Seeking a bit of help from fellow American collectors

[Wilhelm Saris]

There is a lack of new research books coming on the market due to the fact that newer collectors are not purchasing books to build up a reference library. Without a change in this attitude, we are likely looking at a future of collecting without future research and documentation.

I agree. This behaviour will be the "final blow", as the number of printed copies will get lower
and lower. And at the end........??? 30 Or more years ago books were printed into the 5,000 -
10,000 numbers. These days I have even heard of a release of 500 copies. We only have to
wait for another ten years and various publishers will end their business. It doesn't make sense
to get involved in that much work to get an nice and good book done!

In the past many persons have asked me to assist with their research with all kinds of subjects,
as orders & decorations, buckles, HJ and NSKK, army forestry, VGAD, Schützen or whatever
(often for free). After 10-15 years I have not ever seen a result by a printed book. This is very
disappointing and so next time I must seriously consider if I will assist again! The so-called
"planned research" must have been a research for own benefit. No more then that!

[Erno]

It's just as well; the information available on this forum is far more accurate and valuable than any of the belt buckle references. Besides that, it would be profitable and accessible for the authors of the future to release their books as ebooks. A huge percentage of the cost in buying a book is the printing. I'd be glad to pay $15 or $20 for an ebook, but frankly, Angolia's book is not worth $100.

[Wilhelm Saris]

You are joking. A few will be sold. That will be all.

The others will find a way to copy, as often a copy-block - when
existing - will be removed! I never will agree in an ebook release.
Then I prefer to stop and sit and enjoy my time in other ways!

One guy, a friend, buys the complete "Uniformen-Markt" or "Uniformfibel"
on CD. All his friends get a (free) copy. This is reality and happens many times.
And so there are more of such samples to mention!

[Jerry B]

Who in the future will spend the time, effort and expense to compile useful books if none are willing to buy them. Regardless of printing costs, the research takes a lot and I am sure in many cases these books are a labour of love rather than something that makes any money for the author. Without that in the end all we will have are the forums, but who on them will vet the articles, do the hard research with a hands on inspection, instead all we will get is a generation of armchair experts who have done all their research by looking at photos on the net. We all know they have been messing with photos since photography was invented and such will only get better until one day who can tell from a picture if anything is real or not.

[Erno]

You are joking. A few will be sold. That will be all.

The others will find a way to copy, as often a copy-block - when
existing - will be removed! I never will agree in an ebook release.
Then I prefer to stop and sit and enjoy my time in other ways!

One guy buys the complete "Uniformen-Markt" on CD. All his friends
get a (free) copy. This is reality and happens many times.

The same thing was probably said when libraries first came into being! What if I lend my copy of a book to another collector to read? Is that wrong? I don't think that books should be pirated, of course.

I bought a copy of the Angolia book, then I scanned it for my own personal use, then I sold the book because I no longer need the hard copy. I do not see anything wrong with that!

[Wilhelm Saris]

Who in the future will spend the time, effort and expense to compile useful books if none are willing to buy them. Regardless of printing costs, the research takes a lot and I am sure in many cases these books are a labour of love rather than something that makes any money for the author. Without that in the end all we will have are the forums, but who on them will vet the articles, do the hard research with a hands on inspection, instead all we will get is a generation of armchair experts who have done all their research by looking at photos on the net. We all know they have been messing with photos since photography was invented and such will only get better until one day who can tell from a picture if anything is real or not.

This I totally agree and even one is looking for answers at forums, there is hardly
ever a solution. Every so now and then the same questions pop up. So, what have
one learned from the threads and posts from the past: nothing, NOTHING at all!

[Erno]

Who in the future will spend the time, effort and expense to compile useful books if none are willing to buy them. Regardless of printing costs, the research takes a lot and I am sure in many cases these books are a labour of love rather than something that makes any money for the author. Without that in the end all we will have are the forums, but who on them will vet the articles, do the hard research with a hands on inspection, instead all we will get is a generation of armchair experts who have done all their research by looking at photos on the net. We all know they have been messing with photos since photography was invented and such will only get better until one day who can tell from a picture if anything is real or not.

I trust these 'armchair experts' a lot more than I trust Jack Angolia. His buckle book is full of fakes. If any one of them were posted on the forum, they would instantly be labeled fake. Of course sellers could use fake photos, but reference books won't do anything to stop that.

[Jerry B]

I bought a copy of the Angolia book, then I scanned it for my own personal use, then I sold the book because I no longer need the hard copy. I do not see anything wrong with that!

But you paid for it, then sold it on, so the author would have got his % from someone buying a hard copy. Even if you had bought it secondhand, someone before you paid for it, so either way the author got paid for his work.

[Erno]

But you paid for it, then sold it on, so the author would have got his % from someone buying a hard copy. Even if you had bought it secondhand, someone before you paid for it, so either way the author got paid for his work.

That would be the same as if I had borrowed it from another collector.

[Wilhelm Saris]

Erno: a good advice.
Start research for a subject, research for some years about the subject and start writing, again a year or two and then finally
get the book printed. Your comment will be totally different.

Research costs time, lot of time, and money, not to mention a book with many photographs (or you should have many friends
that hand over their material). You will learn that the number of copies sold will not cover - in now way - the costs you have
made. Writing a book is merely "a labour of love".....

And why for heaven's sake, Erno, did you buy the Angolia book as you already knew their are a lot of fakes in it and the given
information is so now and then highly questionable (this goes also for some other buckle-books).

A discussion like this hardly makes any sense. How you see it, is obvious. I have my experiences. From me you could have gotten
Angolia for free, as I have my ideas about it!