Tuesday 28 February 2012

Read it... and weep :(

Over recent months I have been looking through craft books for inspirations or in the vain thought that maybe I could do it better.  Usually I try to get them from the library so that I can see whether it is worth investing my hard earned pennies in a copy for me or if it is never going to cross my threshold ever again.

However in recent months I have been getting rather peeved, this weekend my sister gave me a book.  It was beautifully done, smelling of that lovely uncut pages, filled with glorious images of vintage close ups of wooden cotton reels and fabric you dream about finding and to cap it all it had a ribbon to use as a book mark… I was in seventh heaven until I made the cardinal error of reading it!

Now I am not an expert but I do have a pretty good knowledge of a number of crafts – knitting, sewing crochet, quilting, papercrafts – but this woman could not be bothered with such things.   The comment about covering a jar of shop bought jam with a remnant of fabric and claiming you have made it... priceless.  I could not believe it, this is a craft book, supposedly sharing with me the secrets of amazing gifts from vintage sources.  However my current favourite was the idea of displaying plates by means of gluing ribbon onto the back of your most cherished bone china and then pinning the ribbon to the wall… the pics looked gorgeous, but then I got to thinking how long would the glue be able to cope with the stresses of gravity?
Were we back in the days of the Araldite man being lifted into the air by a chopper when he was stuck onto a billboard?  He did not fall off, I think due in no small part to the copious amounts of glue that was used!  In the States they stuck cars to billboards, I wonder how long they would last on the US highways today?
So I then posted about this to one of my fave forums, UK Craft Forum, and someone mentioned another issue.  In TV, it is known as reversioning, when you take a pre-existing programme, repackage it and release it under a new name… and yep, this has spread to books too.  Not only do we get the variety with new covers and titles, but we also get the sliced and diced versions… a few projects from one publication, others from another publication and so on.  It is so frustrating when you think you are getting a lovely new book from a tried and trusted author and all you get is a rehash… and I do like hash (note to self… this should be an item for Foodie Friday).
So here is my plea to publishers, don’t do it, we don’t like and we will stop buying it, SO THERE!

9 comments:

Bayden R said...

Well said young lady.

Bayden R said...

I thought the Ad was for a wallpaper paste?

CarolC1 said...

I just wondered where this book is for sale. If it is on Amazon you get a chance to comment on it I think. Not being an expert on this kind of thing I am not sure but when Simon was selling his first Pyro book we all got to post glowing references. Maybe worth looking at.

Lyn said...

I work in a public library and I know that it sometimes happens to fiction too. Re-named, re-covered, and the readers are disappointed.

Another peeve while we're there. I don't like the way that the basics of crafts such as 'knitting for beginners' are suddenly in need of huge, expensive books claiming to reveal 'The Secret'. Mountains from molehills?

Cheryl said...

I bought a craft book last week aimed at children. There was nothing original. Some ideas used modern fabric prints, but otherwise they were the same projects that I did as a child. Most of the projects are widely available on the web. Fine for my daughters that don't spend hours surfing the net, but I couldn't help feeling uneasy about other people's ideas being lifted and printed.

Christmas Pie Crafts said...

The re-packaging or re-uining as seems more appropriate, seems to be pretty common at the moment. I love crime fiction and am always pleased to see when a new title is out - only to read the reviews to find it is an old one with a slightly different name and cover and, guess what, costing more than the original.

Jan said...

I haven't bought a craft book for a few years now, I too prefer the library or the net.

I haven't been to the CF for a week or so, I'll have to pop in for a visit :)

Jan x

Helen said...

I know the very book you speak of. It is a lovely book although I have not had time to do more than flick through it, although the jam pot cover thing sounded very familiar which is how I know we have the same book!
I share the same opinion. If you're going to write a book - be it a work of fact or fiction - then it should be an original. Otherwise you're just cheating your reader!
As lyn says, I, too, get annoyed by all the *beginner* books. I bought a quilting book in the hope it would help me understand it better, and yet I remain as confused as ever. Quilting in no Time apparently! I don't think so!

Amy Jones said...

With you all the way there Ros....

But to set the record straight... the man hoisted in the air was stuck using a well known wallpaper brand.

Araldite would be ideal for sticking your ribbons to plates - just make sure you wipe any grease from the plate surface away...