It will come as no surprise to readers that book reviews in The Journal of Laryngology & Otology are few and far between, currently. Anything that does come through this editor's front door sits in the garage for days, before anyone will dare touch it, however short is the life of the virus on cardboard.
Public relations contacts at the main publishers are mostly working from home and my recent message appealing for any content met little response, alas. A notable exception was Elisa Anderson, from Plural Publishing. Plural have contributed so much to the literature on voice and audiology, and there is the promise of two new books from the team of Robert Sataloff (how does he do it?). Non-Laryngeal Cancer and Voice (by Hamdan, Sataloff and Hawkshaw) and Psychology of Voice Disorders (by Caputo Rosen, Sataloff and Sataloff) are expected in the summer. It may be that authors are actually finding more time to write, whilst isolating, and proving unusually reliable at meeting deadlines. Certainly, The Journal has seen a dramatic rise in article submissions we are told.
From Thieme, we can look forward to yet another book on neck dissection: Functional and Selective Neck Dissection (by Gavilan et al., priced at £143.50). Pediatric Endoscopic Endonasal Skull Base Surgery (by Singh et al., priced at £102.50) sounds like one for a relatively small set of subspecialists, but it has to be acknowledged that it is daring to be ‘different’ and commendable. Botulinum Toxin for Head and Neck Disorders (by Blitzer et al., priced at £107.00) was expected out in March, but that has now become June (at best). Hopefully we will see reviews in time.
A browse through the internet shows that several publishers are offering discounts, but warning of delivery challenges. Many a promising title is described as imminent, or indeed proves overdue, whilst the e-book and online publication are blossoming. The hope must be that, like the British pub, the game that we simply cannot bear to call soccer or the UK airport check-in queue, we will one day see the return of another old favourite: the hard back ENT textbook.
Until then, I was amused to find a site claiming to have identified the 29 best-selling otorhinolaryngology textbooks of all time: https://bookauthority.org/books/best-selling-otorhinolaryngology-books. In practice, there is little about sales volume, and the ranking seems based more on reviews and the readers’ reception, but it does make for interesting reading. The top two books are noted as having sold in excess of 10 000 copies (one co-authored by our own Prof PJ Bradley!). Most note sales in excess of only 2000 copies and it is worth remembering these are regarded as the best sellers. It must be a tricky market for the publishers even at the best of times. These are not the best of times.
