eBooks and eArticles

[AndreasB]

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

[Jukka Juutinen]

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.

[edwest]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

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.

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

[edwest]

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

[AndreasB]

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

[Andrew Arthy]

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

[Jukka Juutinen]

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.).

[Nokose]

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).

[AndreasB]

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

[Jukka Juutinen]

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