eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear forum members,

We have recently given some thought to selling eBooks and eArticles on the Air War Publications website, as a way to release our work between major printed book projects. We’re curious to see if there is interest in this concept amongst the Luftwaffe community.

All eArticles and eBooks would have the same layout as our printed books, including photographs, colour aircraft profiles, maps and other illustrations. They would be available in A4 size .pdf format, and could be downloaded immediately after completing the straightforward payment process from our website. Any revised versions would be sent to buyers free of charge.

We aim to publish eArticles written by ourselves, and also some written by well-known Luftwaffe authors. These would be 5 to 15 pages in length. We are also thinking of publishing some of our smaller book projects as 50 to 100 page eBooks. However, it is important to note that our major book projects (‘Air War Courland’, ‘Fw 190 Defending Southern Italy’, etc.) will appear in the traditional printed form.

Would forum members be interested in paying 4-5 euros for eArticles and 10-15 euros for eBooks about Luftwaffe and aviation history subjects of interest to them?


All the best,
Andrew Arthy & Morten Jessen

Air War Publications – www.airwarpublications.com

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Andrew and Morten,


I think this is a good idea for two reasons. 1) Some publishers are really struggling right now, and this also allows those who have corrections or additions to come forward for any revised versions. 2) Keeping new material flowing to the Luftwaffe community is always welcome and each new title will keep interest up.

The only negative for me is that I expect, or at least, have become accustomed to a minimum of 64 to 100 pages of quality content. Buying less means I eventually buy 5 -15 pages for 5 Euros times say three, as opposed to paying a similar price for a larger ebook.



Hope this helps,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Andrew, Morten, and Ed,

I remain a printed book dinosaur. Even my son, who works for Google, is devoted to printed books, even though he has been connected to the Google books project. To me, it is the feel and longevity of a book, its ability to be quickly thumbed and rapid conclusions reached as to merit, and the photos and illustrations that, somehow to me, just aren't duplicated on a screen. Flipping back and forth - just how does one do that in an eBook which, to be honest, I don't have a reader for anyway?

Now, on the other hand, there is the huge benefit of being able to conduct a word search, something you can't do with a printed copy.

I also am somewhat of a bug on photo reproduction quality. Reproduction quality varies all over the map in printed books, quite frequently dropping far below my standards. I'll look at a book, sigh, say to myself I guess it's passable, but it certainly isn't going to win any prizes.

Are there some other dinosaurs out there who remember the oohs and aahs we used to express for Monogram's books and the really nice photos they had? If you looked, you'd find they were printed in the Far East, which is where the best technology existed and, perhaps, still does.

I recently bought a copy of the USSBS report on Fieseler in Kassel, Germany. I got a .pdf copy on disc for a really cheap price - $5.00 plus $2.50 S&H. Well, I read the report and, while I could read the text, which had marginal definition, the print in some of the tables was really too small to be able to read. The photo reproduction, likely from a microfilm copy, was very bad. The point is, with something supplied electronically, it just may not have the definition you'd want.

This is a community of sharing. If my friend Joe would like to see a copy of the photo on page 20 of your eBook, will it be electronically locked up so that I can't share it with him?

As for eArticles, which is just saying articles in electronic format, there is always the alternative of publishing in a magazine, preferrably one of the higher grade, specifically focused ones.

Then there is the ephemeral aspect of something provided in electronic format. At NARA II, researchers can look at motion pictures on honest to goodness motion picture film or on Sony 1-inch tape. Of course, everyone has a Sony 1" tape player, don't they? Well, NARA II went down that path, only to be stuck with obsolete equipment that is in terrible shape. The tape, itself, isn't in great shape, either. Now, before everyone panics, these are just researcher viewable copies and NARA II does have both the original motion pictures and first generation copies, the latter supplied to contractors to provide copies for the public. The originals and likely the first generation copies are kept refrigerated.

And, of course, we all have our 8-track tape players and RCA laser movie disk players, don't we? Notice the gradual transition from DVD to Blu-Ray. So, that eBook I buy from you guys, uh, will I have something it can play on in 20 years? Will someone be able to repair my ancient gadget? For that matter, will the coating on the disc disintegrate in 20 years and make the disc permanently useless?

Then, there is the printed book. It uses the latest Mark 1 eyeballs to read it. Same as when they whipped out the Gutenberg Bible.

Each to his own.

