King & Country book (1 Viewer)

I agree, the book is a must! King & Country has been a wonderful addition to the toy soldier/military marketplace, and its history, and product information needs to be documented.

Right now when you find an odd piece what do you do? Sometimes you only have a short time to identify it, you grab a pile of brochures, stored photos, Bill Sager's great site......or Email a knowledgeable pal. This is the fun of collecting!

The one ingredient missing in this omlet is Andy! Without Andy there would be no King & Country, and apparently without Andy there will be no book. Whatever issues need to be resolved Andy is the key to publication!

I know Andy plans his own book on the history of his company, but before that book can be published additional collectors and military hobbiests need to be attracted to the arena. A book on all the items produced with photos would create interest and excitment and could only serve to grow our hobby. The additional collectors would enhance the marketplace, create new customers for Andy.....and further interest in another book on King & Countrys history.

Many years ago I decided to write an article on Hess Toy Trucks, I bought my first one in 1964 around thanksgiving. My dad and I bought one every year and by the 1990's they were turning up at train shows but had little value because no one knew which ones were which. I wrote to Hess, used my own collection, and composed an artice which appeared in "The Train Collectors Quarterly". The next time I attended the York Show (largest train show in the country) Hess Toy Trucks had exploded in the marketplace. Now that people knew which year their trucks were from, which ones they were missing interest skyrocketed!

A book people could hold in their hand, and gaze at during idle hours would be a terrific boost to our hobby.

Njja
 
Wadepat, good points - Perhaps the the sponsors could consider a multi volume set, with each being able to stand alone. Vol 1 being a general history, with longer text passages, anecdotes, photos of key figures, dioramas, and explaining how KC fits into the general toy soldier/military miniature histoy. Vol 2 could be the "bible" identification type of the Opie/Joplin coffee table ilk. A future Vol 3, and future vols, could be done to update vol 2.
 
Hi All
I would like to see the book and CD option or an online subscription book. The on-line option would be best if it is going to be kept up todate, ie new releases and retirements.
regards
Richard:D
 
I,d be happy to pay a subscription fee to a website if thats the
way forward , in terms of price when I initialy heard the book was
being written I thought it would be fairly expensive so I didnt deem
$200 as out of the ball park [thats just me of course]
The only book I have related to this hobby is the great book of britains
and although I only have a few britains sets the book is so comprahensive
in covering Britains to me its a stand alone item for someone interested
in the hobby.
A more thorough book as Louis had intended would hopefully appeal to
the wider soldier collecting community as opposed to a catalogue type
book that would have maybe a smaller audience of dedicated K and C
collectors.
Either way I hope for the guys involved with all the hard work they manage
to get something , even if only for themselves.
 
You Know Louis, I Bet If You Were To Take A Poll On This Forum Asking (would Collectors And Dealers Be Willing To Pay Up To 200.00 For A K&c Book) You Be Surprised How Many Would Say Yes, As Long As The Book Lives Up To The Exspectations You All Have Said, And The Pictures And All The General Info That Is Included In This Book.....sammy
 
It seems that if Andy wanted this book done, it would be...Is he actually involved in this process or it this more of an independnt operation. K/C has the resources and the no questions asked ability to get it done. Most of the folks involved are big time friends of Andy, so one might think that this ought be a done deal....And I would agree with others, about dumming the book down. Brad's idea was a good one.Michael
 
jazzeum said:
Here is my two cents and if I offend anyone such as Louis, Hans, Larry and Kevin in so saying, you have my sincerest apologies.

Book Text. Louis has on occasion provided sections of the book with respect to a particular figure. I think it might be possible to cut down the cost if you cut down the text and I think it's more than really necessary. I think what collectors are looking for what is the figure, what is the figure set number and the date first issued. That is what I use the brochures for. If the way the book has been drafted is the way it's been done with other like books, then I withdraw the comment. I had offered my services to help with the editing since as a contracts attorney that's what I do all day long and I believe I'm a pretty good writer. My offer was not taken up but the offer still stands if the authors would like me to help out.

Photos. Kevin's photos are amazing as I helped one day with setting things up for his photoraphy. However, many of them are dioramalike and I'm not sure if that works with a book like this where collectors probably just want, as mentioned above, set name, set number and date of issuance. I think what may be best is how they appear in the brochures: just the photo of the set. Perhaps the photos in the brochures can be used for the book, with Andy's permission.

Again, if I have offended anybody, you have my sincerest apologies as my only intent is to see the book published.
Click to expand...

First point - Surely the point regarding production cost is that there are some photos of the products.

Whether they are set against a toy soldier modeling/diorama background or a shelf - most of the ones I took were set against a diorama backdrop but not all - I would appreciate peoples' views after a look back at this thread as to whether a shelf is a better backdrop for the soldiers or not? All I tried to do was make them as interesting as possible.

