oh dear - somebody has some unresolved issues to deal with :rolleyes:
bless;)

The officer who you've just had a go at who does not deserve to be the subject of personal attack on an open forum. What the demise of the RAF Magazine and partwork demonstrated is that there just isn't the public interest there to sustain such publications, something undoubtedly equally applicable to your opus.

As a journo you seem determined to burn your bridges and I sincerely hope that you are now deemed persona non grata. After all, if this is what you do when you don't get your own way, why on earth should the RAF help you in future. Further, as someone whose had several back seat fast jet rides organised by RAFPR and paid for by the taxpayer you're more than a tad ungrateful in my view.

I noticed in the paperwhop the other day yet another RAF partwork magazine. Theinitial issue had some metal badge or some such. As it was buried under a load of other magazines I couldn't see what the offer was.

These partwork publications seem much more commericial and not very public. You engage with the buying public for about 4-5 editions then the whole drops off to subscription only. All sales after the first 4 are thus hidden and seen only be those who sign up and stay the course.

You end up with coffee table type book only in a loose document binder probably covered in dust on a shelf full of short stories. It would be cheaper to buy a proper hardcover book every 2-3 months.

Okay, I'll answer your points but perhaps we can leave this subject then and get back to the subject of the thread?

I wasn't making a "personal attack" - just stating what happened. I don't see any need to invent any tales when I can simply state the truth. As for who "deserves" what, well that's really not for you to judge as it's obviously none of your business - it's between me, the publisher and the RAF.

I don't see any need to burn any proverbial bridges either but at the same time I don't see any need to kiss anyone's nether regions, even if you do. The notion that the RAF has "helped" me is typical of the kind of comments I get from enthusiasts sometimes. It's really not a case of "help" it's about co-operating on a project which was intended to provide the men and women of the RAF with a good-quality book that would reach a wide audience, in preference to the many rather dull and unimaginative "RAF Books" that have been churned-out before. If anything, I think my publisher and myself were helping the RAF, not vice versa.

For your information, everyone I came into contact with did their very best to help me. As ever, the RAF's air and ground crew are a buch of great people, and from those I've subsequently spoken to, they're as disappointed as I am that the RAF's PR people (or at least one person in particular) saw fit to withdraw the RAF's support presumably because he didn't like anyone pointing-out to him just how disfunctional the PR set-up currently is. It really is that simple.


You seem to have a very odd concept of how these things work. It wasn't about the RAF graciously providing me with "joyrides" - it was about gaining suitable access so that we could obtain the very best images. I don't have any desire to invent tales or start trying to "kiss up" to RAF people even though other people patently do. The basic fact is that we offered to provide the RAF with a top-quality book, and one which was better than anything they'd ever had before, but the man who was overseeing the project evidently didn't look at it in those terms. That's his choice, just as it's my choice to walk-away and do something else more rewarding.

You might also be interested to know that (presumably as an act of spite or pettiness) we've been told (unless the decision changes) that all the photographes cannot be published elsewhere. So maybe this puts your worries about the waste of taxpayer's money in a different light? All those photographs taken at great expense for nothing other than my personal collection - do you think that's right too?!

Maybe I will be declared "persona non grata" as you say, (not that I could possibly care less) but I think you'll find that most RAF people aren't that childish and they're capable of taking a more intelligent view of realities. You might have had your judgement clouded by the appaling rubbish which is peddled on spotter's web sites but you ought to be old enough to know that what you read on such sites might not necessarily be correct...

Frankly, I don't really have any interest in dealing with people's egos and I really have got better things to do, so regardless of whatever rubbish you might have heard elsewhere, this is the situation as it stands. We may publish a book or then again we might not. Naturally both the publisher and I have rather lost interest in it! My only regret is that the men and women of the RAF ultimately won't get the book that they deserve, but that's not our fault - we did the best we could.

As for your judgement on the partwork and magazine, that's your view to which you're entitled. You'll not be surprised to know that a whole lot of other people (myself included) firmly believe that both publications failed for various reasons which we all identified, long before the publications folded. Suffice to say that we don't think it had anything to do with lack of interest from potential readers.

Hope that clears-up everything for you.

Wader, the publication you refer-to is the latest piece of merchandise which has appeared from the new franchaise set-up. It is indeed another load of nonsense but aimed squarely at kids so I'm sure it will appeal to the appropriate buyers.

The previous part-work to which I referred was of course intended to be a more serious publication. Unfortunately it was dull as dishwater and lots of us confidently predicted it wouldn't last six months... and it didn't! No great loss but ultimately it just sours the marketplace for anything better to come along. Now if you mentioned the idea to a publisher they'd say "oh, these things just don't sell" - wrong of course, but you can't blame publishers for thinking it, based on such heroic failures as the partwork and the magazine.

What the hell is partwork:confused::confused:

Something they do at MoD / DPA / PMA / TLA I think

Part work...

Something that does well if done by the experts apparently.

Back to the thread in question.....

Are there some good Photos in the Vulcan book Tim? Looking forward to it.

Cheers

V1

I don't know if my thoughts are true but I think it is like producing a book in parts.

Periodically you will see a large package, at a low starter price, appear in your newsagent. It might be dolls houses, pocket watches, parts of an aircraft model or whatever. You collect parts of the model or collection and a glossy supplement. Each week you get part of the works to build the model or complete your collection.

Typically week 2 will ramp the price up from £1.99 to £3.99 or more. It may be published fortnightly. After about 4 issues you need to subscribe to continue the collection.

In this way they can flood the newsagents with the publication for the first few issues and take the hit on no sales. In week 5 they have an assured readership and can tailor the numbers to the readership. Where they are providing a part of a model or whatever they can getthe Chinese to reduce the numbers accordingly. The product may also be marketed in many parts of the world.

I used to speak that fluently.