Having recently published an ebook of children’s stories, it seems to me that it might be an opportunity to published Geoffrey’s memoirs in this way as well.  It would add another dimension to the Imperial Airways literature, i.e. the ground view.  I know of some of the books in print, and some that are out of print (e.g. the much sought-after Adventurous Empires), and some that have been in preparation for some time. 

Do you think a book format, even if only in electronic form, would be good?  There are now a number of formats for ebooks, including Kindle, Kobo, ADE, and Apple’s iPad, and publishing through a company like smashwords.com can address all these formats and includes a screen version for reading in your browser as well as a file if you really want to print it.  And sometimes publishers of paper books pick  them up for their lists.

What about a book?

7 thoughts on “What about a book?

  • January 12, 2012 at 11:09 pm
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    I need to work on a better title for this site and for the book if it gets written, largely to tie in with any publicity that might be worth putting forward at this talk at the RAeS (see next post). I can’t use Beyond the Blue Horizon since that is Alexander Frater’s Book and Geoffreys Box wouldn’t do either.

    My very lame ideas so far are:
    Flying Up the Nile
    Flying Boats on the Nile
    Flying Boat Base Receiving
    Have station, will travel
    Flying off the Map
    Flying Boats Four Times a Week
    Elephants, Hippos and Flying Boats
    Flying Boats Overhead
    North and South: Imperial Airways Africa Route on the Ground
    Up and Down Africa: The Empire Route from the Ground

    If you have any ideas please add them here. Thank you.

    Reply
  • January 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
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    Ideas from my correspondents:

    Some of these need a subtitle, something like “Memories of a flying boat station superintendent”, which I have marked as ***. Here they are for what they are worth:

    Imperial Africa – the East African Flying Boat Service remembered.
    Flying boats also land ***
    The East African Flying Boat Service – a ground’s eye view.
    Keeping the boats flying***
    Through thick and thin, keeping the flying boats flying***
    Have station, will travel ***
    Chicken in the thunderbox***
    Ships and jeeps and ferries and flying boats***
    Connecting Africa ***

    Also:
    White Water Landings
    Splash Down in Africa
    In the Wake of the Flying Boats

    Reply
  • July 2, 2012 at 7:43 pm
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    Can an e-book can do very much more than this excellent blog? Time and energy permitting, what about a fully-fledged print biography with an old-fashioned publisher?

    Reply
    • July 2, 2012 at 8:17 pm
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      Thank you Gordon! Given that the Richard Knott book has attracted attention, it might be worth putting the idea together to pitch to those publishers that have supported IA works in the past.

      However it is also possible to put a nice book together for ‘print on demand’ without the work that goes into persuading a publisher to run with it. The advantage would be that it never goes out of print!

      I think I’ll try both. Would you be interested in writing a Forward to it?

      Reply
  • July 3, 2012 at 4:08 pm
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    What about approaching Air Britain publishers? They love lots of photos, but are quite aeroplane focused.

    Joy Dunkerley has self-published recently: ” Sometimes Eagle’s Wings.”

    Thrilled and honoured by your question!

    Reply
  • July 3, 2012 at 4:16 pm
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    Alexander Sanger’s “Margery Durante goes to Africa” is also self-published, but in different format: photos and press clippings.

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    • July 3, 2012 at 4:23 pm
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      I’ve published some children/middle grade fiction ebooks under my pen name, so I’m aware of what the process would entail. I think it might be a good way forward to test whether the project makes sense as a book, then either see about a publishing deal or print on demand. Of course publishers get the publicity more effectively, but it still needs the author/editor to push it.

      Reply

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