Dear All,
 
On the subject of good and bad shell books, I have to add a few comments
for aspiring authors. As a bookseller and publisher I get to see many
books, good and bad. In my humble opinion a good shell book:
 
1. Has clear pictures of each shell described, whether that be in colour or
black and white, photographs or drawings. The print run often dictates the
type of pictures you can use, and their location (scattered throughout the
book or bundled in one section).
2. Has comparative descriptions of each shell, which include distribution
ranges (even outside the geographical area being covered)
3. Has an INDEX
4. Has a LIST OF REFERENCES
5. Uses recent  taxonomy, has names of authors and dates, and least
acknowledges the existence of recent important references.
 
The publishers often get the blame for things they cannot help. If you want
to write a cheap book about the Caribbean Conidae, and have colour pictures
on each page, than just about everything said here is a contradiction in
terms. Such a book can simply not be cheap, because colour printing is
cheap only if you have a huge print run. You would never have a hope to
sell many copies, so you have to print fewer copies and either you raise
the price (dramatically), or you bundle the colour plates in a section, or
make some colour plates black and white plates, or have line drawings
instead. Tom already pointed out that line drawings add much more to the
description than a too-much-reduced colour photograph.
 
Anyone who is willing to give it a try needs to be much encouraged. I, for
one, would be interested in hearing from them!
 
Patty Jansen
WWW: http://www.capricornica.com
 
Capricornica Publications               on-line natural history bookshop
P.O. Box 345
Lindfield NSW 2070
 
phone/fax: 02 9415 8098 international: +61 2 9415 8098
 
E-mail: [log in to unmask]