The Stickler Weekly 95 Solution

I often get asked “Do you have a book?” or “Have you thought about writing a book?” It seems to be a natural progression for someone in a profession, especially one like crossword writing, where there are aren’t many people doing it. In 2005 I was approached by News Ltd regarding doing a book of my crosswords. At the time Fairfax were regularly publishing books of past puzzles and, not to be outdone, News Ltd wanted to put out one of their own. At the time, News didn’t publish such works themselves, they did deals with publishers willing to get involved, minimising their risk.
I met with News Ltd and Wilkinson Publishing and we discussed what a book would look like. The big question was how to make the book stand out, as there were dozens and dozens of other established crossword books already available based on local and overseas publications. I (foolishly/naively) suggested that the book could contain all NEW crosswords, making it different as all other publications were collections of already-published crosswords. This seemed acceptable, however, the publishers were only willing to go ahead if I agreed to a profit-sharing deal with no upfront payment. News Ltd came to the party with the offer of advertising space and other plugs in The Daily Telegraph, and this convinced me the book should have at least moderate success. The book, New Crosswords by David Stickley (you can see it here, but not to buy it as it’s no longer available) was full of crosswords similar to those that appeared on The Daily Telegraph puzzle page at the time, including 13 previously-unpublished Sticklers and various normal crosswords. There was also an alphabetical jigsaw, an introduction to cryptics and a couple of unusual puzzles. I estimated the value of the NEW puzzles used in the book to be thousands of dollars, so the book had to be reasonably successful for me, in theory, to make any money. Not everything went according to plan (in fact, nothing went according to plan). The book was released just too late to take advantage of the Christmas season and getting bookshops to stock it was a challenge. Bookshops have limited space, and must decide among millions of books which to keep on display. Despite my book being current and advertised in  The Daily Telegraph, none of the major bookstores carried it and only a few newsagencies found the space for it. I received a number of emails from prospective buyers of the book disappointed that they couldn’t get it from their local bookshop. They could order it, but most declined not liking the inconvenience. It wasn’t long before my book ended up in discount stores and on eBay at a reduced price, meaning that my profit on each one was minimal. The whole thing was disappointing, costly (in terms of money “lost”) but I did learn a few lessons. Next week I’ll tell you about some contributions to other people’s books, generally a much better way to use time and effort.