Gaps in our Aviation Research.

I’m pleased to hear that right has prevailed.

Coincidently, or not…..after posting on here and other forums Fonthill responded to my e-mails and all is now resolved.

My late father tried several times to get his memoirs published, and eventually resorted to self-publishing to order for a select few ie. those who requested a copy.

Eventually, after getting a senior R.A.F. Officer, who he new personally, to write a foreword to his autobiography, it was finaly accepted for publishing.

I’m not sure what the financial side of the deal was, but i have an original self-published copy, and my youngest brother has a properly published copy.

…… and then I was asked if I would contribute to publishing costs in return for a garage full of books. It didn’t strike me as the behaviour of a publisher who had done their due diligence; or indeed reflect the way publishers had treated books I’ve had published before or since.

And so the tales of Fonthill-woe continue.
I don’t think it is that unusual for publishers to request that authors work to a ‘template’ in terms of wordcount and images…….but asking for a contribution? That really is taking the p***

Thank you Matt, I’m not at all pleased to hear that you have experienced the same blatant disregard of contract commitments by Fonthill but it is rather good to know that I am not alone in this. Jay has a lot to answer for commissioning authors when he is well aware that his boss, who I will not name for now, acts in such an unprofessional, and illegal, manner.

I’m sure Fonthill will continue to attract authors in the ‘vanity publishing’ vein, or writers who are unaware of what they may be in for. I had contact with them a few years ago, but an intended, fully-original text with all supporting photographs and with maybe 95% of the words coming from primary-sources didn’t reach fruition. It also fitted into the “gaps in our research” remit! In quick order, my 100,000-word MS was slated for cropping to 70,000 words (impossible without losing the detail and full context) and then I was asked if I would contribute to publishing costs in return for a garage full of books. It didn’t strike me as the behaviour of a publisher who had done their due diligence; or indeed reflect the way publishers had treated books I’ve had published before or since.

During the German destruction of Sebastopol from the air in 1942, as well as bombs, the Luftwaffe dropped old engines, ploughs, railtrack, onto the city. How did they technically achieve this?

……, but Fonthill did not honor the contract……….

Thank you Matt, I’m not at all pleased to hear that you have experienced the same blatant disregard of contract commitments by Fonthill but it is rather good to know that I am not alone in this. Jay has a lot to answer for commissioning authors when he is well aware that his boss, who I will not name for now, acts in such an unprofessional, and illegal, manner.

Possession is nine tenths of the law, it would seem! Are Fonthill just declining to provide sales data or are they also declining to pay royalties on these undisclosed sales?

I had to light a fire under Fonthill to get sales figures through 31 Dec 2018. These sales figures were owed to me by 31 March 2019, per my contract, but Fonthill did not honor the contract.

In mid-April 2019, I was pleased to finally learn that I earned royalties through the end of calendar year 2018, and the calculated amount was imparted to me at the same time. But no actual money was sent my way.

I expected to see the money fairly soon thereafter. Nearly five months later, I still haven’t received a royalty payment despite my contacting Fonthill a few weeks ago. Fun and games.

I’m pleased as hell with the end product, and any royalty money is simply icing on the cake, but I’m also still owed money. It’s mine. I want it. Soon.

And that’s only for royalties earned through the end of 2018. Next year, the fun and games will presumably continue with this publisher…with sales figures for calendar year 2019 contractually due by 31 March 2020. (So far, the “new” book purchase price is still cheaper than any “used” prices I’ve found, so I’ll get a small royalty for each new book sold. Not a penny for any used book sold, of course. Once people start purchasing used books, the royalties will dry up. Make that “phantom royalties,” since I’ve yet to receive any, though earned and spelled out to an exact amount.)

Then your warning seems to be well worth heeding by those who may be looking for a publisher for their work and may have given thought to the invitation posted by Jay Slater four years ago.

Possession is nine tenths of the law, it would seem! Are Fonthill just declining to provide sales data or are they also declining to pay royalties on these undisclosed sales?

Unfortunately without the sales data that would show the revenue I am in no position to judge. Certainly I have not received any.

Possession is nine tenths of the law, it would seem! Are Fonthill just declining to provide sales data or are they also declining to pay royalties on these undisclosed sales?

