I might add the following — When I published Pier Fishing In California, 2nd Ed., the complaint I received from distributors and tackle shops was that it was too big (516 pages). More than once I was told that people don’t want all that information, they want a short book, no more than 200 pages (100 even better) that contain a lot of pictures (and that was over a decade ago).
In other words they wanted a book more similar to Pier Fishing In California, 1st Ed., a book that was only 214 pages long. It was part of a very successful set of books published by Marketscope Books—Fishing In Southern California, Fishing in Northern California, Saltwater Fishing In California, Trout Fishing In California, Bass Fishing In California, and Serious Pacific Angler, most written by Ron Kovach. All were relatively short; around 200 pages, and all sold many thousands of copies.
That length or even shorter seemed to be the norm. I noted that the book Sturgeon by Abe and Angelo Cuanang was only 140 pages long; San Francisco Bay Stripers by Abe Cuanang is only 87 pages long. Both were very successful books but both were also on fairly limited subjects.
But, I was disappointed in that first edition. The book was limited in length by the editor and didn’t contain some of the things I wanted included. I even had to argue for the inclusion of the photos of the piers; all of the other books had line drawings but no photos.
I decided to publish the second edition on my own. I felt that to adequately cover all the nuances and facets of pier fishing demanded a different approach that that series of books. The focus would be on needed content rather than on size. The book perhaps became too big but I’ve always said the 1st edition was like a rough draft with the 2nd edition being the more polished final edition.
Unfortunately, the consequence was less sales even though the book won awards and most people who purchased it seemed to like it. It’s long but there’s no need to sit down and read it all at one time (although some claim to have done that).
As for the website, most pier articles are indeed long; the fish articles on the other hand are shorter and just contain the basics.
I find everything about a pier and its fish interesting. And, having been a history teacher, I also find the history of the piers interesting. The funny thing is that some people feel the history sections and miscellaneous information is what most differentiates PFIC and sets it on a different, higher plateau than the more limited information fishing sites.
