JG 2 - Volume Three

[Lagarto]

There must be dozens of books that I'd like to see and I couldn't possibly write them all by myself, that's nonsense - I'd like to buy such books but it doesn't mean that I'm willing to accept every price thrown at me. Hope it sounds like a good reason.
I can only be grateful to those authors who did agree to surrender a degree of control over their work, so that hundreds of readers could buy their books at a decent price, a truly selfless act. As a translator I work with publishers on daily basis, and have to do my own battles with editors, but with a bit of mutual respect and good will it's not that painful. Even if Grub Street editors interfere with their authors' work, the end result is still top notch, so maybe that's the way to go. Otherwise everyone gets frustrated: the author because of only 300 copies sold, and readers because of high price.

[Jukka Juutinen]

I really hate the attitude of "if you don't like it, write one yourself" as a response to basically legitimate criticism. To paraphrase the famous music critic Seppo Heikinheimo:"Can only cows tell whether milk is poor or not?" Next time any of you criticizes the price of petrol, think about refining it yourself.

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

I really hate the attitude of "if you don't like it, write one yourself" as a response to basically legitimate criticism.

And if that had been the argument I was advancing, then perhaps you would have a point. I would simply urge anyone who regrets the absence of a book on a particular topic or at a particular price to consider the reasons why that book does not exist. The things that prevent you or from I writing it are probably the things that prevent others from doing so.

Even so, why not research and write something — article, book, whatever? It's fun to do (I think) and anyone can publish their work free on the web.

[Lagarto]

As a matter of fact, I did publish (in my native language) dozens of articles on WWII aviation and quite a few booklets. Most of the latter ended up - like so many other books - pirated and uploaded on some file hosting websites, so yes, my work is up for grabs on the web, even if without my consent.

[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

[Lagarto]

Mr Mombeeck, with all due respect... None of the books I have mentioned before - those by Donald Caldwell, Christopher Shores or Brian Cull - are cheaply flogged works of compilation, by God! Why haven't you mentioned these, only some booklets for modelers and Ospreys (which by the way cost about $15, so they're still a good value for money).
And as for the layout and design - if you choose a professional publishing house, then you can supervise all the work being done on your book, be it placing photos in the text or whatever. I've seen it happen many times. It's not like you give away your manuscript, and they abuse it as they want. Believe it or not, but good publishers want their authors to be happy with the end result, if only because they want more manuscripts from them.

Another example: 'The 5th Fighter Command in World War II Vol.2' by William Wolf, to be published soon, a 456-page hardback priced at $43.81. A 'cheap work of compilation', would you say?

[Jukka Juutinen]

Lagarto, I consider Ospreys for $15 poor value for money as you can buy many Stackpole reprints 3-4 times the length for the same price.

Erik, I for one appreciate those details like the letter you quoted. I have heavily criticised a certain Finnish author's unit histories for lacking these kind of details, most of the text being in the style "...on 1854 hrs 12 planes took off...returned to base one hour later without losses".

As for "fancy" font, the fact is that for JG4/1 and JG/1 you chose Arial, a sans-serif font that is totally out of place in an expensive premium book. Arial is in fact often used for bloody school reports! I surely won't like to spend my entire monthly book budget on any book looking like a bloody school report, no way. Plus the largish font with largish spacing means that you are using more pages than necessary, and this hikes up production costs, storage costs (more space and weight) and shipping costs. By a quick estimate by a better layout the page count could have been easily shaved down by some 15-20 % with not insignificant cost savings.

[FalkeEins]

Originally Posted by Lagarto

None of the books I have mentioned before - those by Donald Caldwell, Christopher Shores or Brian Cull - are cheaply flogged works of compilation, by God!

..I'm happy with my copy of 'Med Air War' - 500+pages for £26 courtesy of amazon, but, as noted, (re-)issued via a 'mainstream' publisher. However I think Mr Shores in his own Foreword notes that the first person accounts in the book are mostly (all?) extracted from previously published memoirs...nor would you buy that book for the photo content frankly ( although I guess you might have done 40 years ago!). But not to get into any polemic...I think the point that is being made is that the JG 4 (& JG 2) volumes would have looked a little thin had the author relied on published accounts....(and/or photos...)

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

... you chose Arial, a sans-serif font that is totally out of place in an expensive premium book.

So would you accept Helvetica, Futura, Gill Sans, Univers, Johnston Underground, DIN 1451 — or have you cultivated a general aversion to sans serif fonts? Personally, I rather like them!

[Jukka Juutinen]

No, I hate all sans-serif fonts. They simply look cheap (and scream "computer, computer"), are not readable to my eyes, and in general give me a headache. And quite interestingly, you are very unlikely to find sans-serif fonts used for the main text in books from 1980s or older. I never have encountered a single one, so I presume it is a very recent phenomenon invented by effing computer people. Another font which should be banned is Times New Roman.

The best fonts for serious books are e.g. Perpetua and Adobe Jenson Pro. Both are beautiful, curvaceous and readable. And economical.