New Books.

[a4poster]

With Cardiff looming on the horizon are there going to be any new Speedway books due to be published?

[The White Knight]

Retro Speedway have some great Publications.

 

Two new ones recently. See 'Link':

 

http://www.retro-speedway.com/

 

Titles of the new ones are Backtracking 1 & 2.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited June 9, 2017 by The White Knight

[a4poster]

Thanks for the reply. I have already purchased the above titles and as you said they are very good. Both provoke some great memories of times gone by.

[TonyMac]

Speedway books, like the sport, are dying and you will see fewer and fewer published in printed form in the future (although we are in the process of converting more of our previously sold-out printed books to eBook format, which cost nothing but our time and effort).

 

From experience, I can unfortunately confirm that sales are decreasing along with the potential market - and I'm not just talking about the retro sector in which we dominate. Who was the last current or ex-GP rider to bring out a book or have one published in his name? Jason Crump some 10 years ago? That tells you a lot about the viability and demand for speedway books targeted at any generation.

 

There are a number of reasons for this, apart from the blindingly obvious that the sport itself is imploding and support in general is dwindling. Social media is becoming an increasing factor, as people spend more and more of their spare time posting and browsing on Facebook, Twitter and online forums such as this one. It seems they don't have much time left to read books. Facebook, in particular, is a free and easy way for fans to get their speedway fix, especially for those who have seen their income significantly cut in recent months and years.

 

Relatively small print runs of books tailored to a very niche market are becoming increasingly costly to produce and generate little or no profit in return for the risk and effort involved.

 

Often, the ones that do make it into print nowadays are a labour of love.

Edited June 10, 2017 by tmc

[steve roberts]

Speedway books, like the sport, are dying and you will see fewer and fewer published in printed form in the future (although we are in the process of converting more of our previously sold-out printed books to eBook format, which cost nothing but our time and effort).

 

From experience, I can unfortunately confirm that sales are decreasing along with the potential market - and I'm not just talking about the retro sector in which we dominate. Who was the last current or ex-GP rider to bring out a book or have one published in his name? Jason Crump some 10 years ago? That tells you a lot about the viability and demand for speedway books targeted at any generation.

 

There are a number of reasons for this, apart from the blindingly obvious that the sport itself is imploding and support in general is dwindling. Social media is becoming an increasing factor, as people spend more and more of their spare time posting and browsing on Facebook, Twitter and online forums such as this one. It seems they don't have much time left to read books. Facebook, in particular, is a free and easy way for fans to get their speedway fix, especially for those who have seen their income significantly cut in recent months and years.

 

Relatively small print runs of books tailored to a very niche market are becoming increasingly costly to produce and generate little or no profit in return for the risk and effort involved.

 

Often, the ones that do make it into print nowadays are a labour of love.

I always appreciate the books that you publish Tony and hope that will continue?

[Sidney the robin]

Such a shame as i have enjoyed all of my speedway books over the years and would never ever ger rid of them.Keep up the good work Tony Rectro have done a great job and still are. The two Carter books,Mike Lee,Tommy Jansson and Booey books are my favourites great value could not put them down once i started reading.Out of interest Tony what was the hardest book to produce ?

[steve roberts]

Such a shame as i have enjoyed all of my speedway books over the years and would never ever ger rid of them.Keep up the good work Tony Rectro have done a great job and still are. The two Carter books,Mike Lee,Tommy Jansson and Booey books are my favourites great value could not put them down once i started reading.Out of interest Tony what was the hardest book to produce ?

I have all those books and although Reg Fearman's wasn't published by Retro it was a super and revealing read!

[Sidney the robin]

I have all those books and although Reg Fearman's wasn't published by Retro it was a super and revealing read!

Was there alot of stuff you learned about Carter in the books Steve.? Edited June 11, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[steve roberts]

Was ihere alot of stuff you learned about Carter in the books steve.?

Yes Sid...and much of it was quite disturbing. He was obviously a troubled soul and had a very unhappy upbringing and never got over the suicide of his mother. His father came across as a real monster...but basically I came to the conclusion that Carter believed that everybody was against him in my opinion which created a disturbed and insecure mind.

 

By the way never liked him as a rider but thats bye the bye.

