Mellotronists

Chris Dale wrote:

> All great suggestions guys/girl, but perhaps the scope of the book should be
> slightly wider if possible.
>
> Will the book include any observations/experiences of Chamberlin playing
> (maybe Birotron as well - time to ask Wakeman/Earthstar)?
>
> Otherwise the book will still be lacking a LOT of information and leaving
> readers with many questions.
>
> If you only had one chance at this and you wanted to do it beyond reproach
> for all time - what/who/why would you ask???
>
> I guess what I'm getting at is there's a whole plethora of musicians/people
> (albeit not as well known) who would have been familiar with using these
> instruments from the early 50's on up. Lawrence Welk was one of the first
> people interested in the Chamberlin and even offered to fund it if it was
> called a "Welk Machine" (His interest in Harry's wife being a moot point).
>
> That's an example of the kind of arcane info that would be worth reading
> about, along with what we do and still don't know about Mellotrons. I think
> this would make it a more worthwhile venture.
>
> Another fact is that at least over here in Canada/U.S  the
> Mellotron/Chamberlin have been confused together to the point where one is
> consistently mistaken for the other by musicians/liner note writers etc.
> This was true in the golden days and it's still true now.  This is something
> we tend to ignore because we're fairly well versed in the differences
> between the two machines. Unfortunately, many others are not and the laymen
> don't care to be.
>
> So.....can it be a 50/50 amount about the history of the machines
> themselves/music celebrity observations or is that going overboard?
>
> Chris

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Greetings Again Everyone,

Chris made a great point above about including many details
previously unwritten.     Unfortunately, in today's world of
instant marketing/sales, I'm afraid that such a definitive undertaking
would never reap huge profits.......or even return on investment (R.O.I.).

....As an example, I have befriended people who researched
history of Edison/electric light and  early towpath canals of the USA.
These individuals spent decades creating  books on their specialties.
But ultimately, anything shy of  mass marketing   never brought
a customer sales base to fruition.   These books are still out-there,
their  sales numbers are lackluster at best.  And now are being sold
used on eBay and elsewhere...... They're incredible sources of
information....but only to those who WANT to learn of  topics within.

A new Mellotron book sounds wonderful in principle, gang.
But would it appeal to the masses or just to a special-interest group
such as ourselves??   What factors these days creates a "best-seller?"

Rick, your experience with bookwriting and sales  is invited.....

-- JK --