If anyone has a book idea, please do get in touch: [email]j.slater@fonthillmedia.com[/email]

Jay

From my personal experience I would recommend seeking alternative publishers. Since my book was published by Fonthill in 2012 (and reprinted a few years later) they have ignored their contractual requirement to provide annual sales statements and neither Jay nor his manager chose to reply to e-mails on the subject.

I take it that all the book publishers no longer payout an advance for a project? More likely just the royalties?

My experience with published works to date is an initial payment on contract signing, another at manuscript delivery and a third at book publication. All are advances of royalties.

Just recently another publisher contacted me to ask if I had another project going, and ready to go, we were in the early stages of negotiation. Then the ‘can you reduce the word count’ and ‘would you be prepared to contribute to costs’ questions crept in.

I know it’s a different financial world we live in, but I also need the publisher to (a) have faith in the product and (b) understand that I’m NOT bringing yet another plagiarised ‘work’ to the table. The final offer was frankly an insult and so I withdrew at that point.

So I suspect that advance payments may be a bit more infrequent nowadays, but I’d still stick to my guns on the point of the publisher having faith and taking the risk. If they won’t then they don’t understand the market and don’t understand the project which they have been discussing.

Rant mode ‘off’.

🙂

Some still pay an advance, but its a fairly small percentage of the royalties

I take it that all the book publishers no longer payout an advance for a project? More likely just the royalties?

That sounds like Air Britain territory, very much the subject, length, style and price for their books.
If you are serious about having a go at the HP42 I can point you in the direction of a number of original documents

Well for now I’m looking into a few primary sources and already note a few discrepancies between these and the dreaded W*kipedia. That’s a good enough reason to get scribbling. I may be in touch!

And more importantly, is there a publisher out there prepared to commit to a minimum of 100,000 words, 200 photos, line drawings, colour side views, full histories of each aircraft built and a retail price of £50?

That sounds like Air Britain territory, very much the subject, length, style and price for their books.
If you are serious about having a go at the HP42 I can point you in the direction of a number of original documents

Some of these suggestions are indeed a bit ‘dry’ – I do feel a distinction should be made between ‘interesting to see’ and ‘nice to have’.

Yes indeed. In these cases I was thinking along the lines of academic work rather than enthusiast’s research, it seems to be an odd quirk that a reasonable number of peer-reviewed spin-offs from PhD thesis do make it into print, albeit at prices that would make your eyes water.

And more importantly, is there a publisher out there prepared to commit to a minimum of 100,000 words, 200 photos, line drawings, colour side views, full histories of each aircraft built and a retail price of £50?

Ay, there’s the rub! I can think of a number of subjects on which I’d like to see a book. And for these I and, perhaps, a handful of others would be prepared to pay not insignificant sums of money. But there’s a fair chance that the hand would not be full enough for the project to stack up commercially. And that will, of course, be a publisher’s bottom line. So the alternatives would appear to be publication by subscription (which is the approach that was taken in the case of Roger Gaborieau’s book) or vanity publishing or online publishing. I suspect that the latter two alternatives might appeal only to a limited number of authors with time to give away and a burning desire to get their results of their research into the public domain, come what may.

Although it would result in a somewhat dry tome it would be interesting to see a history of wind tunnel research. Parts of this are available in fragments from the likes of NPL, NACA and RAE but the tunnels built and run by commercial companies have received little attention. As their use, of lack thereof, was of increasing importance through the late 20s and 30s the subject is worthy or research.

Some of these suggestions are indeed a bit ‘dry’ – I do feel a distinction should be made between ‘interesting to see’ and ‘nice to have’. I love technical books, but I think I’d be unlikely to buy a book about wind tunnels. No doubt the research would be of merit, but would it make anything other than a very niche reference work?

However, I do feel that there’s thread going through this, er, thread – that there’s not much in-depth written about aviation in general prior to 1939.

So is anyone out there already doing a book on the HP.42/45? I am sorely tempted to give it a go, ill-equipped though I am! And more importantly, is there a publisher out there prepared to commit to a minimum of 100,000 words, 200 photos, line drawings, colour side views, full histories of each aircraft built and a retail price of £50?

It’s a book I’d buy.