Regards,
Richard

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

E publishing and new range of various devices (like Samsung Galaxy and so on) which is put on wider use, give additional burst to E publishing. Some publisher get more and more sales of their digital version f the paper magazines.

I think that your proposed prices are tooooooo hot... few € could be all right for article (if it is 15 pages). Don't forget it is crisis now and people try to reduce their expenses. Also point of the E publishing is to turn part of the hard core printer publication users on your side.

Cheers :)

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I was going to put something bluntly, but Richard covered it so well that I just agree with him! As for those articles, have you offered them to e.g. Aeroplane Monthly? Or how about publishing the articles as a booklet series (softback, staple bound so the costs would be low, yet printed to premium paper with highest printing quality)?

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

So am I. But going through the motions of trying to get books published, with the treatment authors receive from publishing houses these days, makes me think that for at least part of our hobby E-books and E-articles are the way to go. The way this business is going is not sustainable, and if you want to have good quality research published, in many cases books are no longer an option, in my view.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Andreas, remember that one option is self-publishing. Another point to consider is that the actual physical production costs of the printed book are not that high. That of course depends strongly on the printing run, but I asked a Finnish printer how much would it cost per copy a 500-page hardcover book in A4 format on glossy art paper with a print run of 5000 and in black-and-white (colour covers). The The reply I got was for a 496-page book, and included all physical costs (paper, printing, binding etc.). And the single copy cost was about 7 euros.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Okay if you think you can sell 5,000 copies this way, or you have EUR 35,000 lying around and don't know what to do with them (in which case, please give me a call).

Self-publishing has an upfront cost of no less than several hundred EUR. That may or may not be affordable. It also requires technical skills in order to produce a good product you can be proud of. We are looking at self-publishing for one of the books, but I wouldn't go near it without help from an experienced friend, since I neither have the time nor the skills to do it.

All I am saying is that to insist on books means to insist on an ever-declining offer of information for our hobby. That's fine, but one should be clear about it.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

5,000 is a biggish print run, no denying, but the point is that the physical cost of the printed book is not the decisive factor, i.e. book editing costs are often higher. And if you use plenty of photos from European archives, they cost a lot. E.g. official Finnish Army archive photos cost about 50 euros per photo, and that is, AFAIK, not even near the most expensive archives out there.

Many specialist publishers have no clue about effective marketing. And proper marketing means the difference between sound and unsound business.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

But the physical cost per book increases with decreasing runs. And its not linear either. I would be surprised if they quoted you much less than EUR 20 for a print-run of 2,500. At which point there is no way you can sell them, since the sales price would be too high (probably EUR 50 taking into account margins and VAT).

Volume publishers, who know about marketing, unfortunately will primarily be interested in Dreck, while the specialist publishers (and I take your point) will not be able to push the volume. All of which just reinforces my point.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Hi guys,

Many thanks for the comments.


Richard,

We also still prefer the printed book, and that’s why our significant book projects will appear in that format. Although print runs will decrease as the years go by (at the moment print runs are between 1,000 and 1,500), we will continue to publish hard copy books for as long as people keep buying them. However, the eBook and eArticle format is something that will grow in the future, and we’d like to try it. It also allows us to publish projects that simply wouldn’t be economically viable as printed books.

I guess most people aren’t familiar with the economics of the publishing world. The Luftwaffe market is a tiny one, and there are only just enough potential customers to make a fully illustrated printed book project of more than 176 pages worthwhile, especially if, like Air War Publications, you want to write and publish about topics that hasn’t been covered before (rather than more popular topics like the FW 190 Dora and Ta 152, the Me 262, and late-war Bf 109s).

We want to be able to publish our hard copy books about the ground-attack guys and other aviation history topics not previously covered. However, we have many projects that simply couldn’t be published in the traditional printed form because the market for them wouldn’t be big enough. For example, Adam Thompson and I have been working on a unit history of the short-range reconnaissance units 2.(H)/14 and 4.(H)/12. I can’t imagine this would sell any more than 400 copies (worldwide), and that simply isn’t enough to cover printing and distribution costs for a 176+ page fully illustrated book. Still, it’s a really interesting project, and it could see the light of day as an eBook.

Richard mentions not having a reader device, but our eBooks and eArticles will be available as standard .pdfs for use on both a regular computer and a reader (if you have one), and will be fully printable if you wish to do so.

