Beatles Biography by Mark Lewisohn (fifth edition)

The US does recognize and respect foreign copyrights, and in fact does so for works that are never registered for copyright at all. In the US as soon as you author something, it is protected by copyright. You do need to register it in the US before a court will award you statutory damages rather than actual proven damages as a remedy for an infringement claim.

 

I haven't read the ESE but I kind of feel like the marketing was botched by not waiting a year or two after the publication of the standard edition to announce the ESE. Sure, everybody would whine about having to buy the same book twice, but boo hoo. I got my standard edition from Amazon for only $24. I'd have been happy to buy an expanded edition a year later. But how many American Beatlemaniacs held off on buying the standard edition because they were waiting for the US ESE to be announced? Probably plenty.

The whole idea of the expanded edition seems like an ego trip. Writers need editors to focus their vision. I loved the standard edition, but even that could've stood to be trimmed up a bit.

 

If registration is an issue, someone let them know I will gladly file the paperwork for them (they would only have to pay the Library of Congress fees) in return for a signed copy of the expanded edition

 

That was my suspicion: the cost of registering something for copyright could probably be covered by selling ten or fewer copies of the deluxe edition in the U.S. I highly doubt that's the fly in the ointment here.

 

I would tend to agree with that.

 

I'm still waiting.

 

I haven't read the standard edition, but am now starting the second volume of the ESE. I know there are parts that could have been left on the cutting room floor, but the degree of detail just bolsters the notion that this is contains much in the way of new research and interviews, and is not just a rehash of 10 dozen previous biographies. For example, I really don't NEED to know the name of the ship Alf Lennon was on, and the date it sailed in 1947, or the jail he was in during 1950, but the fact that Mark could find such after all this time supports my faith in him. [Note to reader: I made up the year 1947--I don't know have the book with me to see if Alf was at sea that year, so please don't double check that.)

JcS

 

Please don't use the physical size of the book as a cost consideration. There is time effort and expenses plus the writing talent that exceeds the printing and production costs

 

What does this mean? ^
The time and effort and writing was expended to produce the regular version.
My guess is the editor pared the original submittal down to enhance readability and omit the needless details ( such as those mentioned a few posts above).
I doubt there was any more expense in the extended edition, save for the additional paper and binding costs, and the rights for the additional photos.

 

It's listed at 80 pounds on Amazon. That's 40 pounds less than what it was originally. Is that really the price? Had I waited I could've gotten it for $100 cheaper.

 

The Tune In website has this, but they don't tell you how many is need for a print run.

We are delighted to announce that the extended special edition of The Beatles: All These Years (Volume One: Tune In) is now available for fans to order once more, following its initial print-run selling out last year.

Tim Whiting, Publishing Director for Little, Brown Non-Fiction, said:

‘We are aware of the fact that many people did not get a chance to purchase copies of the extended special edition of The Beatles: Tune In. We would therefore like to clarify that we are intending to reprint but that due to the cost of printing the book, we need a certain number of orders before we can do so. We would like to invite readers to place their orders via this link on our website or via Amazon UK. Customers’ credit/debit cards will not be charged until their copy of the special edition has been dispatched.’

 

Just ordered one on Amazon.uk. Total with shipping to US = £87.82 or ~$146.15. Cheaper I suppose, but also not a 1st printing.

 

Let's continue here:

Beatles Biography by Mark Lewisohn (sixth edition)