A plea from me and no doubt other writers

[FalkeEins]

....The amount of research in a caption that extensive is quite simply phenomenal, not to mention time-consuming. Each word/sentence has to be checked and re-checked. I like the text block on the 'empty space' in the photo. Other choices involve potentially reducing the size of the image. There's far too much white space in some photo books.

[Jukka Juutinen]

Wrong again. Take a look at any good dictionary for the exact definition of "to prefer". One may prefer A over B, but still end up doing B. As for the comment of what I believed you to prefer, it was based on your supposed smile (as I interpreted your "smile" to be akin to the smile on the face of Vasili Blohin when he shot "bourgeoisie vermin"). As for not having read your books, I have read 3 of them. All over 5 years ago.

[AndyMa]

I don't know any of you, so my comment might lay the matter at rest.

John, all I will say is when I saw your post "…I smiled…” I didn't have the foggiest idea what you were talking about! Was that comment supposed to mean something to people? Because if it was, I don't think a lot of us "got it"...

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by AndyMa

I don't know any of you, so my comment might lay the matter at rest.

John, all I will say is when I saw your post "…I smiled…” I didn't have the foggiest idea what you were talking about! Was that comment supposed to mean something to people? Because if it was, I don't think a lot of us "got it"...

I'll answer that quite simply for you, Andy.

This is what the other poster wrote: "...Perhaps authors/publishers should consider having similar substantial captions as standard..."

Quite simply, he is telling authors that they should consider having substantial captions to the photos in their works. I replied 'I smiled', since I have always provided as much information as possible in captions in the 11 books I have written/co-written. I went further as the discussion continued by providing two examples of the kind of captions that I write. They are not the 4 or 5 words that Jukka sneeringly suggested I did, or liked.

And just to reinforce my point, here's another seven and a half lines of caption to the photo on this page:


So I hope you can now see the point I was making to the other poster - don't make presumptions about another person without the facts 100% to back you up.

TO JOHN BEAMAN: I am simply answering John's query, not seeking to stir things up any further...

[AndyMa]

Once again, I will try to play the impartial judge.

John, somehow you seem to have taken Jukka's comment "...Perhaps authors/publishers should consider having similar substantial captions as standard..." as a personal slight on you and your books.
It is surely just a general comment, which he is quite entitled to make.

Quite simply, you and Jukka seem to be misunderstanding each other's posts, which had lead to a pretty unnecessary slanging match...

[John Vasco]

Originally Posted by AndyMa

Once again, I will try to play the impartial judge.


John, somehow you seem to have taken Jukka's comment "...Perhaps authors/publishers should consider having similar substantial captions as standard..." as a personal slight on you and your books.
It is surely just a general comment, which he is quite entitled to make.

Quite simply, you and Jukka seem to be misunderstanding each other's posts, which had lead to a pretty unnecessary slanging match...

Andy, It is a 'catch-all' phrase, and as such, embraces ALL authors. That's all that needs to be said. No misunderstanding on my part, although I do acknowledge that as English almost certainly is not his first language, his choice of words/phrase is somewhat unfortunate.

But then, if English is NOT your first language, one should be even more careful about what one says in that language about authors. Particularly when he quotes a specific author as the standard at which to aim for...

[edwest2]

Regarding 'too much' white space. It takes years to learn or to train someone to do good page layout, which involves a number of factors. Most publishers cannot afford to hire book designers. I understand how it's done, and I have very bad examples in my collection. I want the information before anything else, including photos that are not too small. After that, it's hit or miss and I'm thankful there are more hits than misses.

I also know what it's like to turn in a manuscript and photos and having the publisher put the book together and not being satisfied with the end result. One hopes to have a publisher that is understanding and who is willing to listen, but that is sometimes not going to be the case.

[Chris Goss]

Another plea from me. Authors do not set the price at which books sell and should there be a typo on the back cover, don’t blame the author as invariably the words are written by the publisher!

[John Manrho]

Well....and what about if the printer in last minute makes a mistake with the text....although it was delivered 100% after proof reading a couple of times.....probably still my fault....anyway....it is what it is...

[edwest2]

Printers are requiring electronic files in the US. We used to do keylines but they stopped making the board on which they were pasted on.

As far as price, the publisher has the final say but the factors are finite.

1) What is the average price for a similar book?
2) What is the anticipated press run? At the company where I work, guesswork is replaced by a pre-order system which shows trends that influence the final decision regarding how many copies to print.
3) Production costs. After the total of what everyone involved gets paid is defined, then this is factored into the cover price.

Contracts. It should all be in the contract, or work agreement, for writers as far as payment, royalties and rights. Since I am not an attorney, I can only encourage everyone to have a contract reviewed by one before signing.