doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Publishing in the twenty-first century!

Steven,
Yes I agree on the adverts; however the purpose of my input was only for sharing another concept to generate ideas about what can be done.

Think of a book that not only conveyed words and pictures but when appropriate video clips, voice explainations or animation.

No critisism of you LRF.
I personaly prefer books, just finished reading a wonderful one, for the second time!!!
The internet possibilities are endless, I agree.

I'll use any source for info when I need it quick and/or to use on a job:CD,internet or whatever,but for my leisure use I always want a book and am willing to pay the price for the right book. I have never regretted the thousands of dollars I have invested in my library. I buy about 3-5 books a month on the average on many subjects and have for years. Getting hard to find ones I don't have on some subjects as I am into books to use and not just look at. I would be willing to put some money up front for what Mr. Petrov has in mind to publish. We simply cannot afford to lose what material he has found in his research and it should be easily available for future collectors and shooters to look at.

Although I now work with a traditional publisher (Schiffer Books), I self published a book on Tranter Cartridge Firearms, and I sold out of them. It cost about $21 each for a 200 page full color 8X11 soft back which sold from $32 (wholesale) on up. I have to warn you it is very rare to make any real money writing books, but it give you great pleasure to pass any knowledge you have gained over the years to others. On the other hand, I have made some reasonable money writing magazine articles.

Thanks for the warning I've learned a long while ago that writing and publishing for myself is more of a money disposal rather than a money making endeavor.

I'm just lucky that I have the support of my family and in a position that I can do this.

Michael,
You might want to look at Blurb. They have their own software which can be mastered in a day or two. The only downside for you; they are more for photography books. I really had trouble formatting the text. You might want to go to their website and check it out, it's free.

Best,

C.

Thanks I'll check them out.

Michael, I used Blurb to put together my photo collection into book form. I tried lulu and was frustrated with the format. With Blurb, for a photo book, they have a program that you down load onto your computer and work on the book at your pace. when its ready you upload it and they give you a page as a store.

My book doesnt have much text, because I only included the info that was on the photos or what I could learn about the photos. I didnt find working with their text to be a problem.

I used a open source program, Gimp2, as a photo editer and was happy with that too.

Pros for me, Work at my own pace, Easy to use book creator program, I dont have to invest in a the printing or ever handle the books. They give me a base price and I set the price depending on what I want to make per book. People who want it can go and buy it. Printing and binding have been first rate.

Cons,

I lost my hard drive shortly after uploading and hadnt done a final backup. If I wanted to make any changes, Id have to recreate the the book from that point that I had last backed up. I can not down load a copy from them.

At the time I uploaded mine, they did not sell ISBNs.(I dont know if they do now, they where working on that) If I wanted to buy one now, and have it printed on the cover, Id have to redo the book, delete it from their server, and re upload it with the ISBN on the cover.

Base price of the book is high. I think it would be different for one of your books that provide information and represent many hours of research. Its easier to see the value in that. Some people find a 50.00 book of photos to be a little much

It's a jungle out there in publishing with the economy the way it is.

I've talked with a few people who have written and published a book in a style that I would like to copy as well as two publishers.

So far everyone has said to use Adobe InDesign, runs around $700 for the program. I'm also told that like other Adobe stuff not easy to learn.

Slowly working my way through a mountain of options.

You might look into Scribus as a open source alternative to Indesign.