JJ Fedorowicz Publishing Titles (Suicide by Forum)

[Robert Edwards]

Hello all!

I am one of the Fedamigos of JJ Fedorowicz Publishing. I revisited the site yesterday when a search I was conducting listed Feldgrau as a possible source.

Long story short, I check out the forums (foren, I believe, for you Latin scholars). My hackles started to be raised concerning the large amount of negative comments our publishing company has received. Once I thought about it, however, I thought the best thing to do would be to open a discussion thread, where I can respond to some of the charges leveled against us. (And, I hope, inform you a bit about how the world rotates according to the perspective of a small publisher.)

I would like the discussion to be "fair and balanced," as my favorite network states, and welcome all comments/criticisms/witticisms/questions directed towards the "evil empire" of JJ Fedorowicz Publishing.

In the fine-print department: Any answers I post will fall squarely under the rubric of "my opinion only", especially if it is something I am not directly responsible for. I am also a lousy typist, so please forgive my typo-filled responses, since I will be doing this on a "catch-as-catch-can" basis. I will probably not respond to ad hominem attacks.

FYI: I generally run the web updates for the site, do all translations for the company and do the initial layout for books. I have been with JJF almost 7 years now. Prior to that, I was full-time with the Nevada Army National Guard and, before that, a full-time active-duty Army officer (armor). I was stationed in Germany twice and taught German at USMA (West Point).

Regards,
Bob Edwards
Business Partner
JJ Fedorowicz Publishing

[Tom Houlihan]

Bob, you're a brave man! However, I think you've brought up a very good suggestion. As I am slightly involved with another small publisher, The Aberjona Press, I have read some of the comments about JJF both as a reader and an "associate member" of the fraternity, so to speak. Without looking back, I'm sure I dropped a couple of comments of my own in those threads.

My biggest problem with the JJF books is price. I have very few pfennigs available for books period, and as much as I'd like a few of your titles, I just can't do it.

As for the actual books, naturally, since I can't afford any of them, I can't really comment. I got a chance to leaf through a copy of one on Peiper many months ago, though. The photos were quite good, but I don't know about text.

I understand many of the issues involved with the cost of a book like that, but I do have one question. Wouldn't it make a certain amount of sense to lower the prices a little bit, if it would sell more books? I mean, with no economics education, it would seem that selling 10 books each with a $20 profit doesn't make as much sense as selling 50 that only make a $10 profit.

For everyone else, let's keep this civilized, and on topic. Aside from learning more about JJF, we can all learn more about the business here.

[Pat Travers]

I have purchased books from JJF as well as Aberjona and am satisifed with my purchases from both companies.

As a collector/historian, I can say books are not cheap anymore. My last book from Bender (Waffenrock) was in excess of $100, the one before that 'Die Deutche Divisionen" also was $100+. Hey, would I like it if books were cheaper, yes but am not going to hold my breath.

This is a niche market, books are bound to be expensive/more expensive that a discount rack Ambrose title. I am not familiar Bob w/the bad comments you are speaking of but I'd chaulk them up to sour grapes.

You may be brave Bob but I am not sure how 'smart' bringing this up for people who might not even know you until this thread reads your detractors dragging your name through the mud.

Once it's out there, it's out there....

[Robert Edwards]

Tom,

Thanks for responding. I had a feeling the first question would be about pricing. I think a good starting point would be some of the following considerations:

• Small publishers generally only have limited print runs. We are always under 3000 and often under 2000. (As much as we would like think of our authors as the next "Tom Clancey's", the chance of pubishing a "breakout" book is pretty marginal.)

• In addition, small publishers do not have marketing and sales staffs.

• The "majors" (e.g., B&N here in the US) do not sit around with baited breath to snap up every new title. You have to go through an accepatance process and in this increasingly PC world of ours, that might not bode well for publishers such as ourselves. Even more importantly, the discounts demanded, as well as other perks (generally, not having to pay shipping fees), coupled with inordinately large returns for "damaged" books, make them a risky venture for a small press that has to make every title count.

• Price is determined by a number of factors above and beyond the cost of having a book printed. These include, but are not limited to author royalties, photo royalties, storage, shipment costs, graphics royalties, typesetting costs, printer set-up fees, etc. In our case, we believe we pay among the highest royalties in the business (from 6-10%) on the RETAIL price of the book. In addition, those weighty photo tomes evryone seems to like usually have photos with royalties attached (as much as the German government likes to distance itself from the Third Reich, it sure makes a bundle off of those who wish to use its photos! The BA charges more than 10 Euros for each photos used; the ECPA close to $100 USD! Multiply that by several hundred in the case of a photo album.)

