[Erik Mombeeck]

Thanks again for your comments, much appreciated.

I’d just like to add that there is of course a world of difference between what I’d call ‘primary’ research - which my JG 4 and JG 2 works are - and other ‘cheaper’ works, essentially works of what I’d call ‘compilation’ – the fact of having to get out there on the ground, locate veterans and documents and create something entirely ‘new’ from the results of your research is a rather different type of work from a text created by taking elements already published and reassembling them.

It is the same with any branch of research – the latest paper announcing some advance in research knowledge will sell a handful of copies to those with a deep interest in the subject but take this work and paraphrase it in a scientific journal selling 50,000 copies at a very modest price and the result is the same – the data is out there but the means by which those discoveries are arrived at is not. Of course the scientist earns his income from that research – the historian in most cases is no more than a specialist ‘amateur’ enjoying little financial reward and only a limited readership worldwide. Put it another way, I could have written an Osprey or a Kagero (or whoever) on JG 2 or JG 5 or JG 4 for example – but chose instead to present in each case a multi-volume large format hardback series containing mostly original and unpublished personal accounts and photos. That is my ‘hobby’ and my passion.

This brings me back to a question that hasn’t yet received much of a response here - I presented earlier in this thread a moving and interesting letter from a deceased airman’s family that I thought added to the ‘story’ and situated the person in an historical context - this is the sort of ‘detail’ that I like to develop in my books. But of the few hundred enthusiasts who are interested in the topic how many are really interested in this sort of detail? Probably not a majority and thus most of the readers are happy with a 'compiled' book. The danger here is that eventually all original research will simply dry up and then there will be no new works – just endless compilations of texts and photos seen a thousand times previously – a phenomenon fairly current among aviation publishers it has to be said.

Talking of which - I’ve received a number of offers from publishers over the past few years - X number of words and photos for a nice fee on publication six months down the road. A money-making operation for the publisher. Nothing more. Up to now I’ve always declined this kind of proposition because what I do is essentially a hobby and not a source of income. Others have taken this route and are right to do so if that is what they want to do. I’m not going to criticise them for doing so - that’s not the point of what I’m saying. But yes, Lagarto, I could create a similar work of compilation, write it up quickly and throw in a few photos and then flog it cheaply, say $30 to $40. Only, if I’ve spent 20 years tracking down veterans and researching their stories and publishing for the first time I feel I’m justified in producing a work that adequately reflects the input that has gone into the work.

A final point raised here (and perhaps some-one who has seen JG 2/3 might care to comment...) – that of lay-out and design. I’ll be the first to admit that my expertise in this area is not perhaps the best – but then I know the text and the photos intimately. Far better than any publisher who might be working from a manuscript recently forwarded to him by his erstwhile author. I’d like to think that the reader gets a photo on the same page as the action/person to which it refers. Simple things like that, it seems to me, are worth far more than any fancy font or nice side-bars or inappropriate artworks, which very often serve only to increase the page count and nothing more.

Speak soon

Erik