I have a friend that’s a dealer of MS books. He just got a letter from them saying that they are going to stop publishing hardcover books as of November, 2025, one year from now. I guess sales have been slowing. That’ll be sad because they are probably the premier publisher now.
That’s not too surprising. Considering how hard it is to find a bookstore (or hobby shop) these days, it is probably just a matter of time until the smaller publishers close up shop.
No more hardcover – but still softcover? Or none at all?
Now that’s sad to hear. I’d guess they’ll continue with digital books (if that’s the right term) and maybe softcovers. Times change, and honestly not always for the better.
I’ve always considered Morning Sun a class act. I’ve got two dozen of their books and while like everything else some were better than others I’ve NEVER been disappointed with any of them.
So, grab ‘em while you can. [:’(]
You can self-publish now very easily. In fact, it’s almost print-on-demand. If you want to order a copy of a book, you do. They print it and ship it to you.
I have a friend who has self-published a couple of books on fire apparatus, and another has had a book printed that is no longer provided in hard copy by the government - some people like to have the hard copy available.
If you’ve done a decent job of assembling your tome, including pictures, the product is very nice. I don’t know if hard cover is available via that route, though.
On another forum, many were critical of Morning Sun. They said the quality of the books, both the books themselves and errors of content within, has dropped the last 5 or 10 years. It’s been a while since I’ve purchased one of their books. I have some older ones and have no complaints.
Jeff
Still softcover.
They went through a rough patch several years ago when they changed printers. Colors seemed to be off. Back in 2012, I donated my modest slide collection to them since I hadn’t looked at them for years and years. They’ve been used in some of the “Motive Power” series, since many were roster shots. Alas, my name was misspelled on many of the captions. At the time, I offered to be a free proofreader, since I noticed quite a few spelling or grammar errors. I was turned down because it seems that each author has their own relative/friend proofread their titles, so it’s hit-or-miss. I’ll miss them since they seem, to me at least, to be better than Four Ways West, their main competition.
I just got an email from them. No softcovers, either. Just eBooks as of 11/24.
F e-books
My feelings, exactly.
If there were E-books, then there’d be options for print-on-demand services.
From the email that was posted elsewhere from Morning Sun, sounds like they may do E books, but materials were being returned to submitters. I have a feeling they may be done.
I just googled and Yanosey is 77 years old. Maybe he just wants to retire?
A very real possibility. If he wants to retire and no-one is interested in taking over the business? Well then.
He wouldn’t be the first and certainly won’t be the last.
I have been buying my Morning Sun books from Arizona Hobbies. They sent me an e-mail detailing other changes at Morning Sun books. First Mr. Yanosey’s sons have taken over the business. Second is that they are using a new distributor based in Chicago rather than nearer them in New Jersey. There were some hiccups during the change, like books damaged in shipment. That seems to be solved more recently. The owner of AH opined that the sons didn’t seem like they were really interested in the business, but rather just getting money out of the business. The happenings reported in this thread seem to support that theory.
A sad end to a fine era. I remember when Morning Sun came on the scene and reviewers were ecstatic about it. The books were best described as a hard-cover railfan “slide show” that would be darn near permanent. Unlike slides the ink-based pictures in the books would never fade and considering the top-quality of the materials used the books had every possibility of lasting for centuries.
I’ve got some on the shelf over the 30 year mark and they’re just as good as the day they were made.
What a shame. But what are you gonna do? [:'(]
Maybe Garbley publishing will take some of the slack?
I’m part way through his D&H book (I really need to get back to it), and it’s pretty good. A lot more in depth than just a slide show.
Which D&H book are you reading?
I just got back from a show in Columbus where I checked out some of the new Morning Sun books. The photos have definitely changed for the worse. It’s like they were for a short time about ten years ago or what you would see from Four Ways West. Not very natural looking.