I new story at my site, Horror Fiction News Network, got me to thinking about collecting limited editions from the specialty press and how those small presses do a great deal of good for collecting and also do harm. This is not going to be a scathing expose of small presses and which ones suck and which ones don’t.*** This will take a look at a few items.

• Quality of the product from the Specialty Press
• Availability of the product
• Author stables of the Specialty Press
• Price Point of the product
• Should they be a part of a collection

I hope I can at least start a good discussion since this is a huge subject.

*** I might be using names of publishers and authors. Some of them I know. Some I consider more than acquaintances. Most of them know that constructive criticism is part of the game and will hopefully take my comments as such and not as some school yard “You suck.”

On the Quality of Book production of the Special Press.

My specialty press collection is not huge but it is adequate in terms of breadth and depth. I have limited editions, lettered editions, ARCs, artist editions, and other editions that any of the specialty presses may have issued. There is also a wide range of specialty presses represented in my collection from the long established to the brand new.

Overall, the quality of the specialty press books is slightly higher than that of trade hardbacks, but not by much more. Most limited editions from the specialty presses still have glued bindings and still use standard end papers, pastedowns and lighter weight paper. Overall a higher priced limited edition from a specialty press does not offer much more than a trade hardback of the same book except for a few exceptions like a special introduction (or afterward) and possibly some illustrations both black and white and color, maybe a signature sheet, and of course the ever present limitation.

Are these limited editions worth the price? Not really. I think that the price is artificial based on the assumption that the limited edition is better quality, the rarity of the edition, i.e limited to 250 copies, the fact that it will not, even in the best case, see a mass production of the book, and the overall acceptance of the collector and specialty press fans to pay that price point for the edition. As with everything there are exceptions.

But at the same time they are worth the price. Depending on the press they come from. Most of the new specialty presses out there have no idea how to produce a book. Let alone a quality book that will last. Let alone actually publishing a author that is worth publishing, which will be discussed later on.

Easton Press is a specialty press that does few limited editions. I would classify their books as collector’s editions. They offer signed first editions, signed editions (usually of previously published works but signed for Easton Press), and some special editions. I have commented on the quality of their books both here and here. Their books range from the semi-affordable (around $50 to $60 per volume) to the expensive (over $500). They are well worth their price. Off the bat, Easton Press doesn’t glue their bindings. They are Smythe sewn. More than likely Smythe-Cleat Sewn but I haven’t taken one apart to really examine it. This gives the book a better binding than gluing.

They use a heavier paper stock which is acid free as well as of archival quality per the standards set forth by the Council of Library Resources. This means that the book will last without much deterioration in the pages, ink or binding. Even with multiple readings, Easton Press books last.

Easton Press’s stable of authors is very impressive. On the whole they have books worth collecting. Even for their price. And they are going to be sought after books for a long time. Even though they aren’t limited.

The interiors of Easton Press’s books are just as stunning as their exteriors. They use artists that are just incredible, their type setting is both easy to read and does not crowd the page nor does it fall into the gutter where you have to break the spine to read the text. The color prints are on glossy paper and are close to lithograph quality. They just produce an incredible product.

This, however, is not a common trait in the specialty press. There are books from established presses that fail to live up to what I would consider their best work and there are specialty presses that just put out a product that is just not worth the money, even though they are limited editions.

Right now in the horror specialty press there are a few things that are bothering me as a collector. The small stable of artists, the poor quality of art, the poor quality of typesetting, the poor quality of paper stock, glued and not sewn bindings, poor cover art and layouts, and poor author choice.

There are a few artists that do quality work in the horror specialty press. Caniglia, Glen Chadbourne, and a few others. They put out quality work though I may not be a fan of some of their stuff. But the majority of artists used by the horror specialty press are less than stellar and down right bad. Most of the bad artist can be seen in the smaller presses that can’t afford the higher tier artist. This results in poor quality art followed by poor quality reproduction on the cover or in the interior. This, however, is not relegated to the micro press.

I have a few complaints about a few volumes from Borderlands Press. At times their typesetting and cover art and design looks like it was done in Microsoft Word. Specifically, IN THE NIGHT ROOM has a bad cover (composed of a photograph of the back of Tom Monteleone, nothing against Tom.) This cover gives the impression that it was an afterthought and rushed to the printer two days prior to binding because they couldn’t think of any interesting cover art.

There are a few specialty presses that aren’t producing quality product and this hurts both the specialty press as a whole and the collectors. Collectors should begin to be question whether or not poor quality books from the specialty press are worth buying that are so expensive but offer nothing more than a signature sheet over the trade or mass market paperback.

I think collectors need to begin to take into consideration what they are buying in the specialty press. Believing the hype and the extra limited numbers some of this small presses issue their books in needs to be reevaluated when such books are announced. Will that ultra limited edition of micro press Author A really be worth the $150 that Micro Press A is putting out? Is buying a limited edition from Author A worth it because Author A may not even be readable? And Author A is just damn lucky he has a online persona that Micro Press A thinks he’s groovy and wants to see if they can make a go of a publishing business?

This is the bad part of the limited edition market. And collectors tend to enable these bad micro presses into coming into being or staying in business based on what would be equivalent to buying a Power Washer that hooks up to your hose from a late night TV infomercial.

I would say that close to more than 60% of the stuff coming out of the specialty horror presses aren’t worth collecting as either important works of horror worthy of being in a solid library or even as a fine example of bookbinding. I have begun to stop purchasing all the limited editions I can find and have just focused on a few presses that have in the past proven they have put out a good product. And I think my collection will benefit from this decision

And now that I have written a lengthy post I’ll break up the rest into parts. So part two will be about availability and how that is good and bad