Effective today (noon Pacific Time, March 8, 2012) Westlake Publishing's books are available as downloadable PDFs.
As I have explained elsewhere, every Modelers' Annual will remain on sale until Armageddon and each is ready for download now.
The 2012 Logging, Mining & Industrial Annual and Narrow Gauge Annual will remain on sale for about a year, until the next year's books replace them. That is because Mal Ferrell and I hope to offer slightly edited and expanded versions of his articles as standalone paper publications. For example, his recent three part series on the Denver & Rio Grande Western's Third Division someday will appear in a single volume.
The price of a digital book is $15.00 and delivery is immediate. Each book consists of 12 separate sections in a Zip folder.
If you missed a book or want something for your iPad or to keep on the computer, the digital PDFs are your answer.
You already know I tend to embrace technology but, my predictions notwithstanding, these things are cool. I've been producing them and ferreting them away for about a decade, waiting for the rest of the world to get in step with what has been possible. Even you guys who insist on paper probably will come to accept and even like them.
Russ
Russ,
I hope I am smart enough to find your site and download an issue or two.
But if you include a link with your future announcements that will be easier for us to use.
My local shop stocks your issues but I am moving to the great unknown and will enjoy this version.
The link is in the top "Westlake Publishing" banner. It shows up there as "ORDER BOOKS".
Dave
Dave, thanks.
I found the link at the top of the page and went to the downloads page.
But I could not see the contents of the issues and don't remember which ones I bought and sold as part of my move.
My days of keeping a paper library are over.
Our new house is about half the size of our current one and space is a premium.
No room for a layout. Just small dioramas.
But that's all I build anyway these days.
Thanks again.
Hey I just saw this on FaceBook! :P ;D ;D
Darryl, there are some folders in the FB album page, that have some images/excerts of a couple of the annauals.
Marc
Russ,
This is great news, I will look into this more when I return from Europe.
Ralph
Well, that was painless enough. I've finally got a 2007 Modellers' Annual for a spot of light reading sometime. :D
The DRM is mildly intriguing. The PDFs can be copied no problem -- given the proportion of freetards in the various modelling hobbies, I hope Russ isn't being too trusting. It's also no problem to extract individual photos -- yet the plans are strictly off-limits. That's kinda, sorta a nuisance, as it prevents resizing plans for use in a different scale in Photoshop or whatever, which can be preferable to farting around with printer settings.
For some strange reason some of the PDFs don't resize at all gracefully when displayed in the native PDF viewer on a Mac. If that's also true for iThings the support person could be headed for a bit of a busy period, given the hundreds of thousands of sales these annuals will no doubt attract.
There is no way to copy protect a PDF effectively. I have tried to account for some degree of theft in the price, just as all e-publishers now must do. Did you say hundreds of thousands of sales? I think I'll be lucky to sell a dozen of each!
What is the problem with the plans? Each is an image, just as a photo. While each has a copyright, it is perfectly legal to print and/or resize a plan for your own use (although the resolution will deteriorate as you try to enlarge it, as with any image).
Finally, about the resolution, I am looking at a plan in the '07 Annual at 300% enlargement and it is very crisp. Is it possible your Adobe Reader settings need a tweak?
Russ
Russ
I was just having a quick play in Acrobat 9 (the full version, not reader). There wasn't really a problem, it just struck me as odd that I had no difficulty extracting contone scans, whereas line art was strictly off limits. I've since found that although the security is set to allow copying &c, it's necessary to change a setting and do a bit of fiddling (details of which it's probably best not to mention publicly) to steal access the plans.
The issue on a Mac was with resizing to fit the screen in the Preview app, which most Mac users use in preference to Reader 'cos it's generally snappier and less buggy (and comes as part of the standard OS install) and only affected the first page on a couple of sections. Possibly a slightly corrupted download, or some weird side effect of the document being originated from Pigmaker. They came right when viewed as some exact multiple of 100%.
Pigmaker should not have caused a problem because I Postscripted the file before creating a PDF. Pigmaker is a minor problem for other reasons, mainly its antiquity resulting in minor bugs. I may, very reluctantly, upgrade a lot of stuff this year or early next. That is something I wanted to avoid given my anticipated reduced publishing schedule. -- Russ
Pigmaker.... :o Can't believe you're still using that! At least you're not still using Quark... ;D
Paul
Quote from: W. P. Rayner on March 10, 2012, 05:06:27 PM
Pigmaker.... :o Can't believe you're still using that! At least you're not still using Quark... ;D
Paul
Back-off dude! I think I stll have the floppies for both those programs in a box somewhere! :P ;D ;D ;D
...now, if I could just figure out where in my PC the floppy goes....... ;D ;D
Marc
I too still have floppies around somewhere of Quark and I believe I have some of the large floppy disks for Quark as well... that's bordering on prehistoric.
