Plagiarism does't pay

[bavgan]

Though this is not a totally related subject, my concerns fit well.

For several years I have been making a research on the 452nd Bomb Wing's history during the Korean War. Back in 2003, I have founded a Yahoo group and managed to subscribe over 50 veterans there. Since then, they have shared their photos, memoirs and everything you can think of about their days in Korea.

Now I have a reasonable amount information on this unit and I would like to collect them in a book. And ,this is where my concerns start.

I have checked the websites of some publishing houses and almost all require my sources of information and photos. Almost all of my photos come direct from veterans. It was not very easy to find those men and convince them to send me the scans of their photos (mostly color slides). With these circumstances, I believe that would not be clever to give their names to a publishing house before a contract. This is just becaue these publishing houses can get in contact with those men and use their photos for another publication. I would like to know if the publishing houses are honest enough to keep all the information I provide strictly for themselves?

Other than the photos issue, I would like to ask if some publishing houses provide any support to make more research before the book is published? I have been in contact with the veterans only via e-mails and I would like to make some interviews in order to get more info.

I have not published any book and have no clue about the policies of the publishing houses. I would appreciate any information you may provide.

Regards,

Batur