Jukka Juutinen, yes, that is correct: Another publisher offered to publish it if I cut the text in half. And that would have meant a book only in
softcover, much fewer photograhps, probably too small reprint of the photos, with no aircraft color profiles, very few maps, and maps not of the same quality as now. And probably "microscopical" text. Everything in order to cut down on costs. And a "slave contract" where I had to give them every forthcoming volume of Black Cross/Red Star.
I turned that down immediately, and took the decision to publish it by myself, out of respect for my task to write the full history of the air war on the Eastern Front in such a detail as the subject deserves.
I could cut down on quality and costs in such a way by myself, and then there would be no crisis for the prospect of Volume 5. That, however, is not what I intend to do.
That is why I am asking those interested in preserving the quality of this documentation to support the project by pre-ordering or crowdfunding Volume 5 of Black Cross/Red Star: The Great Air Battles, Kuban and Kursk.
E-mail me at
vaktelforlag@gmail.com if you are interested, and please help spreading the word.
Read more about the book here:
https://vaktelforlag.se/produkt/blac...ril-july-1943/
