King & Country book (3 Viewers)

[sammy719]

With All The Ideas That Have Come About On This Issue The Last Couple Of Days, There Has To Be Some Kind Of Give And Take To Get This Book Off The Ground And Get It Printed, And Out There To The Collectors Or Who Ever, Louis Can You Tell Us Exactly What You Need To Get This Book Done??? Is It The Money Or A Publisher Or A Book Deal?? I Know Nothing About Publishing A Book, But I Do Know There Are Alot Of People On This Forum Who Have Seem To Come Up With Good Ideas, So Let Us Know Exactly What We Need To Help You Get It Done.......sammy

 

[Louis Badolato]

With All The Ideas That Have Come About On This Issue The Last Couple Of Days, There Has To Be Some Kind Of Give And Take To Get This Book Off The Ground And Get It Printed, And Out There To The Collectors Or Who Ever, Louis Can You Tell Us Exactly What You Need To Get This Book Done??? Is It The Money Or A Publisher Or A Book Deal?? I Know Nothing About Publishing A Book, But I Do Know There Are Alot Of People On This Forum Who Have Seem To Come Up With Good Ideas, So Let Us Know Exactly What We Need To Help You Get It Done.......sammy

Sammy,

What we have is a complete text and several hundred excellent photos, and, apparently, a group of collectors who want access to it. What we need is a publisher who is willing to foot the costs of publication or a publisher and a means of paying for publication.

There have been many suggestions (sadly most of which fail to address the real problem, that the photographs, not the text, are very expensive to format and print).

So far there have been the following potentially helpful suggestions:

(1) Do the text as a book and burn the photographs onto a CD which would come with the book (Tom Dubel);

(2) Use a website with a small subscription price giving access to the text and photographs to raise money for publication (John Adivari);

(3) Use a subscription with advance payment to raise money for publication (Damian).

Frankly, having done all the research, writing and photography for the book, Hans, Larry, Kevin and myself feel like we have already poured enough time and money into the project, and would like someone to step up to the plate and make it happen.

 

[sammy719]

Sammy,

What we have is a complete text and several hundred excellent photos, and, apparently, a group of collectors who want access to it. What we need is a publisher who is willing to foot the costs of publication or a publisher and a means of paying for publication.

There have been many suggestions (sadly most of which fail to address the real problem, that the photographs, not the text, are very expensive to format and print).

So far there have been the following potentially helpful suggestions:

(1) Do the text as a book and burn the photographs onto a CD which would come with the book (Tom Dubel);

(2) Use a website with a small subscription price giving access to the text and photographs to raise money for publication (John Adivari);

(3) Use a subscription with advance payment to raise money for publication (Damian).

Frankly, having done all the research, writing and photography for the book, Hans, Larry, Kevin and myself feel like we have already poured enough time and money into the project, and would like someone to step up to the plate and make it happen.

I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND LOUIS, YOU GUYS SOUND LIKE YOU HAVE PUT ALOT OF TIME AND MONEY INTO THIS VENTURE , BUT I'M SURE IF WE COULD COME TO AN AGREEMENT WITH ONE OF THE IDEAS THAT YOU MENTIONED,WE COULD ALL HELP THIS BOOK FINANCIALLY AND GET IT STARTED IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, SO YOU ARE OUR EYES AND EARS IN THIS PROJECT AND NEED TO LET US KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND I DO APPRECIATE ALL OF THE HARD WORK YOU GUYS HAVE DONE ON THIS BOOK...SAMMY

 

[Alexdakar]

Sammy,

What we have is a complete text and several hundred excellent photos, and, apparently, a group of collectors who want access to it. What we need is a publisher who is willing to foot the costs of publication or a publisher and a means of paying for publication.

There have been many suggestions (sadly most of which fail to address the real problem, that the photographs, not the text, are very expensive to format and print).

So far there have been the following potentially helpful suggestions:

(1) Do the text as a book and burn the photographs onto a CD which would come with the book (Tom Dubel);

It might have to be a DVD because a CD only holds 700 Mb and a DVD holds 4.7Gb. I think I remember that Kevin's pictures are around 2 or 3 Mb each so if there are a thousand pictures it won't fit unless the image is resized then some quality may be lost.

 

[Louis Badolato]

It might have to be a DVD because a CD only holds 700 Mb and a DVD holds 4.7Gb. I think I remember that Kevin's pictures are around 2 or 3 Mb each so if there are a thousand pictures it won't fit unless the image is resized then some quality may be lost.