• Retailers generally get a 40%+ discount; distributors 55%+.

• Not all titles are "sellers". We have several titles on our shelves that are 15 years old (and we still have nearly 1/3 of the original print run).

To account for the above (and other factors), we use a pricing rule of thumb: retail equals 4x cost of production. For example, if a photo book costs $100, it means that it costs us $25 to put the book out. A book will run about $10 to print, the author will get $10 for each book sold and the photo costs will be applied on a prorated basis and drive the costs up aother couple of dollars.

Based on the above, we have to sell about half a print run before we even start to turn a profit. If we're lucky, that occurs in the first two years a book is out.

Hope this helps somewhat.

Regards,
Bob Edwards

[michael kenny]

No problems with the books but some of the photos reproduced in some of your books are 'murky' to say the least. Why is this so? Having seen woderfully clear prints of the very same illustrations in other books makes me wonder if it is a cost saving. Surely clear or blurred would cost the same? Some titles have wonderfully clear photos but others......... I am talking about clear BA prints rather than Vet. snapshots here.
Fey's 'Armour Battles Of The Waffen SS 1943-45' seems a good example of bad reproduction. As the book has some rare views in it do you keep a note of the photo numbers that you pay royalties on?
The Munch, Jaugitz andSchneider titles have very clear photos but the individual Tiger Unit histories suffer badly from poor reproductions.
Although this could be taken as a 'complaint' I see it more as a request for 'more and better', the books themselves are excellent.
Heimdal used to have beatifully clear photos in all their books as well but I notice that recent titles are not to the same high standards as the old titles.
Is it an industry thing?


PS.
I have had to get a second copy of Agte's Wittmann book because my first copy is starting to fall apart because of 'overuse'!

[Robert Edwards]

Michael,

Not to make excuses, but photos are generally supplied by authors. If we find photos deficient (and know there is a better print out there), we will try to get it. As far as I know, the late Will Fey supplied all the photos for his book (which borrowed from several titles in German he had written). Back in those days, typesetting was done by others and having all of the images "Photoshopped" probably would not have been financially possible. Hard to say, but we're talking about ancient history as far as book titles are concerned.

The problem with ALL of the unit histories for the schwere Panzer-Abteilungen is that we have had to make do with whatever was supplied to us.

In the case of sPA 507, we had to scan directly from the poorly reproduced images in the original German title. There were few other photos available to use to supplemtn those; those provided, I think, turned out quite well in the final product. The same was also true of sPA 508 and sPA 503. While some of the images may have been BA or superior prints to start out, we often have to work with third or fourth generation prints. sPA 503 was the first book we did "all on our own" by the way (typesetting, layout and photo scanning), so I admit a lot of things could have been better. That said, it is still one of the best vet-produced unit histories out there.

With regard to Heimdal, it has fairly unrestricted access to ECPA images at steeply discounted rates (a "sweetheart" deal, I understand, because they are a French publisher). Those images, by rights, should also be BA images (which charges far less for usage), but I guess the old adage is true: "to the victor goes the spoils". (I guess not to the enablers of that victory, however!)

Hope this (partially) answers your question.

Regards,
Bob Edwards

PS Not all archives charge for their images, as long as there is attribution (e.g., the US National Archives and the Canadian Archives, to cite two.) Unfortunately, given the nature of our books, we are forced to rely on archives that can and do charge.)

[michael kenny]

I see Schneider's Das Reich book is out next month. Will his'Tigers 'Normandy' volume be translated as well?

[Robert Edwards]

Michael,

We did not option that title, which is to say it could appear in English, but we are unlikely to do it.

Regards,
Bob Edwards

PS For the "purists", our version of his book on the Tigers of the 8./SS-Panzer-Regiment 2, schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 102 and schwere Panzer-Abteilung 502 -- short title: "Das Reich" Tigers -- will be formatted slightly differently.

The German edition is essentially in a trade-paperback format (6x9), while we have opted for our larger format for this -- 9x12 -- in keeping with our other Tiger histories. We have added some color artwork and resized some of the photos in keeping with the new format. Virtually all of the original photos, all of the maps and all of the original text are present. If I am permitted a shameless plug, more information can be found at http://www.jjfpub.mb.ca/newstuff.htm.

[michael kenny]

It was interesting to see Agte's Wittmann book in the 3 languages. German, French and English. All were slightly different from each other and it was strange to see the English version climb so high in second hand value when the French and German volumes were still on sale at a fraction of this price.

PS
What happens to the 'damaged' returns? Is the damage caused by browsers in the shops?

