"Catalog Of Philatelic Miscellany"

If you have one or more of the three parts of this catalog, you might be interested to know that an update is now available.

This update is free.

It is a 9Mb PDF document.

Just send me a message and I'll be happy to email it to you.

Jim

Good Afternoon Jim,

I was just introduced to your catalog today. Where can I get a copy of "Catalog of Philatelic Miscellany" in PDF format? Also, with the 3 parts - what do those three parts contain? Trying to understand if I would necessarily need all three, if they were sold separately or if they come together in one bundle.

Thank you.

Hi

Here is a link to where you can get the books:

http://www.ericjackson.com/rSearchr...cond=&page=6

They are physical books, three-hole punched (loose leaf). They are currently not available as pdf documents.

The website has a brief description of the books' contents.

They are available individually.

Jim

The update kit is finally available for sale or for free download.

Link here:

http://www.ericjackson.com/rDetails...2740&this=it

Jim

Having recently picked up all 3 volumes, I am having a blast reading through them! They really are great fun.

Thanks!

I'm glad that you like them.

More books are coming.

Jim

It's pretty flattering to an author to find that his books don't plummet in value in the second-hand marketplace.

Thanks!

Jim

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ts/ts31722.cfm

Any preview (hints) of subject matter?

Hi Tom,

Philatelic Exhibition Labels is the next book:



...unless I get distracted and start another book in the meantime, like I did with the narcotics book.

Jim

Hi Jim,
Have you considered moving away from expensive hardcopy catalogs which are out of date the minute they are printed and moving to an online publishing instead? Seems to me that a paid subscription site which gave members access to your catalogs via an online database would not only be more profitable but also allow you to keep them current and preserve them for future generations. Is not the one of the goals to distribute this information as widely as possible to attract others to these aspects of collecting and philately? Paying the incredibly high cost of hardcopy publishing just does not make sense to me unless the book run is huge. Small, costly hardcopy production runs only causes the books to be seen by far fewer eyes.
Don

Hi Don,

Thank you for your comments. A couple of responses:

The books are printed on three-hole punched paper, and are intended to be put into binders by the user. The books are brought up to date by update kits, which replaces or adds to the existing pages.

The books are printed on demand, in color. There are no "small, costly hardcopy production runs." I make a little on each copy sold, Eric makes a little beyond the material and shipping costs, and the buyer gets a physical book.

This being said, at some point I may head towards an online, searchable website for the material that is in the books, or for selling of the books themselves.

My main reluctance in doing so though, is that once a book becomes a readily available pdf document, which can be easily sent electronically throughout the world, the writer of the book has pretty much lost all future income in the sale of that book.

Plus, the time and effort involved in order to administer and maintain an e-commerce site would take away from me writing about stamps and/or collecting them.

Maybe if and when I retire, but right now I have a full time job.



Thanks

Jim

Call me old fashioned, but I love printed books. Of course, being in printing, I'm like NO! don't put me out of business!!!!!!

Jim,
Sorry, I do not buy into the 'they can copy a PDF' as a justification, anyone can copy a hardcopy book just as easily. I could buy a hardcopy of a book, scan it in a day, post the PDF on the dark web. Recording artists have the same issue with publishing their music. Their solution was to go online, not revert to selling only LP records.

Additionally you do not have publish in PDF format, you can simply provide paid subscribers access to an online database. Users could lookup and read one page at a time in a browser...no PDF needed. I suppose a user could share their password with another person, but there are ways to deal with that if desired.

But I understand, I was going to offer to help you but it sounds like you are not interested.
Don

1typesetter,
I love books too, books are great for those who want a library. Is the intent to support libraries or is the intent to share information in a way that grows interest and gets the info in front of the most eyes you can?
Don

Edit: I have a small library too. But my library is selfish, only I have access to it. There are 'one of' USA philatelic books sitting in the Royal library in England. What good are they doing there?

I guess the only answer is to offer both. Since the advent of digital on-demand printing there is no need for a huge investment in printing hundreds of books before they're sold. They can be printed one-off as they are sold.

Hi Don,

No, it's not that at all.

It's just that I know that my potential audience and/or buyer market to be very small. I am pretty sure that those collectors that are interested in the areas that I write about already have my books.

I know that I'll never see any of my books at Barnes and Noble, or on Amazon, for that matter (unless they're used maybe). They're just too specialized.

If I were to spend considerable effort in doing what you suggest, which are all good ideas for more mainstream material, then I'm fairly confident that, in the end, I'd get maybe five website visits a month, with most of them being accidental.

There's just not enough "new" stuff that is found in the areas that I deal with that warrants regular, consistent updating, whether in print or online. So a website would get quite stale.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm just being honest about how small the niche is for the things that I write about.

Jim