Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Hi,

This is a belated thank you to everyone who participated in the thread. Morten and I followed it with great interest, and it gave us a lot to think about.

We are going to press ahead with the eArticles idea, and have enlisted some well known authors and researchers to contribute their work to the Air War Publications site. We'll have the first articles online later this year.

All the best,
Andrew & Morten

Air War Publications - www.airwarpublications.com

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

This is interesting about the merits (or lack of) conventional publishing, online publishing and self-publishing.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Hi Nick,


Thank you for your effort. But I must discount the comments, and the lack of civility, of one author. I'm scanning the Book Trade press constantly for useful information and her's is not an average experience, not even close. I'd like to preface my following comments by saying that I believe humility is a necessary virtue. I'm on a private, book industry only mailing list, and they are quite strict about letting any information they disclose from reaching others. It arrives on an almost daily basis and it lists authors and deals, along with specific dollar amounts, plus the transfer and titles of individuals in the book industry and their new job title, a valuable resource to book publishers regarding where the industry is focusing their efforts; i.e. are more people getting hired to handle digital work, promotions, print work, etc. Then there's Publishers Weekly where the major publishing houses, and name analysts, examine the book market from all angles.

I think I'm safe in saying that the internet, the most powerful communications tool on the planet, has been left to the hands of 6 year olds in too many cases. People without the knowledge, skill or talent to do what needs to be done. And I can't think of any publisher that can remain in business without using the internet to some degree. As you know, bookstore space diminished considerably after the completely avoidable collapse of the Borders bookstore chain. I'll close by saying that Barnes & Noble, for one, has not capitalized on that as well as they could have.



Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Ed and Nick,

I went to the site you referenced, Nick. I found the blogger's comments interesting, but wondered whether the publisher she used was really so out of it as she claimed. I tended to agree with her regarding Amazon.com. Every time I go there they tease me with books I might be interested in. It is excellent, very focused, marketing.

If I recall correctly, the blogger mentioned the book Fifty Shades of Gray, which, ironically, my 41-year-old daighter happened to mention to me shortly thereafter. She said it was gratuitous porn of the worst kind and she'd have nothing to do with it. She certainly enjoys romance novels, but Fifty Shades of Gray was in a completely different category.

The blogger discounted printed books as vanity publications, something for the author to feel good about because he could walk into Barnes & Noble and see his work on the shelf. Yes, we have to admit there is that thrill. But, being in print is far more than that. It is something permanent, something one can hardly expect from eBooks or eArticles. It eludes me as to why an author would commit massive amounts of time and money to researching an historical work and then publish it in a non-permanent form. It seems like a tremendous waste to me. My guess is that, with few exceptions, more is spent in time and money doing the research than one will ever get back in royalties. In other words, don't give up your day job. So, if you are going to put your heart and soul into the project in the first place, why stop short?

Regards,
Richard

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Richard and all potential publishers/authors,

I have been in the book publishing business for decades and it is my day job, along with our handful of staff, plus freelancers who are not on the payroll but are paid by the job, including illustrators. It can and has been done. However, for those who might produce one or a handful of books over the same time period, it's better to go with an established publisher. I am also head of research, which means if one of our fictional books is set in a certain time period or location, it's my job to track down all the necessary source material for the author. I doubt Tom Clancey would be as popular as he is if it were not by making sure that the location and all the necessary props/vehicles/weapons were dead on correct. I'm also the military/tech guy and keep up with all of the latest developments, along with my World War II interests. And by the way, I trust books over any internet source, which means we have a rather large library on location.

Now I know the whole process of being a writer and assistant art director as well. Our business started during a time period where our soon to be competitors laughed at the idea directly to my boss. And the internet seems to love bad news at one extreme and looks at a handful of big successes on the other. What is first needed, if you've never published before, is a plan, and that means research. What follows applies to the United States but is primarily true on a global level.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Using an Established Publisher


You are dying to publish history and after years, many years, of hard work, time and likely, spending money on photos and documents, the last thing you want to hear from any established publisher is no. So you go to the next publisher, and keep trying. (Where would George Lucas and Star Wars be today if he gave up after his first few rejections?)

You then send them a summary of what you want to publish and you request a copy of their writer's guidelines. Then, you actually talk to someone. E-mail is nice and cheap, but you will have to talk to someone. Assuming your subject matter is compelling, and the publisher thinks he can sell enough copies, you will likely send in the first chapter for quality review and then the rest. Some publishers will handle combining the text with the photos and handle final layout and design for you. Some won't.

Pluses: Somebody else is paying for printing, distribution and at least a little promotion. The reputation of the author(s) and the publishing company are likely to increase sales. I'm more likely to buy from an established publisher than from No Name Press, but, if there is positive buzz on the internet, and it contains what I want, I am likely to take a chance.

You are likely to get a contract outlining terms and conditions plus payment to you. But get a lawyer. Sorry, but you might get a contract for European Rights only, which means your book cannot be sold outside of Europe or you might get a contract for global rights. But, be careful, you must look for anything that talks about "digital rights." Those should be an additional monetary agreement on top of the print rights. If you're not concerned about that, one way or the other, it's your choice. And make sure any original photos or documents get returned to you and that it's written into your contract

Minuses: Your page count might be arbitrarily limited, and additional material should not be excluded. I would not want to see 10 pages cut from my years of hard work.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Self-Publishing

You are now in the driver's seat, and while there are a number of short run printers, to get high quality paper, you'll need to print in the 1,000 copy range, at least in the US. If you are fortunate, you may find someone who will print 500, but you will have to do the finding. And you must get the correct file format(s) from the printer so that you can send them a file they can work from. You must also ask about what the image resolution should be for photos and other art. The size of your book (6 x 9, or 8 1/2 x 11) and page count are also important factors. So:

You pay for printing, and shipping from the printer, unless they are close by and your print run is low.