Paul
QuotePigmaker.... Can't believe you're still using that! At least you're not still using Quark...
A decade or so driving Quack in exchange for food & drink left me with an Pavlovian twitch whenever a wee ditty called
Quark, Strangeness and Charm, put out by some smelly hippy Brit band, pops up on EweTube. But even Quirk v.1 was still a blessed escape after Ventura Publisher -- that was banned as inhuman punishment under the Geneva Convention.
Hey, Russ -
Just downloaded the 2012 edition of Logging/Industrial. Looks great!
Mark Layton
I'm considering replacing the 12 sections of each book with a single 116 page PDF document. My concern was that the file size will be about 150 megabytes but I suppose (at last) few now find that intimidating.
I learned the hard way to avoid being on the cutting edge of technology, especially when dealing with narrow gauge railroad hobbyists. But, 14 years after my initial attempt, I guess the world finally may be on the threshold of accepting digital publications.
Russ
Hi Russ,
I wanted to upload a copy of the test times down.
Of course, I would like to pay for it.
Unfortunately I could not see what expenses it incurred in addition to me.
$ 15.00 for 2012 Logging, Mining and Industrial Annual is surely not too much but recently I had to pay 35 € fees for a single foreign transfer to another dealer.
Can you tell me why what the charges are.
The total charge should be $15.00, Helmut -- nothing more.
If you have trouble, send me a message and I will refund your money.
Russ
150 MB is not too moch for those of us with good high speed connections...but it may still limit some...and it could be a pain for some people connecting via wi-fi or wireless 3G/4G, to say a tablet.
I agree I would prefer it as one whole...saves me from having to take the 2 minutes to combine it into a single PDF (which I am not sue everyone has the software for?....don't know if the free version of ADOBE let's you do that.) But how about maybe finding a mid point or other break-up.....IE...2 or 3 sections instead of 6....or even better for the other use you discussed.....break the download sections into the individual articles. (This would allow the user [me] to discard the articles/parts I don't want and save the things I want under the article name (makes for easier search on the box when looking for something)....yes, I can do all this myself with the Adobe...but again don't know if others have this option...or if they care.
M
Hi Russ,
Thanks for the info.
Everything went really well,
The PDF can be opened, viewed and properly.
Hi Russ,
I now invite the digital books you download from my main PC and server can read them on any PC.
But even more enjoyable to read the books on iBooks on my iPad.
Here I can easily zoom into images inside.
Also, I can translate my text electronic parts.
That's the point I tried to make on another thread: The iPad is an ideal tool for getting the most out of a digital publication. -- Russ
But I don't WANT an ipad(nor can afford one) Another toy that has a limited life and further gets one entrenched in the annual upgrade, more costs for an isp, etc.
I have the whole Model RR, N scale, a couple of RR historical Society pubs and lots more "hobby" related DVD's. And you know what, I almost NEVER look at them. I work at the computer a lot and the idea of sitting down to read a hobby magazine just does not happen. And the drawings are virtually unusable.
Back issues(on paper) of Finescale, and others I look at all the time, they are next to the bed, in the throne, in my shop, etc...
Don't start about resisting technology I had computers and email and cnc machines before most of the mainstream. It ain't about resiting technology. It's about convenience to access the publication.
The one thing the computer has going for it is the index.
Rant off.
Paul
Tough luck. I understand your preference and I also understand your reluctance to buy an iPad. I don't own one yet, either. But times change and we all have to change with them or the walls of our world will cave in on us. As you know, the upcoming Modelers' Annual will be my last regular publication (unless you count the Narrow Gauge "half" Annual next year).
If the Modelers' Annual should continue IT WILL BE DIGITAL WHETHER ANYONE LIKES IT OR NOT. It is financial suicide to produce it any other way. Don't believe me? Start a publishing company; put your money where your mouth is.