Photos and illustrations will always be reproduced in better quality digitally compared to the printed form. Those who have seen our first title, Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in the Battle for Sicily, will know the standards we aim for, so there would be no problems viewing any part of our eBooks or eArticles.

We’ve had articles published in magazines, but how many board members purchase Wartime magazine, where several of my articles appear, or can read the German versions of our articles in Flugzeug Classic? Putting them all online in one location seems a real step forward in having our research published and available. Another benefit of eArticles is that we won’t have to tolerate waiting 18 or 24 months for them to see the light of day after being submitted to the magazine. We’ll make less money publishing our articles via the website, but I’m quite certain that they’ll be available to more of our small, specialist community that way.

Of course the chance of technology moving on is an issue, but for the next decade at least, eBooks in the current format will remain very relevant. Apple and Amazon are not going to let the technology die. The .pdf format has been in existence for twenty years, and is not likely to disappear for a long, long time to come. If the technology is to become obsolete, print it out on paper and you’ve got yourself a hard copy.

Thanks for your thoughtful comments Richard, it’s always appreciated. I hope the above addresses your points adequately.


Ed,

Your first two points are two of the main reasons we are contemplating this option. Regarding your negative point, a solution might be for us to combine several articles together as one download, to make it better value for money.


Jukka,

Please see my comments to Richard above regarding publishing in magazines. The issue for Morten and I is that we don’t want to spend the time and money dealing with printers, storage space/costs, transport costs, distributors, bookstores, etc. for small printed books and booklets. We don’t mind dealing with those issues for our large book projects, but not for something of 1 to 175 pages. Selling smaller publications of that size as eBooks is a much easier way to go. We approve the payment when it’s made via our website, and then the delivery process is all automated – no trucks, air mail, handling, increasing postage prices, print shop prices etc.

We want to enjoy our hobby doing some research and writing, not dealing too much with the business side of things.


Srecko,

Thanks for your comment. Our prices for eBooks and eArticles are not set in stone at this point. However, I would think that US$10-15 for a well-researched, fully illustrated, properly laid out A4 size 100 page book is very good value for money. Regarding the articles being too expensive, as I said to Ed above, perhaps a solution would be to combine several articles about a similar topic into one download, to make them more affordable.


Andreas,

> “for at least part of our hobby E-books and E-articles are the way to go”

This comment sums up our attitude entirely! We want to be book publishers, producing hardcover, high quality aviation history books that you can hold in your hands. The eBook and eArticle idea is just a way to make other research by ourselves and some of our friends available for a reasonable price, without the regular publishing hassles that I outlined to Jukka above.


Larger aviation history publishing companies will go in this direction soon as well. We just seem to be the first ones to raise the issue publicly! We look forward to any other comments.


All the best,
Andrew & Morten

Air War Publications – www.airwarpublications.com

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Last year a Finnish publisher published a 224-page history of a Finnish fighter squadron. Price 59 euros, and the publisher told me the book is selling very well. A history of the 23. Panzer-Division sold 4-figured numbers in about 2-3 years and was priced at US$95. I'd not hesitate to pay 50 euros for a 496-page large format book, if the topic interested me (and the book did not have ragged right etc.).

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Richard,


I suggest no one demean themselves for preferring a printed book. I work in the book business and allow me to point out a few bits of interest: 1) Resistance to buying an e-reader is growing, Currently, it's up to about 46%. 2) While having a search function is nice, I think a good index is just fine. 3) Technology to enlarge maps and charts exists.

And you are absolutely right. Personally, I am sick and tired of all the changes in electronic playback devices. I will not be buying a blu-ray or g-ray or whatever their next device is. Period.

I have purchased a book that is over 100 years old and that suits me just fine. I can read it.

I can drop my book and not worry about it breaking or about its remaining battery life.

Finally - craftsmanship. Luftwaffe im Focus is a high quality publication. And it's not just about nostalgia. While some can say, "I've got a hundred books on my hard drive." If it crashes, you now have nothing.

I am 100% against sharing a book or part of a book. It means lost sales. My company spent a lot of time and money on a book only to see it on a "file sharing" site 30 days later. I will never buy an electronic text that has such capability and I will never buy an e-reader. My primary reason? I spent most of my day in front of a computer screen. I do not want to spend my free time staring at another screen. They can keep their e-ink technology and whatever's coming down the road.