You know better than I do. I am barely computer literate, and haven't even figured out how to resize photos to upload them into this website. The simple question would be is it possible to put several hundred photographs onto a DVD, to be referenced by, say, a set number, and if so, could this be done affordably, so as to sold with a hard or soft cover book at a reasonable price?

 

[Alexdakar]

Yes its possible to have several hundred photos on a DVD and have the text hyperlinked so it can open a picture then add a close button to it so you can return to the text part. Example below but I don't have a close button.

"A Panzer II was created in 2001 with blah, blah, blah item number WS41 which sold pretty quickly."

You get the picture. This can also be applied to a website besides the DVD.

 

[Njja]

Alex:

You are truely a man of many talents, furniture builder, painter, model/diorama builder/computer expert. I must admit I am a tad jealous.

You seem to have been blessed with all kinds of useable skills, while I managed to become an expert on all the other kinds of skills!

For example you can build and paint a beautiful diorama........I can fall asleep almost at will.

You can design and build a beautiful cabinet........I can stay awake long after the rest of the world has fallen asleep.

You are a computer expert.......I have a wife that feeds me anything I want anytime I like...........okay maybe I'm not doing as bad as I thought!

Njja

Homemade Rasin bread..........Mmmmm
Chicken cordon boo..............Mmmmm

 

[Louis Badolato]

Yes its possible to have several hundred photos on a DVD and have the text hyperlinked so it can open a picture then add a close button to it so you can return to the text part. Example below but I don't have a close button.

"A Panzer II was created in 2001 with blah, blah, blah item number WS41 which sold pretty quickly."

You get the picture. This can also be applied to a website besides the DVD.

If I sent you a bunch of text and several hundred photographs, could you do that to them all?

 

[redhugh]

If I sent you a bunch of text and several hundred photographs, could you do that to them all?

Would be great to have a reference book, but if that's impossible , electronic format would be better than nothing! If donkey work was required I'm sure plenty of people might offer to pitch in to help realise the project if it was at an absolute dead end, Amish style barn building, or commie style collective farming It would be a terrible shame not to have all your sterling efforts see the light and be enjoyed by others.

 

[redhugh]

Yes its possible to have several hundred photos on a DVD and have the text hyperlinked so it can open a picture then add a close button to it so you can return to the text part. Example below but I don't have a close button.

"A Panzer II was created in 2001 with blah, blah, blah item number WS41 which sold pretty quickly."

You get the picture. This can also be applied to a website besides the DVD.

I might add that I have reduced 2mb photo's with no noticeable loss in quality using adobe photoshop , "save for web" function. So reducing the size of the file dosen't necessarily mean you loose anything in the actual size of the picture or any noticeable loss in the quality of the picture. DVD I'm guessing because of the storage capacity would be the way to go

 

[Alexdakar]

Alex:

You are truely a man of many talents, furniture builder, painter, model/diorama builder/computer expert. I must admit I am a tad jealous.

You seem to have been blessed with all kinds of useable skills, while I managed to become an expert on all the other kinds of skills!

For example you can build and paint a beautiful diorama........I can fall asleep almost at will.

You can design and build a beautiful cabinet........I can stay awake long after the rest of the world has fallen asleep.

You are a computer expert.......I have a wife that feeds me anything I want anytime I like...........okay maybe I'm not doing as bad as I thought!

Njja

Homemade Rasin bread..........Mmmmm
Chicken cordon boo..............Mmmmm

Thanks John and oh that makes hungry.

 

[Alexdakar]

If I sent you a bunch of text and several hundred photographs, could you do that to them all?

I know your kidding but man that would take me forever. No more repaints or dioramas for a long time. My coworker does similar work and she takes for ever just to do one layout page but then again she is very anal about her work.

 

[Louis Badolato]

That's the problem, the formatting of photos into the text is super expensive because it is so time consuming. That's why Tom's suggestion that the text be printed in a regular book, with references to photograph numbers on CD or DVD without links to the text may be the way we have to go.

 

[redhugh]

I haven't tried this with hyperlinks , but in Word doc's there is a function that allows you to identify a word like WS041 and replace all instances of it in the document with say WS41, "Find and Replace". If it allowed you to replace with hyperlinks, then that would be a relatively quick way to do it.

 

[Tony Neville]

Guys

remember that when you reduce a picture its not the quality that is lost (many graphics pacakages keep qaulity) it is then the shear size of the picture.