[Sidney the robin]

Yes Sid...and much of it was quite disturbing. He was obviously a troubled soul and had a very unhappy upbringing and never got over the suicide of his mother. His father came across as a real monster...but basically I came to the conclusion that Carter believed that everybody was against him in my opinion which created a disturbed and insecure mind.

 

By the way never liked him as a rider but thats bye the bye.

I rated him highly as a rider but i can always remember him saying something about Phil Crump after he was beaten by him at the Abbey in the pits and that stayed with me.I think Mike Lee said something that has some substance he felt Carter was a dangerous rider unpredictable.PC and Lee were great rivals and had some great duels over the years but there was total respect and trust between them as riders thats something Lee/PC never had with Carter.

[steve roberts]

I rated him highly as a rider but i can always remember him saying something about Phil Crump after he was beaten by him at the Abbey in the pits and that stayed with me.I think Mike Lee said something that has some substance he felt Carter was a dangerous rider unpredictable.PC and Lee were great rivals and had some great duels over the years but there was total respect and trust between them as riders thats something Lee/PC never had with Carter.

I would agree with that. He seemed to be riding on the edge most of the time...sitting well back on the bike almost on the rear mudguard as the bike bucked and bronked...but I guess that's what separates the world beaters from the also rans?

[Sidney the robin]

I would agree with that. He seemed to be riding on the edge most of the time...sitting well back on the bike almost on the rear mudguard as the bike bucked and bronked...but I guess that's what separates the world beaters from the also rans?

Another point was Carter was not a team man out for himself to be fair to him he rode in some very poor Halifax teams ( still miss the Dukes)After everything for me Carter/Lee had the beating of Hans/Erik at times and from 84 to 90 for one reason or another the sport was robbed of there rivary on the track . Edited June 11, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[steve roberts]

Another point was Carter was not a team man out for himself to be fair to him he rode in some very poor Halifax teams ( still miss the Dukes)After everything for me Carter/Lee had the beating of Hans/Erik at times and from 84 to 90 for one reason or another the sport was robbed of there rivary on the track .

Recently saw his grave at Bradshaw...can't say that I felt sad but angry.

[TonyMac]

I always appreciate the books that you publish Tony and hope that will continue?

Thanks, Steve. Wouldn't say we will never produce another printed book but it would have to be something special.

Such a shame as i have enjoyed all of my speedway books over the years and would never ever ger rid of them.Keep up the good work Tony Rectro have done a great job and still are. The two Carter books,Mike Lee,Tommy Jansson and Booey books are my favourites great value could not put them down once i started reading.Out of interest Tony what was the hardest book to produce ?

 

Thanks Sidney. Different books pose different challenges.

 

If they are written by a third party, the work involved out our end depends on the quality of the editorial content we are presented with. Booey was very easy to produce because it was 'ghosted' for Eric by a proper trained journalist in Martin Neal, who interviewed Booey at great length and then wrote it up in Eric's words, and I think the end result speaks for itself. You would believe that EB wrote the book himself, which is the true mark of the ghost writer's quality.

 

On the other hand, it took a lot of subbing to convert Magnus Nystrom's Swedish book on Tommy Jansson into an acceptable English translation. But that was an exceptional case.

 

Martin Neal also helped me to sub Alan Carter's book, although great credit to AC for typing the first draft himself and doing a very good job of it considering his total inexperience.

 

We'd only be interested in publishing a book that was written (or 'ghosted') by a pro journalist, not an enthusiastic amateur who writes in his or her spare time, no matter how good their speedway knowledge is. We have turned down a number of opportunities for this reason. A poorly written manuscript needs to be heavily subbed, or re-written in some cases. It can more than double our production work and add a lot of unnecessary time to the project.

 

We have recently spoken several times to Peter Collins about publishing his autobiography, with Richard Bott (his former manager, a national newspaper journalist and Backtrack/Classic Speedway mag contributor already primed and lined up to be his friendly 'ghost') but PC says he is not yet ready to sit down and commit his life to print. But we're ready, willing and waiting... As one of the greats, PC is one of the few special exceptions worth making.

