Thursday, July 19, 2007

For good or bad: my book

I'm holding a copy of "Avia S-199 in Israeli Air Force Service", my first authored book.

The main thing on my mind is the question "Didn't my publisher look at the galley proofs?"

Ironically, as I teach desktop publishing and layout, the book leaves something to be desired in design. The font is a bit large but worse, the paragraphs have neither indented first lines nor spaces between them. The result is long columns of text blocks that are difficult to look at and read.

Although I wrote every word that appears in the book, I freely admit that most of its value is in the photographs and aircraft profiles. Many of the photos have never been published before and have significant historical value. The problem is that the printer used low-resolution copies of the images (from a mock-up, maybe?) instead of the high-resolution images that the publisher supplied. That's a mistake that should have been caught. Alas, the publisher already paid the printer and has no leverage to use for corrections.

With some luck and work, we'll sell enough copies of this version to raise the cash for a second printing. I am trying to get enough American Airlines air miles to pay for a trip to the book launch in late August - but that's another post. (Anyone want to donate miles? See my profile for my e-mail address.)

Don't get me wrong. I think the book is still a valuable contribution to Israeli history, military history, and scale-model builders. I just wish it looked better so I could feel a little more proud and less icky when I start to sell copies.

1 Comments:

Blogger Naila J. said...

:(
Sucks about the low cost... Don't you get an advance/test copy?

July 19, 2007 9:09 PM  

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