Best regards,

Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I don't understand your last sentence. I buy a book because I want it. I don't care about electronic formats - at all. And by the way, as a professional editor, I know manuscripts from people who don't know how to write are flooding the market with unreadable junk. I don't care if I can buy junk for 99 cents, it's still junk.

Physical books will be around for a very long time, and you can't sell your copy of German Military Truck Tires, 1939 - 1945 on eBay or a used bookstore.



Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Another problem that your looking at is the program that your e-reader displays as they read books only from the company supplying the ebook. I have the Kindle Fire which I enjoy but maps are not the greatest on it. Pictures are fair to okay, depending on what was published a lot of times. I mostly get books that have text. You can highlight parts and with Amazon it's possible to share your ebooks. I wouldn't waste money on looking at profiles and charts on it (just to small).

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Andreas,

You can self-publish today. Even a few copies. No need to go through any publishers.

And I hope your "not sustainable" argument is properly considered. New publishers are springing up. I would encourage you, and others, to look at positive solutions. Respectfully, it's too easy to throw up your hands and say 'this doesn't work.' What can work is people getting together and finding solutions. Personally, I won't buy anything electronic. So, perhaps an e-mail to Axel Urbanke at Luftwaffe im Focus or one to Jerry Crandall at Eagle Editions, who both self-publish, will provide ideas for going forward.



Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Then we need to address the marketing issue. I regularly post about new book releases here because I know that. Respectfully, more people need to do the same. And it doesn't require a specialist, just the cover of the book, size, number of pages, a basic summary, and info about photos, maps, etc. and a release date.

I'm involved with marketing the books my business produces, and part of it is simply finding those sites which already cater to the people you want to sell to, like here and the Luftwaffe Experten Message Board. So every time we produce a new book, I go the sites I know and announce it, and include a link.



Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Something else to consider is this. Because my company wants to produce more books this year, we have had offers from people willing to assist with editing and other things like layout and design for free. I imagine there are those in English speaking countries who, for various reasons, have the time and are willing to do editorial work for very little or for nothing. They may have lost their job - which is very true in the US - but have the time, the skills and the passion to consider doing something, including those who are retired, are Luftwaffe enthusiasts, and need and want to do the work again.

And give other publishers a call. When I started here, that's exactly what I did. Ask them about their print runs and market conditions. Sure, some may say no to your requests but some may say yes. I also keep in touch with distributors that sell our books. I ask them about market conditions and what they see happening. I encourage people not to guess, but to try to get answers.

The sad thing about too many internet forums is the pervasive atmosphere of negativity. I see it on my company forum all the time. We cannot be successful unless we get the facts and act on them.




Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Ed

I tried four publishers. One responded with what I felt was a reasonable offer but my collaborators weren't budging on some issues.

Since I am not working on a marketable topic such as 'King Tigers of the Luftwaffe in Colour', I am rather limited in my choices. Which is what I meant - for some interesting aspects of our hobby that are not that marketable, there is no niche in publishing, in my view.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

What is your topic? How about this Jay Slater fellow who has been looking for manuscripts on this forum?

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I'd buy one of those 400 copies at least!

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Me too. But given the choice of paying EUR 15 for an E-copy or EUR 50 for print, I'd go for the former.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Gentlemen,

Imagine the following. You are commander of a task force in World War II. "Men. The enemy has fielded two new weapons. We must find a way to counter them. Are you with me?"

May I suggest a new way to fund book projects called kickstarter? Here's an example:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...hape-of-design

The basics are this: you submit your book project for review. If accepted, you set your funding goal and time frame. Let's say, two weeks. You tell others in your niche community about what you're doing. Funding is all or nothing, but, in my view, it's worth a try. Finally, if successful, kickstsarter gets 5% of monies raised and there is a credit card processing fee of 3%.




Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

But is the choice between 15 euros or 50 euros? How many pages in what size would the end product have? Are we talking about a properly laid out work (not just a text file with illustrations thrown in) with the only difference being the digital vs. printed format? Doing the layout costs considerable amount of money, if done by a contracted person/company.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

As a person of taste and discernment I naturally buy vinyl LPs. All the better when one comes with a code to download the music, offering you digital convenience alongside analogue quality. In the same way, I'd love to get a real book accompanied by a download offering searchable text, zoomable illustrations etc.

