Learstang Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 (edited) I'm currently finishing up an extensive guide to modelling the Il-2. This book features photographs from WWII (The Great Patriotic War, or GPW, to the Soviets/Russians), drawings especially commissioned for the book, and reviews of all the kits and accessories currently available for the Shturmovik (at least those I know about, of course). In addition, I have a detailed build on the Hobby Boss wheeled single-seater 1/32nd scale kit, and a fairly extensive review of the 1/48th scale Tamiya Il-2 kit. I also have some walk-around photographs of currently extant Shturmoviks, both restored and unrestored. At present my plans are to release it initially as an ebook, available through Lulu.com. This is the cheapest and easiest route for me, as I've basically already paid for everything I need in order to publish the book. However, if there is sufficient interest in an actual, hold it in your hands book, I will explore that option also. Frankly, I like to have an actual book to look at; however, one of the advantages of the ebook form is that I can add new reviews to it when new Il-2 items are released. I'd be more than happy to have it available in both formats, but I need to know if I'm going to make any money off a full-blown book. The "real" book would cost more than the ebook, and I'm thinking $15USD (9.35 GBP or 11.61 Euros) would be reasonable for the book; the ebook would cost less, but I'm not sure how much less. Of course the more I can sell, the cheaper I can sell it at. Any comments and questions are welcome! Best Regards, Jason Moore Edited December 13, 2012 by Learstang Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ReccePhreak Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I have already commented on the sovietwarplanes.com forum, but I will reiterate here. An E-book would be fine, as long as the drawings and/or profiles are of sufficient resolution, so they could be blown up and used as references for our model builds. I love the work you have already posted over there. Cheers, Larry Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Learstang Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 I have already commented on the sovietwarplanes.com forum, but I will reiterate here. An E-book would be fine, as long as the drawings and/or profiles are of sufficient resolution, so they could be blown up and used as references for our model builds. I love the work you have already posted over there. :thumbsup:/>/> Cheers, Larry Thank you, Larry! The drawings should be of good enough quality to blow up to 1/48th or 1/32nd scale. As they are now, they're about 1/72nd scale to fit the page (I'll make sure they're exactly 1/72nd scale before publishing the book). From there, it'll be easy to blow them up using the ratio of 1/72nd to 1/48th, 1.5X, and from 1/72nd to 1/32nd, 2.25X. Best Regards, Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 In general I like real books, but for modelling ebooks do potentially have some nice features like printing out a detail photo / diagram. I also like the idea of updates as new kits are released. I voted either, if it includes a lot of aircraft history and such, I would really like the option of a book, but if it is mostly a modelling guide, I'd be fine with an ebook only. If you do an actual book, what about including the ebook at a reduced price or free with the purchase of the hardcopy? That would be the best option for me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Learstang Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 In general I like real books, but for modelling ebooks do potentially have some nice features like printing out a detail photo / diagram. I also like the idea of updates as new kits are released. I voted either, if it includes a lot of aircraft history and such, I would really like the option of a book, but if it is mostly a modelling guide, I'd be fine with an ebook only. If you do an actual book, what about including the ebook at a reduced price or free with the purchase of the hardcopy? That would be the best option for me. Thank you for your response, Aaron! That's a good idea about including the ebook with the hardcopy. I have thought about a package deal, something like for $20USD you get both. This book is mainly about the modelling side, but of necessity I do include quite a bit of history, and there is even a brief history section at the front which is some ten pages long, now. With that package deal, you might get free updates to the ebook, when new kits and accessories come out. As a longer term item, I'm thinking of having actual 3D models of the different variants of the Shturmovik, where you could rotate the models, zoom in, zoom out, that sort of thing. But that's for the future. Best Regards, Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Raymond Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 I think its a good idea to put out an ebook and a hard copy...as how shall we say... most modelling resources become PDFs eventually! best to capitalise of e-sales while its only availible online, before counterfeit copies show up :) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B_Realistic Posted December 14, 2012 Share Posted December 14, 2012 Jason, Like Aaron said for modeling purposes an e-book or a CD included in the book is better in case of plans. But for reading a hard copy is much better. So both. Michel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Learstang Posted December 14, 2012 Author Share Posted December 14, 2012 By the replies and the poll, it seems like people would prefer both. It looks like I may go with a package deal for $20USD (or something like that - I do want to make a little money, after all, so that figure isn't set in stone). However, if I do that, you'll still have the option of ordering (downloading) the ebook or the hard copy. Best Regards, Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Learstang Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Bump. I'd like to get a few more votes and comments, if possible. Thank you! Best Regards, Jason Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JasonW Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I'm a hard copy book guy myself. I like real books, tried the ebook thing but it just isn't my thing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
nerdling Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 I'd prefer a choice of both. That way I could print off pages that I needed, and than not worry about them getting messed up with glue or paint spills. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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