Alternative lock books to LSS

[greyman]

Now that I have your attention, here is a little plug for my book, which I hope to publish this year. The book is about key-operated mechanical locks, covering over 100 different types in quite a bit of detail with over 900 illustrations. It is based on the document "hiseclox" that I wrote in 1994, but vastly expanded.

The book is around 500 pages, featuring many locks that are not discussed in other books that I can find (even including LSS - not counting the supplements which are not publically available). There are locks from many different countries. The book has been in the offing for about 5 years, but I have finally managed to finish the thing and am now looking for a publisher.

The book is quite different from LSS - it's aimed at non locksmiths and does not focus on bypass methods, combo locks, safes, or alarms. It's mainly about understanding how mechanical keyed locks work - in considerable detail. Locksmiths and other professionals should still find it interesting nonetheless.

What I would like to know from people is what sort of price would you be prepared to pay for a book of this size (given that LSS is over US$200)?

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank people who have contributed to this project (and there are a lot of them), some since the early days of alt.locksmithing. I also want to apologise for taking so long to finish this. Finally - please be patient, finding a literary agent is not an easy task, but I am on it!

[devildog]

500 pages? Lots of COLOR and HIGH QUALITY photos? And it goes into enough detail that it would interest and provide lots of valuable information even to experienced and knowledgable people (lockies and hobbiests, even though it's aimed at hobbiests)?

$40-70 U.S.


And god help you if you're using loompanics, paladin, or delta as the publisher--that will repel 90% of us before we open it because of the garbage they generally publish on lockpicking...

[pizarro]

If you can't find a publisher, I do know that there are lots of companies that provide on demand publishing (print on demand). Basically they print coppies of your book as/when people purchase it.

[SFGOON]

Paladin isn't bad!! They published the book that taught me to pick locks with a 'coon hide, a can of bacon grease and ten dollars in food stamps!!

[vector40]

Sadly Loompanics went and died

[strangedream]

yup.. and most of their lockpick books are already sold out, "Opening Combination Locks" was the first one to go...I wonder why?

[Chucklz]

How many technical images? A picture of a lock is one thing, but an annotated image that helps to explain the working of the lock is another story indeed. I would be willing to pay more if there was a high quailty hardcover editon. A good reference book should stand the test of time.

A CD accompianment with high-res zoomable versions of the photos in the book would be an amazing bonus. However, you will have to find a way to protect your IP.

[greyman]

How many technical images? A picture of a lock is one thing, but an annotated image that helps to explain the working of the lock is another story indeed. I would be willing to pay more if there was a high quailty hardcover editon. A good reference book should stand the test of time.

There a relatively few annotated images, however there are many dissected views of locks and quite a few diagrams. The workings are clearly explained for each lock. I have tried to make it more like a reference book, but the readers will be the judge of that.

A CD accompianment with high-res zoomable versions of the photos in the book would be an amazing bonus. However, you will have to find a way to protect your IP.

If I were to start doing all the photos again today, this would be possible. However, the book was started more than 5 years ago at a time when digital cameras were much more expensive than they are now. You are right about the IP protection issue. It's just too easy to copy a CD.

[pickin]

Theres always the E-Book possibility but there again theres that problem of easy copys being made.

[greyman]

Theres always the E-Book possibility but there again theres that problem of easy copys being made.

Yes - I considered that and came to the same conclusion. Not sure if people know but there is a revised version of the Encyclopedia of Locks called the Encyclopedia for Locksmiths by an expat UK locksmith available as an e-book. I think it's by authors online.

The other problem with self-publishing is that once you go down that path, the real publishers won't touch you, or so I hear. It sounded a bit to risky to try first off despite the attraction of getting quickly into print.

[richard2]

I have to admit to an interest here as I was asked to help proof read Grayman's book.
I was most impressed and feel that a fair price would be close to £100 given the amount of information he has collected in one place.
I know LSS is not cheap and I have the locksmith CD version as well as the paper book and also the smaller First version from all those years ago, but there is so much in this new book which has not been covered by Tobias that it would be worth every penny.

I have not been put up to this by Grayman but found so much new information that I was compelled to post.

When it comes out - buy it. I will have to - so you can see there is no kickback for a favourable post.

[CapnCurry]

Working on a book myself (totally unrelated to locksmithing), and after *much* searching, found a reasonable publisher. Check out Lulu.com. It's half print-on-demand, half publisher... there's a package by which you can get an ISBN number and some marketing assistance.

The upsides are these: because you're carrying the financial risk of setting up the printing, they're a lot more flexibile in terms of what they can afford to pubish; you maintain control and copyright; there are a lot of publishing options; and you control how much the book sells for and therefore how much your royalty is on each book.

The downsides include the fact that you do carry the financial risk of setting up the printing (not a huge cost, but a cost); you maintain responsibility for marketing the book; you don't have an editor watching your back so the quality of the book sits firmly on your own shoulders; and you don't get any kind of advance on your royalty checks.

As to your main question, this strikes me as more of a coffee-table book than as a technical reference. I could see myself happily paying $70-$80 for something like this to put in my shop (once I get a shop... ) for customers to peruse while I do the key-copying, recombinating, or whatever they've come in for.

[greyman]

Working on a book myself (totally unrelated to locksmithing), and after *much* searching, found a reasonable publisher. Check out Lulu.com. It's half print-on-demand, half publisher... there's a package by which you can get an ISBN number and some marketing assistance.
[...]

Thanks for the pointer to the self-publisher. I hope it works out for you. I would still consider this to be a last resort for my book since if the book ever does turn out to be popular, most reputable publishers will not take it if it has been previously self-published.

As to your main question, this strikes me as more of a coffee-table book than as a technical reference. I could see myself happily paying $70-$80 for something like this to put in my shop (once I get a shop... ) for customers to peruse while I do the key-copying, recombinating, or whatever they've come in for.

Perhaps you will change your mind once you see the book. It is not a coffee table book, believe me, although I won't mind you buying a copy for your coffee table Are you saying your shop has a coffe table? That is certainly a civilised shop!

I'm not sure what you mean by a technical reference book, but hardly any of the public domain books published on locks in the last 25 years could be called that. I'm not counting product catalogues or lists of codes, which have some reference value but are not books. I'm also not counting what I would call textbooks on locksmithing, of which there are many.

I would think a technical book should deal with the detailed design of locks, keys and keying systems, the engineering and manufacturing aspects, as well as their stengths and weaknesses. What I'm saying is the running of a locksmithing business is different from the actual engineering process of designing and making locks to satisfy a set of customer requirements.

[CapnCurry]

Well, not that the shop has (will have) a coffee table, but one of the things I offer in my work is a free consultation and quote, during which I go over lock, key, and other security considerations and options, and I could see myself having a receiving area for that kind of thing. Admittedtly, that's kinda pie-in-the-sky now, as I'm strictly mobile at the moment, but one's gotta dream, right?

I think I might have been thrown off by the initial comparisons to LSS as far as technical reference. I'd definitely pick up a book like the one you're describing - it's very hard to find work that's well-researched and comprehensive, and I'm just too fascinated by the subject.

[gremtech2002]

I, for one, would be one of the first to buy a copy of this book, as soon as it would be available.

It would be nice to see a comprehensive referance guide that most people could afford without having to take out a second mortgage.