Next question - Would it be any cheaper using the photos from the brochures, assuming they are easily available? I don't know but given what Bob and Tony said about costs, I doubt it as the photos would still need setting.

You can already see the brochure pictures however, to some degree at least. Bill's excellent site and Sierra etc may already have them - but do they cover all of the really rare items in Louis' and Larry's Collection? They may do? To some extent at least.

So why are some people saying they would be interested in a book? I hope because it is none of these things and would be of interest in its own right, however amateur.
 
Guys,

Anyone who wants to take the time and effort to write a different book, without the level of detail and information Hans, Larry and I put into this one, be my guest. I, however, have no intention of radically changing my book at this point.

Additionally, we chose Kevin to do the photography because his work most lended itself to depicting what Andy had always said was K&C's mission, to combine figures, vehicles, scenery & buildings to create a realistic world in miniature. While simple photographs of sets or individual figures may be the method of choice for displaying figures from a company that only produces toy soldiers or that makes single highly detailed ultra-realistic miniatures, I believed the backdrops made from K&C's own diorama materials were the way to feature K&C products. Again, anyone who wants to do it differently, more power to them.

We have a finished product the reflects what we love about K&C. We either will or won't find a way to get it out for public comsumption. I don't want to speak for Hans, Larry or Kevin, but I am not drastically changing what I wrote.
 
Gentlemen,

All points well taken and it's easy for me sitting on the outside to offer observations that I wanted to be constructive but that you may not see as such. Again, you have my deepest apologies if I have offended any of you as I know the amount of work that you all have put into this project.

However, I believe that we are all trying to obtain the same: getting this book out to the collecting community in any way possible.
 
Brad,

I am not offended at all. I am just explaining that I am finished writing the book, and have no plans for radical revisions at this point.
 
I am with Brad regarding his points and while I can somewhat understand what Louis is saying, I am also under the impression the book will not get done in it's present format, so you either change it so it does get done or else it won't.

Pretty simple actually.

The ironic thing is I have customer who owns his own publishing company and last year at Historicon I ran this book idea by him and he said two things; if he were publishing it, he'd run 1,000 copies and it would go for 200.00 a pop, second, aside from that, he'd have it on a disk and publish it on demand, ie, 100 or 500 copies a at time, but the cover price would be much higher.

Rather ironic seeing how this has played out.
 
Warrior said:
I am with Brad regarding his points and while I can somewhat understand what Louis is saying, I am also under the impression the book will not get done in it's present format, so you either change it so it does get done or else it won't.

Pretty simple actually.
Click to expand...

Then I guess it won't.

Pretty simple actually.
 
Why not print 1250 copies and no more, have Andy sign the first 500 copies, call it a limited edition, and sell it for 239.00.
 
Then I guess it won't.

Pretty simple actually.

Ok then, that's all she wrote, or actually, all you wrote.
 
"Why not print 1250 copies and no more, have Andy sign the first 500 copies, call it a limited edition, and sell it for 239.00."

Or, print 750 copies and have Andy sign them all and sell them for 300.00 each..........
 
HJohnson said:
Why not print 1250 copies and no more, have Andy sign the first 500 copies, call it a limited edition, and sell it for 239.00.
Click to expand...

Maybe, just maybe, Andy is not involved with this at all. The deep K/C pockets could make this happen ,without all this gnashing of teeth, if he had his mark on the BOOK...I suspect this was a private operation and not K/C sanctioned......Michael
 
maddadicus said:
Maybe, just maybe, Andy is not involved with this at all. The deep K/C pockets could make this happen ,without all this gnashing of teeth, if he had his mark on the BOOK...I suspect this was a private operation and not K/C sanctioned......Michael
Click to expand...

Andy is not invovled in this at all. When Andy originally asked me to write the book, he indicated an interest in opening a publishing business and having the K&C book I was writing be its first publication. Two Chicago Shows ago he told me that the publishing venture was not happening, and that it was always his feeling that the book should be a completely independent venture. That's when the sponsors got involved.

My original dream was that this was going to be the "official" or "sanctioned" K&C book, and that Andy was going to do something special in relation to the book, like autographing it, or making a special figure to go with it. Sadly, like the book itself, it just doesn't look like its going to happen.
 
There are some self publishing ventures I have seen here in SA. There was a guy who collected paintings of Durban Bay and he published a book of prints of all these paintings. He did it himself. It is now a sought after piece of Africana. The way to do it is bu subscription. You get 1000 people to pay up front. In return you put their names in the book. I think 200 USD for what Louis is proposing is about spot on. There is a chap self puplishing a book this year about Lt Harford the beetle collector from teh Zulu war. It is a similar sort of work and at a similar price. Good luck guys and do not give up.
Regards
Damian
 
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