Itinerant Air-Cooled

Colin - great to see this happening!

Is it your intent to have it published as a soft cover (like the Bentley, Idiot's Guide, etc) or hard cover? I could see the benefits of both. Soft cover would obviously be cheaper to produce and would allow for easier "field" handing (in a garage, roadside, etc), however I could also see this book as a keepsake to keep in my book collection (given the great illustrations and visual wow-factor).

I would take one of each please.

If you are making an art book then that is another story. But beyond people here, who is going to pay that much for a repair book? I wouldn't because it would soon be festooned with fingerprints. It depends on your goal: reaching the masses or making a statement. Muir made a hell of a masterpiece written on cocktail napkins.
Form follows function - Louis Sullivan
Make a billion of them cheaply and get the word out. That is more important than slight color nuances. Leave your mark in the most useful way possible.

I like the idea of it being released as PDF with PDF Stamping (buyer's name, email and their unique Transaction ID on the top-left of each page), so buyers can keep it on their computer/tablet/phone/whatever and only print as needed.

Personally id want a full color printed copy, which id have trimmed and spiral bound so it can lay flat, so id pay the $80 for it.
That said I think $80 is going to be out of a lot of the generic bus public's price range, so a cheaper digital solution that can go along with it might be a smart way to cater to both parties.

First: I'm very glad to see you're back to work on the book.

Second: I'd pay the $80, but at that price, it would be relegated to life on a coffee table, and not under Klaus' bench seat or the garage, where it would be "loved" with dog-ears and grease smudges.

Perhaps a hybrid of sorts? My thinking is an "art-book" with an included digital copy that one could print and put in a 3-ring binder...best of both worlds that way.

bretski wrote:First: I'm very glad to see you're back to work on the book.

Second: I'd pay the $80, but at that price, it would be relegated to life on a coffee table, and not under Klaus' bench seat or the garage, where it would be "loved" with dog-ears and grease smudges.

Perhaps a hybrid of sorts? My thinking is an "art-book" with an included digital copy that one could print and put in a 3-ring binder...best of both worlds that way.

I hate to say it, but this thing is not looking like a "repair manual". It is a guided tour of how thing was designed and how it works. I say, I say, that is the foundation of being a decent mechanic.

The garage working repair manual is going to be only an adjunct to the numerous books out there, hard-bitten experience, "end play adjustment in the windy parking lot with a piece of paper as your dial indicator".
Colin

Ahem, just a note from a similarly type afflicted individual. Re: fonts.

Yes, all caps is wearisome copy to read at length. Even with uppercase letters a larger type size. School of thought has always been that a serif font with upper and lower case letters is the least tiresome for the reader with fewer misreads than san serif such as Helvetica. San serif and all cap applications generally are used for headlines, headings, advertising copy, etc.

Perhaps a mixture. Main text body traditional serif font, upper and lower case. I'm fond of Palatino. But there are many many many options. Hand lettering, or digital hand lettered font collection, all cap, for illustrations, pull quotes, drop caps, and other graphic embellishments.

Considering the graphic nature of the color illustrations, which I imagine and hope will be plentiful if not rampant, the mixture of graphic to a more traditional approach to main text body fonts may be worth considering.

And yes, kern.


neal

Amskeptic wrote:I hate to say it, but this thing is not looking like a "repair manual". It is a guided tour of how thing was designed and how it works. I say, I say, that is the foundation of being a decent mechanic.

Just because it doesn't look like a repair manual, doesn't mean that it can't/shouldn't live life like a repair manual. All of my ACVW books, with the notable exception of Tom Wilson's, are stored under the bench seat.

Cross-wired brains like mine need conceptual references just as often as step-by-step instructions.

[bretski's brain]Wait...remind me again how the cam lobes do their job, so I can understand what the hell is going on with this wear pattern.[/bretski's brain]

Plus, I like reading VW books in and near my VW. Call me kooky, it's a communion-thang...

Amskeptic wrote:The garage working repair manual is going to be only an adjunct to the numerous books out there, hard-bitten experience, "end play adjustment in the windy parking lot with a piece of paper as your dial indicator".
Colin

This is what separates your prose from the rest, n'est-ce pas?

It all depends on who you want to reach. A guided tour doesn't have to be costly. Make sure your ego as an artist is steering you in the correct direction.
As long as you are satisfied with the content and the final pricetag, then that is really all that matters. Lookit how many people tried to talk Dylan out of music...
But to me, fine wine is a waste of good money, no matter how artful the vintage. We each have our own programming. Snowflakes, but how to market to a snowstorm?

I'm of a thought that a reference book regarding how the systems work would be invaluable. The "whys" answered. Bentley and Muir together are stronger together than either alone, as neither explain why.

Which seems to me if I understand correctly is the direction Colin is taking with this tome. So no, not a repair manual, but a reference on the many parts that contribute to the many systems that play together.


neal

ruckman101 wrote:I'm of a thought that a reference book regarding how the systems work would be invaluable. The "whys" answered. Bentley and Muir together are stronger together than either alone, as neither explain why.

Which seems to me if I understand correctly is the direction Colin is taking with this tome. So no, not a repair manual, but a reference on the many parts that contribute to the many systems that play together.


neal

Yes. The "why". With color.

And that is the reason for it to be worth $80 bucks. If you include all the wonderfull pictures and stories, it will live with my many art books (don,t have a coffee table) I payed far more for.

I will make copies to take along for repair pages.

Keep it up and going Colin, I like the new header drawing.

Elwood wrote:And that is the reason for it to be worth $80 bucks. If you include all the wonderfull pictures and stories, it will live with my many art books (don,t have a coffee table) I payed far more for.

I will make copies to take along for repair pages.

Keep it up and going Colin, I like the new header drawing.

And here is a newer one still (02-11-12 3:22PM), a Type 1 engine in color ... to remind people that we are not all about Type 4 s
Colin

Randy, you there?

Board time is GMT -8 which is Pacific Standard time.
My User profile is at GMT -5, which is Eastern Standard time.
My computer says it is 3:24, but my post says it is 4:24.
Why?
Colin

The exercise seems futile without the color.


neal

ruckman101 wrote:The exercise seems futile without the color.


neal

What's the opinion in the street about the latest 02-16-12 7:40PM header? Got the letters to match the red in the forum after several tries . . .