Barbas and Die Geschichte des ... Jagdgeschwaders 52

[Ruy Horta]

Thanks Csaba, I regard that as good news!

I really don't mind having to wait, but the previous iffy publication statement combined with no news had me worried.

[Ruy Horta]

Just in from Bernd Barbas asking me to share this information with you all:

Hello Ruy,

I just read your note at 12 o' clock.

I am still working at I / JG 52, the main work is done, but I want to rework the text file and sort out the foto part.

I have good friends who do the work on pictures and found someone who can do a much better scanning job.

I will leave my home during the whole May and therefore not working at this book. At the beginning of June I will return and start with the rework.

I hope, that everything is completed until end of August for the JG 52 reunion. If not, I try to complete until October for the reunion of all fighter units .

Sorry for this delay, but this is also based on the slow sales for the II Gruppe book.

The homepage for JG 52 is under the responsibility of my friend Rene Thiel ( I do not influence here anything besides to help with answers ). I heared, Rene is working far from home and not working at this homepage at all.

Please inform all friends about this situation. Thank you for your interest.

PS. : ALL customers of II / JG 52 will be informed by mail , when I / JG 52 is ready for sale.

Mit freundlichen Grüssen / Kind regards

Bernd Barbas

[Jukka Juutinen]

Mr. Barbas refers to "slow sales" of the first volume. Well, maybe it is a wake up call to do such books directly in English, not German for I don´t think I am the only one to skip the book due to the wrong language.

[Rasmussen]

Hello Jukka,

I disagree with you complete -- "the wrong language"? Why? It's a book about an German unit, German pilots and German aircrafts. What about the idea to learn German language? So you have to say the Keskinen/ Valtonen - books are in the wrong language too because they are probably in Finnish ... I think most our English speaking friends don't understand Finnish ;-)).

Best wishes
Rasmussen

[O.Menu]

I m with you Jukka,

II./JG52 book, as well as Prien collection, would be at home since it release if in English.
There is nothing worth to buy the German edition and then see the English version published one or two years later...

.

[Ruy Horta]

If anything is causing difficult sales it is the lack of marketing, the relative difficulty to obtain/find copies and finally the relatively difficult payment opions.

In the days of credit cards and Paypal, Amazon.com etc people tend to give up easily when they need to cross so many hurdles, besides the language and a weak US currency value.

No this isn't a critique, but even if taken as such it is only meant in a constructive way.

1. more exposure & links (look at Christer Bergström, he's all over the place promoting his books!!)

2. more payment methods - at least Paypal (relatively cheap method to enable anyone to accept International Credit Card payments!)

If it were some esoteric subject, but it is Jagdgeschwader 52! Also the language is a small barrier, since the photographs and tables alone make it a valuable asset.

Honestly I really don't believe there is any reason why the JG 52 books should not roll out like so many hot rolls and sell out within a short time span. The internet has changed the way you can access a niche market dramatically.

Look at this forum, just one of many.

It takes but one post, with all the book and sales details, in the On Offer section. Even if you only catch a few customer's that way, it is a free means of getting exposure.

In this case I'd even make it a sticky post.

[O.Menu]

Sure II./JG52 book was not really advertised. I discover it only when reading Barbas JG52 dedicated forum (in English )

[Frank Olynyk]

The inability to read German should not really be an issue in deciding to purchase Barnd Barbas' Die Geschichte der II. Gruppe des Jagdgeschwaders 52. The book is A4 size with 379 pages. It is organized as follows:

page 1: half title page
page 2: copyright page
page 3: title page
page 4: Acknowledgements
page 5-6: Forward
page 7: dedication
page 8-9 table of contents
page 10: blank
page 11: Establishment
page 12-25: photographs
page 26-41: Operations in the West 1939-41
page 42-75: photographs
page 76-84: Russia, 1941
page 85-100: photographs
page 101-114: Russia, 1942-Jan 1943
page 115-123: Photographs
page 124-135: Russia 1943
page 136-151: Photographs
page 152-175: operations in the East, 1944
page 176-193: Photographs
page 194-204: operations in the East, 1945
page 205-228: photographs
page 229-234: list of pilots. Column titles are Name, Vorname; Rang; Staffel; Weitere Staffel/Einheit; Abschüsse JG 52; Gesamt; Schicksal
page 235-264: photographs
page 265-270, ground personel. Column titles are Name, Vorname; Rang; Einheit; Funktion; Schicksal
page 271-284: photographs
page 285: Gruppenkommandeure II /JG 52
page 286: Staffelkapitäne
page 287: Die Ritterkreuzträger der II / JG 52
page 288: Die Träger des Deutschen Kreuzes in Gold der II / JG 52
page 289-290: Die Flugplätze der II / JG 52
page 291-297: maps by Ulf Balke showing movements by II / JG 52. These are very good. I do not know how Ulf prepares these maps (he also does the maps for Prien's Jagdfliegerverbände series) but he is to be congratulated for his good work.
page 298-326: Verluste
page 327-372: Abschüsse
page 373: Sources, unpublished
page 374-375: Sources, published
page 376-377: abreviations
page 378-379: blank

So there are basically 87 pages of text, 175 pages of photographs, 94 pages of lists, 7 pages of maps, 11 pages with minor German content, 3 pages of German text, and 3 blank pages (which adds up to 380, so I can't count). All photos are captioned, requiring only modest German, if that, to determine the person or aircraft in the picture. So just over 20% of the book needs decent German. The rest could be handled by someone who knew only Chinese and could read Latin letters.

Frank.

[John P Cooper]

As someone who is looking into the Schiffer (English) version of the Prien books I think the comments on having an English version and better marketing & payment options is a Great idea. An author can get a pre-publication comitment from people similar to what EE has done for the soon to be released JG 300 books.

I wonder if the author has ever contacted or considered Schiffer or some other publishing house...

One last note - I did attempt contact the author via email about buying books and have yet to hear back

Cheers

JC