doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Death by Internet--Obituary 2010

The direction of change in information delivery is still unclear. Hard copy books still account for billions a year. The alternatives have never been more diverse. Apple is engaged in a war with Amazon and others, ie, ibook vs ebook. Sorta like the old vhs vs betamax situation. Audio books and podcasts on the rise. In the 1st month of release for the new Apple Ipad, they sold over 1 million devices. They also sold nearly 14 million ibooks. However, these electronic alternatives are not 1/10th the revenue stream of paper books.

Google has a goal of digitising 15 million copyright free historical texts. Along with that effort, they are approaching authors of more recent works to cut deals.

So the question is, do you publish to a traditional paper book or some form of electronic book?

My fear is that 100 years from now, we will have lost a great deal of information if everything goes digital. A silver nitrate negative still out lasts a jpg on a cdrom. All the information exchanged here will end up in the bit bucket without those willing to publish.

Pete

SDH's book, Fine Gunmaking: Double Shotguns (1998) should be required reading for everyone who doesn't understand how a fine shotgun is put together. Many of the repeat threads on this very Forum would be obviated if more double-gun people read his book. My well-worn copy is so highlighted and marked-up that it couldn't be sold on eBay without the risk of adverse feedback. Fine Gunmaking is quoted in my Parker Guns: Shooting Flying @ pp. 255-56, and SDH is indexed.

Steve: I was pitching Parker Guns: Shooting Flying to Krause and Don G. kept pitching me to sign a contract before it was done. I only sell done deals, talk it or leave it, to avoid performance disputes. When the book was done I called them, Don was history, and the new acquisition editor cautioned me that the new owners in Ohio had not a clue about gun-book publishing and that my efforts were sure to be wasted...and, thus, much of what SDH has written mirrors my own experiences.

Oh! Another good basic gunmaking book is Recreating the Double Barrel Muzzle Loading Shotgun (2000) by Wm. Brockway

As to SDH being "...compelled to write and take pictures and...see them published..." I think if I lived in Livingston MT, my compulsion would gravitate toward fly fishing...and I just got an e-mail invite from Bozeman...Ah, Steve, you in the phone book? Do you know Little Blue Hand? I'm starting to think I need a trip to Bailly's (sp.?)...or maybe R. L. Winston's. EDM

Ed,
I an afraid you have killed what was perhaps a retirement dream. I wanted to re-do a Lefever book with information added through years of Lefever Arms Collectors Association correspondence along with some expert articles, perhaps even solicited from some of the contributors on this thread. Bob Elliott's book is out of print and he has stated he will not re-print once his supplies are exhausted.
After reading this post, and then going back and re-reviewing my copy of your 'Flying" book (of course even a serious Lefever collector has to have a copy of that fine work) I realize that I (or more approriately we) could never realize that level of achievement and come close to breaking even. And Lefever has probably only 15% of the number of dedicated collectors as Parker.
So, thanks for the "slap up side of the head", to awaken me to the reality of the situation, sad as it may be. However, I believe you are right as to the reality of the situation. I'm glad it wasn't always so, as I have enjoyed your work.

For whatever it is worth..I buy books all the time on objects I do not collect just because it is a well done and interesting book. I buy 3 to 10 hardback books a month,both new and used.I would buy,and have bought, a new book on Lefevers and I haven't owned one in over 20 years.I like books!!

DrBob, You can put me down for an autographed copy, so that makes at least two sales. I have two autographed copies of "Master Gunmaker" and five copies of "Guns of Lasting Fame", three of those autographed.

Perhaps you can co-author your Lefever book with Sarah Palin and sell millions. Anyway, I'm hoping things change and that your dream doesn't die.

As an aside, I don't know how Ed searched Wolfe Publishings' website, but I just did the same and found at least 67 gun, hunting, reloading, fishing, shooting, and related titles plus several books on CD-ROM, Magazines, Calenders, etc. As I stated earlier, it appears they are still very much alive.

Try and buy some of the out of print titles like the Wilson engraving books or Rules' model 70 book and you will see there are the hardcore collectors who are always looking for top of the line titles picture and content wise.I realize that these people do not add up to big numbers though.

DrBob,

Don't surrender yet, there is still hope. You have to adjust your vision is all. There are any number of ways to publish. Here is one alternative:
http://www.riflemagazine.com/catalog/detail.cfm?ProductID=824

Combine this with a "print-on-demand" situation and you could have the best of both worlds.