[Commissar D, the Evil]

Ah, the Commissar is pleased to learn that someone actually reads his rants.....

Hi Bob, my central point was the re-issue of several JJF topics inpaperback at much lower prices. My gripe was that this action kind of made me lose faith in what I saw as the continuing value of JJF books. As I am now disposing of many of my books, I think my concern was legitimate (however vehemently expressed ).

Just as a note, I have never doubted that the decision to sell the rights of say Otto Carius to Stackpole was anything other than a business decision on the part of your firm. And I have never, ever said anything negative about JJF's contribution to our hobby. But, us little guys on the ground felt the pain when some of your titles became available much cheaper than what we originally paid for them.

(P.S., You--personally--did a wonderful job translating portions of the 78 Sturm's history for me. And I wanted to publicly thank you as well as praise your ability to translate German Unit histories to my fellow Feldgrauians.)

Very Best,
~D, the EviL

[krichter33]

I have no real problem with JJF. I buy many of your books. I just recently bought Infanterie Aces 2, and European Volunteers. The only thing I would like to see are more first person accounts, or more biographies. There are countless of these books in German that haven't been translated yet, and probably never will. (Of course I should learn German) Yet, most of the time all I see are more tank books. And that's all. I know they sell well, but I was hoping in the future that you might be able to get the rights to translate and publish more memoirs. Also books about Knight's Cross holders translated to English would be fine as well. Thanks.

PS... Hot Motors, Cold Feet is a masterpiece. It is the type of memoir I'm talking about. I can't wait till you publish part two of it, yet, it'll probably be a while.

[Andy H]

Hi Bob

Just to concur with David, that a gripe regarding the tie-in with Stackpole is my main concern.

I understand that its business, but I would like some understanding as to what arrangement in terms of time lapse between JJF publishing a title (at the cost expressed by others) to it then being re-released via Stackpole?

Regards

[Steve Howard]

Hi Bob,

I've been very happy with the books I've bought from JJF. I've purchased nearly all the titles you've published over the years and I expect to have to pay a bit more because of the quality so I don't have a problem with the price. I guess the only issue I have is I'm still waiting for the other Das Reich volumes and it's been a while.

I assume that the already published Das Reich volumes haven't sold well, whereas the various tiger books have, so you've put them on hold until you sell more of the published volumes, which is understandable. I'd still like to know if they're ever going to be published though. I like the unit histories generally and especially the 653/654 books.

cheers

Steve H.

[Robert Edwards]

Ah, the Commissar is pleased to learn that someone actually reads his rants.....

Yes, someone reads them and still has a tear-stained pillow!

To address some of your points…
1. Small publishers are in a very competitive business. In order to ensure a "revenue stream" to continue to print new books, sometimes difficult decisions have to be made concerning backplist. Most publishers start remaindering after about 18 months to two years. We had many of those titles for almost a decade. In some cases, the books had been out of print for years. Moreover, we decided that there was room for a licensed edition of some of our titles in the public marketplace. if you look at second-hand sales, even titles that have been licensed to Stackpole have maintained their basic value and, in many cases, have appreciated. The Stackpole editions are different than ours: less expensive paper, poorer photo reproduction, smaller color profiles and redaction of ALL of the photos that have any kind of royalty attached to them. Ask anyone who has TIC I to do a side-by-side comparison with the Stackpole version. I'm not knocking Stackpole, but their editions are intended for mass-market appeal where price is a major concern. Our books are for those who are "initiated", perhaps "addicted".

To allay your fears somewhat, we are not willy-nilly licensing all of our titles to Stackpole. This has been a selective process to see what the best mix would be.

You'll also notice that each licensed editionof our books has a "go to" web address for our corporate site. It was our hope that those who bought the Stackpole edition would develop an appetite for this sort of title and start going to the "source". The more people who buy our original titles, the more we can offer them at a lower price. Pricing is a function of volume, not, as many of you seem to think, a function of greed.

Regards,
Bob Edwards

PS Thanks on the compliments regarding the personal translation I did for you. Translation is more of an "art" than a "science" and perhaps I'll digress off in that direction one of these days to explain how I translate for the company.

[Robert Edwards]

What happens to the 'damaged' returns? Is the damage caused by browsers in the shops?

Michael,
We rarely get damaged books back since many booksellers can continue to sell them. Occasionally, we will get them. We keep them in a corner of the office. They will be sold at a discount. If you want to inquire, you can contact our office manager, Sharron, directly and ask what might be available and what the price would be: [email protected]. (Although to be fair to her, it wold be easier to tell her what titles you want and she can check to see whether any are there.)
Regards,
Bob Edwards