Over the past 25 years of publishing I have run into idiots (YES, IDIOTS) who have canceled subscriptions, dropped ads, cussed me out, threatened me, and everything else you can imagine. Why? Because I had to make changes to survive. Those changes allowed me to earn a living while my competitors went broke and disappeared.
I don't ever want to hear a stupid rant about what somebody will do or won't do because of a necessary change. If you don't like what I publish, or how I publish it, then just disappear. I'm past having to cater to whiners.
(Sorry, Paul. I know you're a good guy and no idiot. I'm also flattered you have belonged to this forum for so long and truly appreciate having you here. But I've lost patience with inflexible guys complaining about change. I don't need to pull punches anymore and this is really an important punch to throw. Sorry it had to be aimed right at your jaw.)
Russ
Russ,
I agree and understand about the publishing facts, I have no issue there. I think I have said in the past that I will continue to support whatever you do. I am just going to miss sitting in bed with the latest annual, flipping through the pages till the wee hours. My wife almost got me an ipad as a gift, but when we figured out that what I really wanted to do with it was look at all the dvd's I have and you can't do that(at least not easily) I passed. Maybe next year.
Paul(not a whiner ;)
This might be of interest, a discussion about another publication that went digital. I'm not putting this up to "prove a point" just thought it was intresting. Many of the same pro and cons.
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/60157-what-is-up-with-Model-Engine-Builder-Magazine-they-went-digital-format
Paul
I think digital versions of the books are fine as far as I am concerned.
Another alternative in addition to digital downloads is to offer each on a DVD.
I have sold hundreds of old, in the public domain, books on CDs.
A DVD would simply allow more versatility.
DVDs are easy to make and easy to mail.
Just so you guys will understand: The example of Model Engine Builder losing readers makes perfect sense to me, especially since those readers seem to be of the same demographics as my own.
To be very pragmatic about the publishing business, it actually is premature to go strictly digital. As with the Internet, it will take time for people to get onboard. In my personal case, paper publishing no longer is sufficiently profitable. It is possible that any publication at all that tries to continue what I've done would be unprofitable. If I still want to present your modeling to the world, though, it will have to be digital. There's just no choice.
Darryl, sending DVDs gets back to working with the post office and that's just asking for trouble. (I assume you read how they now want to stop delivering door to door so just imagine how unreliable service will become as they continue to eliminate workers and services.)
I know how all this must look to guys in the hobby but not in the hobby publishing business. I can only say we must realize we are a tiny minority of an unpopular hobby interest, we are fading away, and we must accept whatever change is necessary to preserve our interests.
Russ
Russ, by using a postal account such as Stamps.com, mailing DVDs is a snap.
I have mailed thousands of DVDs without any problems or complaints at all.
I have never had door to door delivery in my entire life and I never have complaints with the post office delivery systems.
I'm amazed at how quick and reliable it is.
Of course when I send things to England or Australia, the price jumps and the package has to make it's way through that country's customs which takes 3 to 6 weeks, but from my end the whole process is easy.
An advantage of the PECO Publications of issues of Railway Modeller on DVD is that they can also include short videos as part of the DVD.
I am perfectly content to download issues but offering an attractive package that sits on a shelf is nice too.
This is going off topic...but I'd like to add that the thing that is really annoying is that this publication is going to end.
Why is it that all my favorite publications cease? Mainline Modeler was a great publication and you can't get those digitally, and I would get that in an instant.
One question: How do you get the contents of a DVD on to an ipad?
Paul
You're not totally off topic so I'll answer. First getting DVD contents onto a tablet or smartphone:
1. Pop DVD into computer.
2. If necessary copy contents onto hard drive.
3. Use WiFi or USB cable to copy the content to your portable device. That last step may require placing the content into a specific folder so your portable device can find it and, if it's an Apple device, you may have to use their iTunes program to transfer the content by "syncing". (Using iTunes the first couple of times can be, uh, annoying.)
As for why your favorite publications disappear (and it's coincidental that a former straight-talking now retired advertiser reported to me about this topic today):
1. The hobby industry is incestuous, political, cliquish, and incredibly stupid. I have never dealt with such morons in any other field except maybe broadcast news and entertainment. The industry supports those it likes (i.e., idiots who mindlessly follow their orders) and that is more than half the reason why some publications receive ads and others don't. Those that don't soon fail.