For reading I'd prefer a real full-length book, for smaller scale things I'd be perfectly happy with an electronic item, especially one that exploited the medium's strengths.

Speaking as a writer, I'm intrigued Apple's iBooks Author software. It offers templates for creating books or whatever which you can then sell through the App Store. That also addresses the point about losing your books if your computer crashes because you can always reload your purchases from the store. It's incompatible with my OS version (which I don't want to change yet because I still need to run some older programs) and it's usually wise to let them get a version or two under their belt before you jump in. Also, templates notwithstanding, design is an issue with a number of the self-published books I own. I enjoy a book more if it's well laid out and that skill isn't so widespread.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Nick, designing a book shouldn't be that difficult as long as the designer keeps in mind that he is designing the book for readers, not himself, nor his colleagues. One can't go wrong by emulating older books, say from the 1960s. At that time the designers were proud people who didn't resort to gimmicks like ragged-right some modern "designers" do. It was also a time when hyphenation wasn't a crime in English text. And time when dots were not omitted from abbreviations and initials!

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Hi Nick,


The books my company publishes (fiction) often include interior illustrations and charts. The Kindle, for example, if you read their technical fine print, is not yet at the point where this can be done or done well. I am unfamiliar with what Apple is offering.

I'm sure there are competent layout people out there, with some working freelance. The skill is not too difficult to master, but selecting a text font, leading (the distance between lines), and the best places to insert art and photos does require a good design background. Once again, the basic principles are not that hard to learn. In the "real" book business, there are dedicated cover designers since we know that a well designed cover sells books. A good general Art Director can master the basics, and there are a number of good rules that have stood the test of time, but the difference between a very good cover and a great one takes a bit of additional skill and some inspiration. As an assistant art director myself, I help approve the four different pencil cover sketches we get in and I'm expected to explain my choice in 5 minutes or less. Once a sketch is approved, it has to go through review again as a color rough, and my comments have to cover all the bases quickly and succinctly.

With our latest book cover, we had the artist at our office, and the head art director and myself provided additional minor corrections and fine tuning before the piece was fully completed. This was done on a graphics tablet hooked up to one of our computers. Then the front and back cover text was composited onto the finished cover.

I think PDFs are the way to go if you want that, but there are two problems: piracy and "sharing." As the copyright holder, only my company decides how the book is distributed, so if we add copy protection, it's there for that reason.



Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear All,

My, we've had quite a discussion here!

I made a comment in my previous missive about sharing a photo in a book with someone else, which I think struck a nerve with Ed. The law allows libraries to let their clientele do precisely this for research purposes.

What to one person may seem to be a photo of little particular interest may be one that holds a brand new piece of evidence for someone else, a real treasure.

I recently had such a happening. Actually, two. I now have a copy of Mark Proulx's Wings of the Black Cross, Number Nine. Now, I ordered this book because it was described as having photos of the Me 262. And, true to advertisement, there they were, although nothing particularly spectacular. As I thumbed through the book I did run across 5 photos taken at the end of the war at Kassel. There, at the top of page 29 was a rather unique photo showing the cockpit to a Ju 388, the fuselage to an Fi 103R manned V-1, 3 BMW 003 jet engines upside down, 1 Jumo 004 removed from an Me 262, and, the biggest surprise of all, 2 bare metal Me 262 tail sections. Now, were parts for the Me 262 being manufactured at Kassel? That was news to me. An uncorroborated Googled Internet forum suggested such, that parts for the Me 262 were being made at Kassel for REIMAHG Kahla. I'd sure love to pin that one down, as tracking down the manufacturing of the Me 262 is a particular fascination of mine.

But, that wasn't the only goodie that Mark had come up with. Three other photos showed photos of fuselages of the Junkers EF 126 Lilli. In one is also a P-61 Black Widow and a nose of a C-47, so these were definite U.S. photos, not postwar Russian developments. Heck, I never knew that any EF project ever saw cut metal. Now, I gave a call to my friend Manfred Boehme in Germany, who I know has an interest in such rarified developments, and he about flipped out, similarly unaware of any such production. In this case, I ordered a second copy of the book for him.

But, my point is that we, as researchers, are constantly trying to connect the dots. A photo may appear in one book and a photo taken from a different view of the same aircraft may appear in another and the two, when combined, provide a key missing when either photo is viewed alone. Thus, scanning and sharing to enhance our knowledge seems a very reasonable thing to do.

