the money. It really does have stuff that you can't just buy off the rack somewhere else. It couldn't have been easy getting individual interviews with all those famous players (like 30 of them). If I were a serious 1p player and had 200 bucks of disposable income, I'd go for it.
 
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Gerry said:
If the writer is having so many issues ...why not recreate the info in another way and go around the stupid publisher? ...Gerry
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I think, even shuffled around, it is still intellectual property that is owned by....well, the owner:rolleyes:

I bought both books from Eddie and believe they are well worth $200+ each.
 
I've had Winning One Pocket (1st ed, w/ correction sheets) for some time now. IMO, this book (along w/ Shots, Moves, & Strategies also by this author) contains an immense amount of knowledge. Alot of the shots diagramed in this book are a bit far fetched IMO, but it's not about learning the exact shot as shown. If you were to memorize every one of the hundreds of different shots in these books your game would definitely increase b/c you would know one more way of playing that particular situation. But the real value of this book, IMO, is that it teaches you how to look at the table in a completely new way. It shows so many different shots that I had never even dreamed was possible. These 'new' possibilities is the real value of these books. The knowledge obtained through these books can be applied to many more situations than just those shown, which in turn, will increase your game by that much more. JMHO.

Ryan
 
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