Re: The Perfect UFO Book

On December 31, "Branko [via SHADO]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> UFO is probably something different to all of us, since we perceive it differently. That aside,
> all the books published so far lack the air and the atmosphere of the series. You would
> agree it is a big part of the series' appeal. I think it would be awesome to be able to project
> that aspect.

Yes, it would, although then that might be mostly a visual book, wouldn't it?  Lots of
graphics & photos, and not as wordy as the Bentley book.

> Chris Drake's book on UFO and Space: 1999 was an interesting concept, presenting
> the people and events as real, but then arbitrarily inventing a lot of data and, as such,
> ultimately failed.

Yes, I really don't like it when people just make things up about the characters,
hardware, etc.  I'm personally more of a fan of hearing from the people who
participated in the making of the show, and what they remember (which
again, is rather difficult at this point)

> Also, I presume you would agree that, wonderful as it is, Chris Bentley's book, lack
> of colour photos aside, wasn't perfect nor ultimate. And don't let me start on Japanese books...
> I have all but Jaguar, and you parted with it without much of a regret, as I recall).

The Bentley book just seems like the obvious choice in the best book to
date.  But yes, I did sell my Jaguar book, but even when I was just glancing
through my UFO book collection, I felt that I probably should not have sold it...

> Perhaps we should transfer this discussion to more private ground and really try
> to come up with a concept that would work. It doesn't have to be the assignment
> to do perfect or ultimate UFO book, but then again, why not? :)

Heh, I can already see that you are more serious about this book than I
am!  My "day job" keeps me too busy as it is, and I don't think anyone is going
to be able to earn a living writing a book like this!

But yes, private or public -- I just thought someone might have some ideas
of what would make "A Better Book on UFO".

Marc

On December 31, "Marc Martin [via SHADO]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> But yes, private or public -- I just thought someone might have some ideas
> of what would make "A Better Book on UFO".

Of course, I'd just go some book stores and see what some other TV/film books
look like, to see what sorts of things seem to work/not work, and how that
might be applied to a UFO book.

Marc

Yes, it would, although then that might be mostly a visual book, wouldn't it?  Lots of
graphics & photos, and not as wordy as the Bentley book.

The content could be balanced between visual and textual, and still keep the spirit, if conceived and done properly.

Yes, I really don't like it when people just make things up about the characters,
hardware, etc.  I'm personally more of a fan of hearing from the people who
participated in the making of the show, and what they remember (which
again, is rather difficult at this point)

This is also a question of a concept, and it should be conceived well, knowing exactly what is wanted to be achieved. A lot of things can be combined, and I think a book like this calls for a very inovative format. If anybody should participate in it, it should be you, no questions asked.

The Bentley book just seems like the obvious choice in the best book to
date.  But yes, I did sell my Jaguar book, but even when I was just glancing
through my UFO book collection, I felt that I probably should not have sold it...

I agree about the merrits of the Bentley book, emphasizing "TO DATE" part :)

On January  1, "Branko [via SHADO]" <ml-node+s965972n4022762h9@n3.nabble.com> wrote:
> I am more than serious and I DO intend on persuading you to take a part in it for years (if not decades).

Ah, well if you are talking about YEARS, then no problem.  No need to wait decades... :-)

> And, as i said, there could be ways to do that, even with copyright nightmares it would create.

I guess I don't know what the copyright nightmares might be, having never been
involved in such a project.  I figured that if the copyright owners are onboard, and there
is a publisher who is in agreement with what we are doing, then there shouldn't
be any nightmares?  

I don't think the "best" book on UFO could be without the copyright holders
supporting what we are doing.

Marc

On January  1, "Branko [via SHADO]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> It would take a cunning agent to persuade them, then :)
> And probably not without book having already been written and designed. And then, you
> would already have the best book in one form without them :)

Yes, I don't know how that would work, exactly.  I know that my wife recently wrote her first
novel, and she had the thing finished before she started presenting it to agents & publishers.
For this kind of thing, I'd think it'd be helpful to have the copyright holders blessing early
on.

But my immediate concerns are (and have been) finding time to update/revamp ufoseries.com,
as I still have a lot of stuff that nobody has seen (and probably wouldn't end up in such a book
anyway).  But as of late, that has only consisted of the "weekly new publicity shot":

  http://ufoseries.com/publicity/

  :-)

Marc

On January  1, "Branko [via SHADO]" <[hidden email]> wrote:
> These are wonderful!

Thanks!  I find that the way I am doing this seems to work well -- post on
my UFO facebook page, where people can "Like" it, make comments,
and share it with their friends, and then in parallel put them on ufoseries.com,
where they can be found via Google searches, and are also available to
those not on Facebook.

But of course there is more to UFO than just publicity photos, so at
some point I should be working on that too...

But ultimately, the website is (and always been) a collection of "stuff".
A book of course needs to tell a story...

Marc