You can reduce as small as you like and then bring it back up with your computers increase page size!

i have been advised to look professional you will be looking at 2- 3 DVD discs for the pictures.

Tony

 

[Combat]

A lot of the toy soldier collectors are in the over 40 age range that may inhibit their interest in something other than a traditional book w/pictures. DVDs, websites etc are all good ideas, but I don't see a lot of those guys going for it. If Aeroart can publish a two-volume set full of top notch color pictures for $140, then I'm not sure why it can't be done here for less than $200. These are just observations from one collector - not intended to criticize or squelch any ideas from those involved. I know this is a lot harder than it seems to those of us with a passing interest. My guess is that Andy will also be producing a book at some point - so that may be a consideration for some.

 

[theBaron]

A lot of the toy soldier collectors are in the over 40 age range that may inhibit their interest in something other than a traditional book w/pictures. DVDs, websites etc are all good ideas, but I don't see a lot of those guys going for it. If Aeroart can publish a two-volume set full of top notch color pictures for $140, then I'm not sure why it can't be done here for less than $200. These are just observations from one collector - not intended to criticize or squelch any ideas from those involved. I know this is a lot harder than it seems to those of us with a passing interest. My guess is that Andy will also be producing a book at some point - so that may be a consideration for some.

Good point, Combat, that occurred to me, too. Now, I work in IT, in testing and QC, so I have no problem with e-formats. But I would like to have a book to put on the shelf, too, to show it off.

That Big Book of Britains looks pretty impressive in its place in the bookcase.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Louis Badolato]

Guys

remember that when you reduce a picture its not the quality that is lost (many graphics pacakages keep qaulity) it is then the shear size of the picture.

You can reduce as small as you like and then bring it back up with your computers increase page size!

i have been advised to look professional you will be looking at 2- 3 DVD discs for the pictures.

Tony

That's why we are discussing breaking it down into three separate books, to be published consecutively: The first on all things WWII, the second on K&C the early days (glossy non-WWII), and the third on all Matt non-WWII. One hard or soft cover volume of text and one accompanying DVD for photographs for each.

 

[Louis Badolato]

A lot of the toy soldier collectors are in the over 40 age range that may inhibit their interest in something other than a traditional book w/pictures. DVDs, websites etc are all good ideas, but I don't see a lot of those guys going for it. If Aeroart can publish a two-volume set full of top notch color pictures for $140, then I'm not sure why it can't be done here for less than $200. These are just observations from one collector - not intended to criticize or squelch any ideas from those involved. I know this is a lot harder than it seems to those of us with a passing interest. My guess is that Andy will also be producing a book at some point - so that may be a consideration for some.

Aeroart St. Petersburg is a company with a world wide following and a boat load of assets. To them $40,000 for publication is not the end of the world. We are a group of 4 collectors. That's three years of collecting funds for me. As I have said, originally, I had been led to believe that K&C was going to foot the bill for publication via its new publishing venture which never materialized.

As far as Andy doing a book at some point, don't hold your breath. The reason Andy asked me to write this one was that he had been planning to write a book on his experiences in founding and running K&C and K&C production, since the 15th Anniversary of K&C in 1999. He intended to have it ready for the 20th Anniversary in 2004, and to call it '20 Years Hard Labor, the King & Country Story'. He was supposed to hand out copies of the first chapter at the First New York Toy Soldier Symposium 4 years ago. He was too busy to even complete the first chapter. It was three years ago, as the second New York Toy Soldier Symposium approached that he asked me to write a book on everything K&C had ever produced, so he could focus on a shorter book just about his personal experiences with K&C. I had the book done in about a year. As far as I know, Andy has still been too busy to complete his book, some 15 years after he began planning to do it, and as the 25th Anniversary of K&C approaches.

 

[jazzeum]

Although doing separate DVDs may not be the ideal solution vis a vis an all in one package, this is not an ideal world and if that's what it takes to get this book out, I'm wholeheartedly for that. In fact, it is possible that the photos may be clearer on a DVD than in a book. In addition, DVDs may be a perfect solution for those who just want to know what the sets are. Moreover, a DVD format may lend itself do updates (the last thing I'm sure Louis wants to hear about) but you could probably do a five year update through a pdf file, load the photos onto a disc and away we go.

As far as the DVD format not appealing to the over 40 crowd, I'm over 40 and I think this would be fine. In addition, let's not forget that K & C appeals to many a younger collector who are very comfortable and used to technology. As the world changes, our thinking of how to deliver this concept probably needs to change also.