Another of those good news/bad news stories!
First the good news - the final copy of Real Magic sold today - they're gone.... the whole print run. From my own personal perspective as the author, this qualifies the whole project as a success. For a number of complex and not always palatable reasons (such as the loss of copies due to non-payment) the Real Magic project barely broke even. Clearly there were not enough elves, wizards (despite our sail insignia) and teenage magic, nor enough about crews lacing each other into  50 shades of neoprene wetsuits then whipping themselves with lengths of Dynema to make such a book a best seller at WH Smiths. But that said, it was a success all the same.
Now for the bad news. The Publishers, who did such a great job of translating my mutterings into such a great end product, are delighted and would love to do another print run. The devil though is in the detail. Thanks mainly to the complexity of the set up required (all those great line drawings from Keith Callaghan, Colin Stokes cartoons, even Alan Warren's amazing watercolours) a short run would see the cover price of the book all but double.
 
Even a mid range print run.....say.....200 extra books (on top of the 300 sold already) would see the price rise to probably £43 or £44 - in book terms that is still cheap per page - but clearly not the £40 the first run ended up as. Mind you, commit to 300 copies, 250 even.....and we are back in business.
 
At this point in time I am happy to run with a 'want list' -  if we can get to a figure around 50% of the run as confirmed orders, then it is a  worthwhile exercise to start the presses rolling again.
 
In the end,  it is up to the Merlin Rocket sailors, past and present, to decide what happens next.
 
If you want to be put on a 'want list' then let me know - if orders start coming in, the 2nd print run could be activated very quickly.
 
A big thank you to all who have supported the project by buying in to it already, I can only hope that you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it,
 
Dougal 

Less than the price of a Harken 50mm block and becket!  Worth every penny.  Shame on the non-payers.  This is a labour of love and anyone who has had any connection with the class in the last 60 or so years should own a copy.

Congratulations!  Really makes the effort well worth while.  I know Dougal spent hours & hours on this project and I was happy to add a small contribution to this amazing book.  As David says, in the previous post, it is a pity that not everyone had the decency to "cough-up" after receiving their copy "on trust". 

Please put me on the waiting list for a copy at anything up to £44. Thank you for doing so much work to create this book.

Yes - please put me down for a copy.
best rgds
simonf 

Please put me on the waiting list Dougal

Bearing in mind the cost of even a relatively insignificant fitting on a Merlin, I'm gobsmacked that there are Merlin sailors out there who would even consider not paying for their  copy.  Name and shame them, I say!

If we all requested copies to loan from the local library, perhaps some would then actually buy a copy and increase sales and availability for future sailors.??