2. Today's average hobbyist is 70 years old and dropping out of the hobby at a rate of 10-percent a year. He is more shallow, lazy, childish, clumsy, uncreative, and unintellectual than hobbyists at any other time in the past 60 years. (In the 1950s the average model railroader, for example, was 35 years old, white collar with a decent income, at least partly college educated, devoted about an hour a day to his interests, and wanted to learn about modeling and the full size subjects of those models.) Magazines like Mainline Modeler are too sophisticated and intelligent for today's average hobbyist so he doesn't read them. Lack of readers results in failure.
Q.E.D.
Clearly, an independent hobby related full time business focusing on integrity and quality cannot survive in today's climate.
The good news is the mainstream hobby industry is so dimwitted that it is killing itself and its magazine cronies help to tighten the noose. So, one day, the toymakers and their spokesmen will dwindle to a handful of inept greedy nincompoops catering to another handful of inept greedy nincompoops. Real hobbyists long ago will have turned their backs on that commercially focused dungheap and use the Internet, technology, artistry, skill, integrity, and friendship to help one another create the finest models ever.
Russ
Bloody Christ!....this topic is like friggin groundhog day! People need to lump it or leave it. You can't please everyone...and who the heck would want to....you just end up being a slave to mediocrity. If someone doesn't want to see the cool models and projects and articles because it's digital...then they don't need to buy it or be concerened about it. Their loss. If the are willing to keep up with the times (no matter how unfortunate they may be in their opinion)....then they get a some cool reading and info. It's that simple. PERIOD. BASTA!
BTW...I say this as a book collector and a person who has all form of phone, tablet, labtop, ad PCs....and has accounts to at least 6 digital modeling mags, and dozens of issues purchased through them.....but rarely reads them.......but then I don't read the paper version more than once either.
While the above is does indeed contain the blunt truth and some nice little phrases, it is not Marc at his best. I can remember earlier rants that were so acidic and clever I laughed so hard I nearly lost my mind. (Some say I did, and never found it.) Once Marc aimed a cannonball at me. I enjoyed it. It was pretty funny. Too bad he was wrong.
Marc can do better. We must encourage him to resume putting as much creativity into his rants as he does his models. I suggest we either suggest a topic or deliberately write something really stupid ... kind of inspire him. Force him to rise to the occasion. Place unstable nuclear material at his disposal.
As I said above, I miss the old days. I am waiting for just the right statement about just the right topic to appear, and then -- BLAM! (I doubt it will be on this forum, though. You guys are too evolved.)
Russ (an unworthy disciple)
Marc, get over it, its not YOU I am talking about.
Paul
and thanks for the how to Russ
Quote from: SandiaPaul on August 20, 2013, 05:56:24 PM
Marc, get over it, its not YOU I am talking about.
Paul
Not sure I can. Depends on what's in it for ME. :) :)
Yeah, enough about me. What did YOU think of my last model? -- ssuR
Quote from: finescalerr on August 21, 2013, 12:46:21 AM
Yeah, enough about me. What did YOU think of my last model? -- ssuR
Just remind us what it was . It's been so long since you did it the memory needs a bit of jogging .
Yeah , yeah , I know .....
Quote from: finescalerr on August 03, 2013, 12:33:01 PM
Real hobbyists long ago will have turned their backs on that commercially focused dungheap and use the Internet, technology, artistry, skill, integrity, and friendship to help one another create the finest models ever.
Hi Russ, so yes that is correct, and that's why I'm here.
Sadly, all my compliments pertain to everybody but Nick. But we already knew that. Unfortunately we also know he is in the corner, listening and giggling at the attention. Is anyone among us a psychiatrist? Can somebody help poor Nick?
One day I really will build a model. Really. Well, probably.
ssuR
Quote from: finescalerr on August 21, 2013, 11:30:25 AM
Sadly, all my compliments pertain to everybody but Nick. But we already knew that. Unfortunately we also know he is in the corner, listening and giggling at the attention. Is anyone among us a psychiatrist? Can somebody help poor Nick?
One day I really will build a model. Really. Well, probably.
ssuR
I don't need to be patronised by you . I have a wife who is far better at it than you .
kciN
Quote from: shropshire lad on August 21, 2013, 01:55:53 PM
I don't need to be patronised by you . I have a wife who is far better at it than you .
kciN
Ka-tching! LOL. That is the winner line of the month! I need that on a T-shirt!
"Today's average hobbyist is 70 years old . . . He is more shallow, lazy, childish, clumsy, uncreative, and unintellectual . . . "
Sounds a great description of me.