Is there a risk that I will detract from the sale of a book? Perhaps. Or, my friend may be so anxious to see the original for himself, that he obtains a copy. A printed book, in and of itself, is a deterent against duplication of the book as a whole. To do a really good job of it, you would need to literally tear the book asunder and scan each and every page, then reproduce it to sell to others. As has been pointed out, the market for our specific interests is not going to generally exceed a few thousand copies, making the whole effort of dubious value.

Now, as much as I like great photos in books, scanning them can be a really big headache. Photos in books are frequently, if not always, half tone prints and your scanner really loves to create barre/moire with them. You can try to fix this in a number of ways, with probably the most effective way being to scan at 1200 dpi, in which case you scan the individual dots. It's a slow process. You still end up with a half tone image. Yes, I can hear the argument that says, ah, but if we supply you an eBook, you might actually get a better image. True enough, if you provide it at high enough resolution. So, you then are faced with the question of do I allow the buyer to extract and make a nice print of the photo or do I lock it up, in which case it is look, but don't touch, and I lose the capability to share the photo, which is information, with other researchers. It is researchers, putting their heads together, as here at TOCH!, that can unlock mysteries that an individual researcher might not be able to accomplish.

As for reading a book on my computer or, even if I had an eReader, I fully agree with Ed's point of view that I hate reading anything lengthy on a screen. I write very long letters to Manfred and I guarantee you I don't proofread them on a screen - I print them out and mark them up with a red marker. Doing such on a screen is an unmitigated pain in the ass, although I have done so once for an author who asked me to proofread his book in .pdf format. I did it, but it was painful.

A book is to be held, to be enjoyed, to be thumbed through, to work back and forth through. I rarely start at the beginning. I find the subject matter of greatest interest and dig in. If I want the preliminaries, I'll go back for them. If it is a well referenced book, I'll be back and forth between the text and the chapter notes. I want to know if the author has done his research. Where did he get his material? Does he have a citation to support a specific claim? That means a lot of back and forth. That could be very painful with an eBook.

Regards,
Richard

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Hi guys,

Many thanks for the interesting comments and debate.

Morten and I will proceed with the eBook and eArticle idea, producing .pdf versions of articles and smaller books using exactly the same layout style as used for our printed books. However, our main focus will continue to be our two main printed book projects, Air War Courland and Fw 190 Defending Southern Italy. We’ll keep you all updated.

All the best,
Andrew & Morten

Air War Publications – www.airwarpublications.com

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Dear Richard,


I also purchased a copy of Wings of the Black Cross Number 9 and like you, could not believe my eyes when I saw the EF 126 fuselages. Although there is a list of contributors in the book, who took this photo? What is its provenance? I don't doubt that it's genuine. As an aside, I keep reading about private collections or photo albums on eBay that disappear in a heartbeat. I have seen a few photos of an Fi-103 R with a small wooden box on the top of the tail assembly on an American trailer with unknown contents, and a photo of a Messerschmitt P.1101 inside an unknown building in an undamaged state. As I recall, it was not missing the side fuselage piece that is commonly seen in books. And it disappeared a moment later.

Regarding libraries. They buy the books they lend out. Yes, one is allowed under the "fair use" law to photocopy pages from books and magazines for research purchases. But, whether people realize it or not, sharing such material over the computer amounts to distributing it. Even though pieces of paper are not involved, it's still distribution.

We have an old but top of the line scanner which we use for scanning artwork and photos that we own. These are either reprinted as is or used for printed books.

Convenience is nice. And we all don't want to do more work than is necessary but sometimes this subject is brought up as a one-way street. If a publisher produced an e-book, I would contact them for a physical print-out even though I would pay more, including shipping it to me. Just speaking for myself, I want data. Photos are good but we've printed photos, even in color, on our own equipment and again, from my point of view, that would be fine for the kind of information I'm looking for, namely the existence, location and actual photos of aircraft, missiles, rockets and other secret projects that supposedly never went beyond the drawing board or officially never existed.

In the much ignored book, T-Force by Sean Longdon, there is mention of "electrically charged rockets" being guarded by the Dutch Resistance. A google search revealed a reference to such rockets in a Czech scientific publication and the name Eugen Sänger. Dr. Sänger first published his ideas about this subject in 1953.




