What dimensions do members feel is comfortable for a book? 0

[RWB]

What book dimensions do members prefer in a soft or hard cover book? Here are three common sizes shown to relative scale.

These books will be in color with numerous illustrations and source notes – all of which become smaller as the book’s height and width shrink.

Edited May 14, 2019 by RWB

[JKK]

Depends on the type of book. If it's a coin reference the size of ERIC II, for example, it just about has to be a large book. If it's a relatively short book, a large format tends to make it look thinner. I usually advise my clients, most of whom self-publish, to offer a paperback option where possible. 6 x 9 is a bit large for those, but not for non-fiction.

[Greenstang]

For me with my eyes and if  there is going to be illustrations,

the larger the better so I will say 8 1/2 x11

[Zebo]

8 1/2 X 11 hardcover

[LINCOLNMAN]

The larger the better - 81/2X11.

[GW]

I don't buy books anymore everything's on the internet so whatever font size is best for my phone. If I was going to buy a book, probably something I can stick in my back pocket that I can carry along with me. 

[RWB]

gtw-123:  Very little of good quality is actually on the internet in numismatics. Much of the material older than 25-30 years is obsolete or simply wrong.

 

As to size - "bigger the better." What about a double elephant folio?

[DWLange]

I'm a quarto man myself...

[Conder101]

If the images are important in conveying fine details I would prefer the larger size for the larger image.  If they aren't as critical then I find the 7X10 size more convenient.

[Just Bob]

I went to my bookshelf and pulled out my copy of "A Guidebook of Peace Dollars," written by some guy named Burdette. Seems like he knows a bit about coins. Any way, the size is 6 x 9. The type is a good size, but the pictures could be a bit larger. My Mega Red book is 7 x 10, and I think I like that size better.

Now, if someone could invent a paperback book with zoomable pictures...

[Star City Homer]

If you are talking a nice reference book with color photos, then I would prefer the 81/2 x 11.  More of a narrative with the occasional illustration, then smaller is okay.  

And, totally not trying to be rude, are you publishing to make money or to share information? (Not that these are mutually exclusive of course).  You have enough books and information have you ever considered a website?  Some of the reference materials and the parts that would truly benefit from the aforementioned zoomable pictures (maybe the Kindle app can do this...but that has to be specially formatted by the publisher IIRC) could be featured.  Plus a small shop and/or links to your books for sale on Amazon or at Wizard Coin Supplies where I've seen your books.  And bought a few...

You could have shorter essays or a featured chapter for some of your topics (like from Mine to Mint for example), and then refer to the book for more information.  You could have whatever it is that the large color plates are for too.  Those who want the book can buy it, but the better images would be available online. 

It would be a pretty extensive website most likely, and there are carrying costs of course.  And depending on your level of comfort with sites (developing and maintaining) it might not be something you want to do.  That said, there are some pretty savvy folks on these boards who can probably give guidance if that seems interesting to you.

 

[Zebo]

There was a company that was on Shark Tank that added content behind the scenes so that the reader who had an interest in a place, thing or reference could select the reference in the book and it would open additional content over the Internet - such as photographs, maps, background. It seemed like a very neat concept, but it also had it draw backs. First - cost, the burden for the additional content would be with the author. So you have to figure if the additional content would be worth the effort and cost? Don't know. Second - it's for digital books only. I prefer hardcover books with high resolution photographs/images. For digital readers - it would be very nice and I would probably pay a bit more for the additional content. Not that Roger doesn't fill his books with enough information - far from it. Roger - you probably collect large amounts of information that does not go into your books. Do you think that any of this research would appeal to the vast majority of your readers? 

I also have a few of Roger's books and enjoy them. I just wish I had more time to read them. 

[RWB]

Thanks all for the comments and suggestions. All the books are money losers, so adding expense to tempt a few additional readers is not practical. Yes, I have a large amount of information that has never been published - most of it is entirely new, but the cost of getting it out in a useful form is prohibitive. My database is mostly raw data -- that, by itself, is of little use to most collectors. The stuff has to be correlated, validated and them presented in a manner that readers get something interesting or useful out of it. 250,000 pages of stuff is not helpful to anyone.

[RWB]

To gripe a little further - No part of numismatics offers any continuing support for original research. Zip. Nada. Nil. No one can do the archival digging, all the necessary work, expenses, and spend all the time needed, for free. It would take a minimum of $60k per year to support a "trailer park" existence doing this. I had hope that one large hobby foundation was going to head in that direction, but it turned out to be just another give-us-everything-for-nothing deal. Most disappointing.

Presently, I am seriously considering dropping the whole thing, and hitting the delete key. Let someone else be the fool !

[DWLange]

Roger,

I'm sure you understand that publishing a specialized numismatic book is never profitable; it's simply a matter of how much money one is willing to lose for the satisfaction of having created it. My last three books have been published under my own imprint of Pennyboard Press, and only the first one has recovered its cost. I don't expect that the other will ever do so, but I have no regrets at having produced them. The most painful part is that I'll likely have to publish the next one solely online, since hard copy books aren't cost effective unless one can sell at least 300 copies. Trying to get 300 coin people to buy a numismatic book on any subject other than how to get rich quick is a hopeless task.

[VKurtB]

Rog,

You're known for your larger format books, but if this is a vote, I like 6x9's myself. It fits on my small book shelf.

[Star City Homer]

If you could make it work on a Kindle or e-pub platform that would be great.  Self pubbing on those have a lower cost of entry...but they'd have to be optimized for a tablet if you have any kind of nice diagrams, graphs, or photos.

[RWB]

On 6/11/2019 at 7:00 PM, Star City Homer said:

If you could make it work on a Kindle or e-pub platform that would be great.  Self pubbing on those have a lower cost of entry...but they'd have to be optimized for a tablet if you have any kind of nice diagrams, graphs, or photos.

PDFs and epub formats have been tested, but only the PDF is workable - and that depends on the device. Once illustrations are part of a book, the headaches in production go way up. Also, it becomes very easy to steal content.

[RWB]

The next two books have been formatted for 8-1/2 x 11 pages, single column, 12 pt Times Roman font, single line spacing. Although this is like most of my other books, it seems good overall when there are a lot of detailed illustrations.