As we discussed in the earlier thread, 13 months ago, I cancelled the book contract with iUniverse and directed them not to put the book into print. The thing contains a number of production flaws and I didn't want to spend the next few years hearing about them. At that time, iUniverse agreed to cancel the contract before any books were printed advising that they did have the option of selling any books already back from production but had chosen not to exercise it.
Pre release publicity made it to amazon.com and was quickly modified to say that the book was not in print and that Amazon did not know if it would become available. Last week somebody here noticed that they were advertising the paperback version as "in stock" and I placed an order just to see what would happen.
Sure enough, it came today. What it contains is
1. More revolvers and history
2. more loading variations
3. an index that seems to have been written by a drunken chimpanzee
4. A chapter on the Starr revolver that uses the spelling "Star" just as frequently as the correct one.
5. a number if appendices
6. comparatively LARGE black and white pictures
7 a list of sources for guns, parts, ammunition, etc that was good at the time of writing
8 a massive number of spelling errors and malaprops.
I paid them extra money and this one does wear the Editor's! Choice! lable that indicates that it meets iUniverse's high standards of excellence. The copy editors and line editors were very good at sprinkling commas throught the manuscript and substituting one type of dash for another dash they considered more gramatically correct. At spelling and consistency there-of, they suck almost as bad as I do.
I don't know how many are actually available. It appears to be a stealth operation as the book is not listed on the IUniverse book store site and is not listed with iUniverse's major accomplise, Barnes and Noble. Nor are the hard cover and e-book options I paid for anywhere in evidence. It may be the iUniverse is scrabbling to stay alive as they have been in business for several years and people are starting to find out about them. For example, a couple of years ago, they published about 18,000 books. Of that number, about 70 sold more than 500 copies. they pay either ten or twenty percent royalties and keep most of the receipts themselves. while they claim to make their money on book sales, it is evident that they actually get the bulk of it from charges to the authors. Our first book, Percussion Pistols and revolvers etc, has sold at least 1077 copies in three years and this may have the the factor that motivated them to sneak a few of the second book out the door.
I would advise anybody who is gripped by existentential angst at the sight of typos and spelling errors to avoid this book like the plague. The same for anybody who expects a coffee-table quality product for < $18. Those who liked the first book will probably need to get 'em while they last.
Mykeal is working on an electronic, smoother version right now.
Pre release publicity made it to amazon.com and was quickly modified to say that the book was not in print and that Amazon did not know if it would become available. Last week somebody here noticed that they were advertising the paperback version as "in stock" and I placed an order just to see what would happen.
Sure enough, it came today. What it contains is
1. More revolvers and history
2. more loading variations
3. an index that seems to have been written by a drunken chimpanzee
4. A chapter on the Starr revolver that uses the spelling "Star" just as frequently as the correct one.
5. a number if appendices
6. comparatively LARGE black and white pictures
7 a list of sources for guns, parts, ammunition, etc that was good at the time of writing
8 a massive number of spelling errors and malaprops.
I paid them extra money and this one does wear the Editor's! Choice! lable that indicates that it meets iUniverse's high standards of excellence. The copy editors and line editors were very good at sprinkling commas throught the manuscript and substituting one type of dash for another dash they considered more gramatically correct. At spelling and consistency there-of, they suck almost as bad as I do.
I don't know how many are actually available. It appears to be a stealth operation as the book is not listed on the IUniverse book store site and is not listed with iUniverse's major accomplise, Barnes and Noble. Nor are the hard cover and e-book options I paid for anywhere in evidence. It may be the iUniverse is scrabbling to stay alive as they have been in business for several years and people are starting to find out about them. For example, a couple of years ago, they published about 18,000 books. Of that number, about 70 sold more than 500 copies. they pay either ten or twenty percent royalties and keep most of the receipts themselves. while they claim to make their money on book sales, it is evident that they actually get the bulk of it from charges to the authors. Our first book, Percussion Pistols and revolvers etc, has sold at least 1077 copies in three years and this may have the the factor that motivated them to sneak a few of the second book out the door.
I would advise anybody who is gripped by existentential angst at the sight of typos and spelling errors to avoid this book like the plague. The same for anybody who expects a coffee-table quality product for < $18. Those who liked the first book will probably need to get 'em while they last.
Mykeal is working on an electronic, smoother version right now.
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