New product idea (book) - Feedback please!

[martwizz]

Hey guys, If you could take a minute to read this and give some input, I would really appreciate it!

 

Im starting the final year of my foundation degree this year, which includes a specialist project. For this project, I have chosen to develop an information resource for people in the arboriculture industry.

 

In my opinion, there is an information gap at a contractor level. Most of us have ident books coming out of our ears, books which are seldom used as we are more than capable at identifying trees that we regularly work on.

 

However, some information specific to each tree is quite difficult to find. I have certainly found this when trying to find species specific information for my course assignments. Customers often ask us if a particular species is bad for subsidence, and the answer is usually based on years of experience, speculation or educated guesswork. I don't feel that this is good enough!

 

Therefore, the basis of my idea is a book with a focus on perhaps 50 commonly found UK tree species, with a summary of all the information you might want, but rarely have available. To help your imagination, this book would be A5, and each species or genus would have a double page spread with some pictures, tables and information. I would expect it to cost somewhere around £10-£15. This book concept could be extended into a web-accessible database, or a mobile app. As an example, information summarised could include:

 

- Timber quality / use

- Firewood quality / calorific value

- Timber weight / density

- Preferred soil pH

- Preferred growing / planting condition

- Subsidence potential

- Heave potential

- Maximum growth speed

- Pruning tolerance

- Potential to pollard / coppice

- Canopy shape / root spread

- Max. height / spread

- Commonly found P&D + effects

- Common structural defects

- Cultural significance

 

- There may be a picture of the leaf or tree included, but THIS IS NOT AN IDENT BOOK!!

 

So this thread is just for sending feelers out really. If there is a generally positive response, I will start the process of assembling some proper surveys, both to find out the most desirable information, and gather some opinions on required species, preferable formats, and so on.

 

If you could let me know what you think of this idea, and if you have any suggestions to throw into the mix, I would really appreciate it. If there are any obscure facts you often want to know about, let me know, so I can find out how desirable they are. Are there any species you always find yourself wondering about? Is there a big lack of definitive facts regarding firewood quality that you would like resolved? Does it sound like a gimmick you would never use? Just throw some words down and I'll take everything in

 

Thanks for your time, looking forward to some feedback!

Edited June 17, 2013 by martwizz

[treedom]

Great idea. What about adding time for pruning specific info?

[sloth]

Sounds like a great idea, go for it!

[Eddy_t]

I'd be interested

 

 

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[Bewarethemoon]

Great idea.

 

Daniel.

[Gary Prentice]

Great idea, how soon would it be available?

 

 

 

No pressure like:001_tt2:

[martwizz]

Great idea. What about adding time for pruning specific info?

 

If there turns out to be a wide variance of when is best to prune, that would be a great idea!

 

 

Great idea.

Great idea' date=' how soon would it be available? [/quote']

 

I hope to produce some sample pages in about 6 months, with a final format and accumulation of researched information for several species as an example. These sample pages (plus a title page, index etc) would be submittal as copy in order to pursue funding/sponsorship/publishing to complete the entire book, which would require an awful lot of time/research. So if it does get to that stage, I guess you could expect a completed book in 18-24 months?

[nz paul]

Maybe if your going into that much detail add the difference in climates and country's which can change a trees growing habit's quite a bit as all the things you have mentioned are fairly different in each country,unless your doing a British specific book.

[jackmayo]

It could be published as an ebook as well as they are becoming more and more popular, or you could, like you said, adapt it into an app as most people have smart phones now and are more likely to carry their phone than a book. Or maybe even a pocket edition with only the key facts and figures?

[martwizz]

Maybe if your going into that much detail add the difference in climates and country's which can change a trees growing habit's quite a bit as all the things you have mentioned are fairly different in each country,unless your doing a British specific book.

 

The book would be specific to the UK

 

If a success, books for other countries / specific regions could be investigated