A tale of three projects
Today, I learned a few things. Firstly, I hear from Crecy Publishing, who acquired the railway titles from Ian Allan Publishing Ltd. over winter, that "LNER Passenger Trains & Formations, The Principal Services", has sold out. In fact it sold out from Amazon quite a while ago but was not resupplied there because of the hiatus and because Crecy do not deal with Amazon. Some are believed to be still on the shelf in independent bookshops, though exactly where, nobody seems to know: some aspects of the transfer from IAPL to CP are shrouded in confusion and mystery.
I also learned that, without telling me, IAPL started advertising Vol.2 before it was ready (delayed by ill health at the authors end), as did their retailers, along with PR waffle. The upshot is that if you Google the general title today, you will get hits for Vol.1 stating currently not available or sold out, although Amazon USA claim to have a new one for $599 and a s/h one for $773 - don't all rush at once! Actually it gets worse because under independent sellers under Amazon in the UK and US, I found 19 listed either as new or s/h priced (you may need to sit down for this) in batches between £389-£643, £964-£981 and £888-£1,015. Not printed on gold leaf as far as I know... One sold on eBay recently for £57.
You will get many more hits for Vol.2, all of which also state "not available" or "sold out". It's just as sobering to find that many book sellers cannot distinguish between principal and principle. I'm afraid that this is how parts of the publishing industry work and for me it has been an education.
I've found adverts for an audio book version as well but cannot tell if it's for real.
You may already have seen the cover for Vol.2 as advertised and I reproduce it above along with a proposed Vol.3, which I have mocked up myself, and which is taking shape. What I'm trying to say is that projects like this take a great deal of time and effort - these are not picture books and bits of plagiarised text cobbled together but arduous original research. It's why nobody has done it before and why ETAs can be hard to forecast. When Vol.2 comes out the cover is likely to be different, likewise the third one.
People have also been asking about a reprint of Vol.1, and that I cannot answer: it will be for Crecy to decide. I'm sorry that I cannot be more definitive on these things but it would be improper to say any more until actually in print.