There are several books waiting to written by some of the members here. I can think of 2, one on German guns and one about the Baker guns. An update of the Lefever information would surely be welcome by many. Heck, one of my goals next month is to take some pictures of the Lefever hanging in the museum in Liege.

Pete

I don''t want to be a naysayer here as I really enjoy hardcopy books and have two bookcases full of just guns and militaria examples.
However; We have been told that due to the characteristics of the paper that has now been in use for quite some time the recentely published books will eventually just turn to dust.
Can anyone who knows more comment on this?
Jim

Dr. Bob: Books are still being solicited to be published by schifferbooks.com and, I believe, Tom Rowe, but my take on it is it will cost more than the sales will justify.

A person I know had a Winchester ammo book done by Schiffer and paid the whole tab at retail; he got half of the print run for his money, and sold to known true believers, and now sets up at the Chicago CADA show to try to make ends meet. Schiffer held back half of the print run and pays royalties if and when they sell any. This was a labor of love, I'm sure.

Tom Rowe (an old friend) was going to help wife Nancy and I go the next step from raw transcript in the C-drive to picture loading, set-up, composition, etc. in summer of 2007. We were heading south to kick back with our kids and grand-kids at a summer rental in the Smokies near Ashville NC, with the next stop at Tom's place in SW Virginia, when on a hunch I stopped by Collector Books in Paducah on the way...and Viola! I ducked the self-publishing bullet.

Methinks that a retired doctor ought to be able to execute on his retirement dream. Being involved in collecting and shooting old-time double guns is not cost effective...a labor of love. Don't let the $$$ dissuade you from adding something to the body of knowledge. My first choice in self-publishing would have been Tom Rowe in VA, and next stop Schiffer in PA.

As to PeteM's advice about "print-on-demand," you should investigate how many books have been done that way that have the necessary production qualities of the gun-related books you are used to reading. Taking Shooting Flying from C-drive M/S plus image-portfolio to print-ready disc was going to involve a two week tutorial for this IL resident and his typist/editor/wife (and ParkerDog) camped out in the Road Trek in VA. Keep in mind that I had been part of the publishing process of my first two books--PG:T"OR" and WDWP--and self-published the third--Knight of the Trigger--albeit with no pictures. So, Yes, POD is always a posibility, but: Query: Has anyone ever done it with the type and quality of book gun that gun collectors expect?

And there's more: Shooting Flying was edited and peer reviewed by editors of SSM, The Gun Report, and Parker Pages, plus an intellectual property attorney, three other published double-gun authors, and the publisher of my other books (Safari Press), not to mention fine tuning by the English majors at Collector Books, which published Shooting Flying.

So here's what I suggest: Take your Lefever book to M/S and circulate it among your peers for review and to generate interest. Build a picture portfolio. Contact Jim Julia and Pat Hogan (RIA) and perhaps they can help you with pictures of guns they have sold at auction. Look at Shooting Flying and see how many pictures are credited to major auction houses, Remington, and The National Sporting Library. The price I paid to get these good images on CD was simply to credit them.

The next step is to sample the demand: I offered a 500 Ltd. Ed. to the "true believers" @ $100 + S&H and the self-publishing war chest started to fill up. And here was a new trick: I promised to list all pre-publication "Patrons" up-front on a special page. Check out p.5 of Shooting Flying for the "true believers" of Parkerdom ca. 2007-08. As it was, I managed to find a conventional publishing deal...but for someone going to Tom Rowe or Schiffer it would be nice to know what part of your nut will be self liquidating.

A Caveat: Be careful of pre-pricing. The Parker Story guys sold lots of their two-volume tome pre-publication, but flubbed the dub on retail pricing versus cost. Most of their true-believing early buyers paid about $170 for the two volumes, while the less-motivated procrastinators had to cough up $300, which put a crimp on sales both at retail ($300 is not chump change); and at wholesale, where distributors and dealers want and need 40% to 50% off cover price, such discounting for quantity and wider distribution would have priced the books below cost.

Ah! Hindsight. The best kind. Good luck. EDM

Ed,
Thanks for the encouragement. Perhaps the isea isn't dead. However, a book a lavaish as yours is perhaps out of sight.
PeteM- Thanks, you were on my list to solicit for a chapter.

Retirement is 3 years away. But I have ben collecting material and have talked to a couple of folks already. Nobody is looking to make a single buck. However, I think that the information deserves to be out there. Putting it on a web site seems so temporary. As soon as I stop paying the Web Site fee its gone forever.