 

As I wrote the Kenny Carter and Mike Lee books, I had to do considerable research and then a number of interviews before the writing stage, which made them much more labour-intensive. I enjoy the interview process most, discovering new things from people who know the subjects much better than me (ie, Kenny's best friends and mechanic; and Mike's parents).

 

To answer your specific last question, I'd say Tragedy was the hardest to produce for me personally - mainly because it centred around a very complex personality and a very difficult and emotive subject, so I was constantly questioning myself, attempting to strike the right balance and at times re-writing passages. It wasn't easy.

 

I hope this has given you some insight into what's involved.

Edited June 11, 2017 by tmc

[hawks 1975]

As someone who used to work in the book business, and still keeps an eye on what is about, I can tell you that it is not just Speedway.

 

The sports book market in general has almost collapsed compared to just five years ago.

In the run up to Christmas, there was a time when sports titles - especially autobiographies - were some of the year's best sellers. That is no longer the case.

Over the past few years, many big publishers have had their fingers burnt with big name titles that never sold anywhere near their print runs. Now even the smaller publishers are producing less and less. The view appears to be that there are less and less 'big personalties' out there to appeal to a reducing hardback buying public.

 

Once upon a time sporting titles were bought, sometimes as an easy gift - 'he likes football so lets get him that for Xmas' - but also by the fans/followers because they wanted to know more about the personality or the team/sport.

My guess is that the advent of the internet has reduced the amount of original content that the average supporter does not already know about. If there is nothing new to say.....

[keepturningleft]

Speedway books, like the sport, are dying and you will see fewer and fewer published in printed form in the future (although we are in the process of converting more of our previously sold-out printed books to eBook format, which cost nothing but our time and effort).

 

From experience, I can unfortunately confirm that sales are decreasing along with the potential market - and I'm not just talking about the retro sector in which we dominate. Who was the last current or ex-GP rider to bring out a book or have one published in his name? Jason Crump some 10 years ago? That tells you a lot about the viability and demand for speedway books targeted at any generation.

 

There are a number of reasons for this, apart from the blindingly obvious that the sport itself is imploding and support in general is dwindling. Social media is becoming an increasing factor, as people spend more and more of their spare time posting and browsing on Facebook, Twitter and online forums such as this one. It seems they don't have much time left to read books. Facebook, in particular, is a free and easy way for fans to get their speedway fix, especially for those who have seen their income significantly cut in recent months and years.

 

Relatively small print runs of books tailored to a very niche market are becoming increasingly costly to produce and generate little or no profit in return for the risk and effort involved.

 

Often, the ones that do make it into print nowadays are a labour of love.

There are, of course, the books from from Jeff Scott which are probably the only books about contemporary speedway.

 

How well do the books by John Chaplin and Philip Dalling, do??

[a4poster]

Going off on a slight tangent from this topic, do you think the collapse of the sports market could be that many "Stars" bring out books after gaining five minutes of stardom instead of sitting down at the end of the career to write there memoirs?

[teaboy279]

I used to get sports books at Christmas from various people but that seems to have stopped many still unread if I am honest and I ve struggled to give them away too.

But I would say I am actually more likely to read riders biographys now more then ever. The Internet is great for information, it's just whether it's the correct information. Hearing first hand from people involved in these stories makes it more factual and of more interest to me these days.

Not read Kenny carter's book, I asume that's available on amazon or ebay somewhere?

[The White Knight]

I have loads of Retro Speedway Books that I bought from Tracks, mainly Redcar.

 

They are all great Books. My favourite would have to be John Berry's two 'Confessions' Books. Both very well written and inciteful.

 

I have very much enjoyed all the ones I have read and I still have a few to read.

 

I pass a lot of my Books on to a place called 'Barter Books' in Alnwick. Not my Retro Speedway ones though - I keep them.

[steve roberts]

I have loads of Retro Speedway Books that I bought from Tracks, mainly Redcar.

 

They are all great Books. My favourite would have to be John Berry's two 'Confessions' Books. Both very well written and inciteful.

 

I have very much enjoyed all the ones I have read and I still have a few to read.

 

I pass a lot of my Books on to a place called 'Barter Books' in Alnwick. Not my Retro Speedway ones though - I keep them.

Super establishment...been there in the past!