You pay for an editor. And an editor is not just someone who looks for misspelled words but also bad sentence structure, and will help you decide how best to present the material. Sometimes, a chronological presentation is the way to go, sometimes beginning chapters need to start the story, followed by a more chronological approach.

Get a proofreader. Before the finished book goes to press, make sure someone with some skill looks it over. We have two editors - I'm one. And invariably, while I catch most of the problems, the other guy catches the rest, and, in most cases, the proofreader catches a few more.

You pay for or learn to do the typesetting and have a program that can integrate text with photos, which may require you to purchase a program. You will also need to know how to select a readable font for the text that is pleasing to the eye, but you no doubt have plenty of books that contain a typeface(s) you like.

The cover. While dust jackets are nice, you can save money by printing directly to the board on a hardcover or release your book as a softcover and save more. Your choice.

Cover designer. Believe it or not, very good covers sell more books. That's why there are dedicated cover designers at the major New York publishing houses. Or you can select a typeface and add all the cover text and images yourself.

You may need a graphic designer to help with photos, maps and other image placement and layout.

Part Two: Distribution

You have the book in hand so now what? How do you sell it? Set up your own web site and pack and ship yourself? This is the most profitable way. And you can contact distributors and specialty sites and make your book available there as well. However, they will take a cut of the cover price. In the US, it's 50%.

You can go to amazon.com or amazon.co.uk but they will take a cut as well. Yes, you can sell your book at full cover price, but people, like Pavlov's dog, have been conditioned to prefer discounts. My advice: don't do it. But it's up to you.


Part Three: Promotion


How will people even know your book came out? Sure, you can post here and at the LEMB but where else? And review copies. Getting a positive review from established magazines and hobby sites is a must. However, they expect a free copy, postage paid. And then there's promotion on your own site.

And don't stop promoting. Maybe get a facebook page devoted to the book's progress and the announcement of its final release. Of course, posters can add comments once they get a copy of the book as well.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

E-books


All of the above still applies except no printing or distribution costs. And you can do any page count as you'd like.

Minuses:

E-books are priced too low to sustain an actual publishing company. For individuals or a small group, you're not likely to see much in the way of compensation, but hey, something is better than nothing, eh?

My company sells PDFs of some of our older titles and a few out of print titles as well. I can't speak to military book sales, but in our fiction niche, the returns are low. In our case, they are still enough to pay a bill or two when combined with our physical book sales

We also use DRM (Digital Rights Management) or watermarks on each book. This does not stop but helps to deter piracy.

Piracy. Unless you add significant anti-copy protection, your book or article can and will end up on a file stealing site. I just received a message from one of our freelancers that he found some of our books on a "file sharing" site. The only thing protecting these sites from prosecution for now, is an irrational law that allows anyone to download anything to their site without supervision. According to the law, the site must be notified by the copyright holder and a take-down form must be sent to them by a company officer.

Don't be fooled. People have taken our books, hardcover and softcover, and made perfect digital copies available for nothing. Nothing. The price everyone can afford.

You can do this from your own web site or use other book related web sites, but everybody takes a cut. As far as I know, Kindle books are good for page after page of solid text and nothing else, and require special formatting.

Pluses:

Updates and corrections can be made and the book or article re-released.


It may be that your book or collection of articles sell well enough that they can be offered in a print format later on.






Hope this helps,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

DISCLAIMER: I am not an attorney and any references to legal matters must be taken up with a real attorney.




Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

In my opinion, there would be a viable option to start a kind of eMagazine, instead of publishing separate eArticles. Definitely there is a place in the market for a quality aviation history magazine (quarterly, bimonthly) with meticulously researched and written (footnotes, etc) materials.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Andreas,

Why not drop me a line?

Fonthill is a very exciting place to be and we have excellent editing, design, repro as well as sales, marketing and distribution in the UK and US. We have just launched with Viking Spitfire and Wine, Women and Song - including more - and have over 100 books planned for this year. We are also ambitious and with reason, unlike many other specialist publishers. For example, we have the definitive book on the Bismarck with unpublished photos (A4 at £50) and Fighters over Stalingrad, a beautiful book on the Schneider Trophy, Imperial Airways and many, many more.

Why not drop me a line and pay our website a visit:

www.fonthilmedia.com
j.slater (at) fonthillmedia.com

With very best wishes,

Jay

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I know you can not make mistake with Schneider trophy, after we make article on web site, we get many emails from readers.

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2...er-cup-racers/

So keep on run!

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Indeed. With regards to this particular book, and at a very impressive format, has been a burning passion for the author for over thirty years with the most beautiful images and photographs.

It's a work of love.

Jay

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Jay,


Your release numbers are very impressive, and I'm sure will help lift the morale of many. In future, I'll have to keep you in mind for a book I'm researching right now.


Best,
Ed West

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I think by releasing many titles Fonthill avoids the pitfall of many specialist publishers with e.g. one title per year: uneven revenues.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Gentlemen,

Many thanks for your kind words and pleas do e-mail or PM me if you wish to discuss a project.

And now to work on Brian Cull's fascinating Fighters over the Aegean!

With very best wishes,

Jay