Best regards,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

I am big supporter of eBooks. I have two ebooks on sale on Amazon and they have done fairly well (about a 100 copies each) in my opinion. They go for cheap and the research I have done in those two ebooks is not stuff you find in other books or online. So for what its worth, the buyer has a niche article/ebook at a relatively cheap price.

And there is no dealing with publishers and rejections. Yes not everyone has a Kindle or a Kindle app on their phone /PC but someday there will be lesser resistance to the ebook reader - especially with the proliferation of tablet pcs.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Touch screen devices: Satan's inventions to punish people. I say that as a touch screen mobile phone owner.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

That's true for Nokia. :o

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Mine is a Samsung...;-)

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Speaking as someone who works for a publishing company, manuscripts are never rejected for no reason. The most common reason? They are badly written. The next reason is that they are poorly presented and not thought out well. One thing we tell our authors is "do your research," which is time consuming, but must be done. The fact is, most only do a little.

My company would go out of business in 30 days if we only sold about 100 copies of two books each.

Since I have access to actual book trade information, the acceptance level for e-readers is dropping. From January 2012:

"A study presented by book marketing firm Verso Advertising at Digital Book World last week finds that 15.8 percent of book buyers already own an e-reader — that figure has doubled since 2010. But 51.8 percent of book buyers say they are “not at all likely” to purchase one in the next 12 months. That is up from 40 percent in 2009."

Finally, and I am addressing this to all authors, the e-book market is being glutted with junk. I refuse to pay even 99 cents for junk.

A good publisher can be your friend, guide and mentor. However, I know that some view the publisher as the enemy. There should be actual cooperation between publishers and authors, but I do know authors that don't think this can be the case. Publishers bring their knowledge and experience to a manuscript that they consider publishable.



Best,
Ed

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

Of course the E-Book market is full of junk. But so's the printed book market. That's just a fact of life. It's a case of caveat emptor. Would I buy an e-book from Andrew if it was about a topic I'm interested in? Without even reading the flap text, yes. Would I buy the same book from A.N.Other? Probably not.

On the sales potential, since a publisher would let me have only a very small share of the sales income, for me as an author (if money were my object), 100 sales at EUR 10 a shot maybe as valuable as a contract for 10% of the sales revenue with a publisher. More importantly, it would mean I would get to use a lot of pictures from archives for free, rather than having to pay for them (e.g. UK National Archives).

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

How do you get photos for free from archives if you self-publish in E-format, but not if it is published commercially?

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

There is some good points to the ebooks. They have republished some books that went out of print and cost a small fortune to get. I read more then the WW2 air war and found a lot of books that are of interest to me. Look at the price of the book about WW1 German ace Werner Voss "September Evening" compared to the ebook. I also read the book Red Star Airacobra by the Russian ace Evgeniy Mariinskiy which was a good read but I would have hated to have paid the price for the HC edition. As I stated earlier there are some books that just wouldn't be right for ebook (like Don Caldwell's new book). As far as pictures and maps maybe a download code with the purchase of the ebook (a little extra cost but still maybe cheaper). I find that I can carry my ebooks about anywhere eliminating the bulk. Still like to have a book to look at for information on a lot of subjects at home.

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

National Archives UK don't charge you for a print run of less than 200 units.

All the best

Andreas

Re: eBooks and eArticles
 

A few more points:

1) Publishers exist for another reason: to earn a reputation. I recently tried a new publisher, finished the book, and was amazed at its lack of completeness and lack of depth. The author had some information I was looking for, so it was not a total loss, but would I buy the next promised book from this author and company? No, I would not. I am much more likely to buy from a publisher that has earned a reputation for readability, accuracy and presentation.

2) Amazon takes a cut of each e-book sold. From their site:

1-1. How are royalties calculated?
If you select the 35 percent royalty option, your royalty will be 35 percent of your list price for each unit sold. If you select the 70 percent royalty option, your royalty will be 70 percent of the list price (but if we sell at a lower price to match a competitor’s price for a digital or physical edition of the book or our price for a physical edition of the book, you will receive 70 percent of our sale price) for each eligible book sold to U.S. customers, net delivery costs, and 35 percent of the list price for each unit sold to customers residing outside the 70% territories listed above.


Finally, I would like to repeat. I am not against e-books and e-articles. I simply won't buy anything electronic. I would write/e-mail to the author/publisher and request a printed version - even unbound sheets - and pay what they asked, including shipping.



Best,
Ed