Possible book project

[Brian Dudley]

I am putting this question out as a feeler.

I am thinking of writing and publishing a book or manual on Parker service. I mean something that is totally comprehensive and covers every type and variation of Parker action with tear down instructions and parts diagrams.

What are members thoughts on the demand for such a thing? Would you buy it?

I have done some looking around and purchasing of some other materials on the market and I find that none are all that good.

[Angel Cruz]

That's a great idea Brian. I would buy and keep it right next to my TPS set.

[Rick Losey]

absolutely - hope you have documented your hammer 20 and heavy duck projects

there are a couple chapters right there

[charlie cleveland]

i would be interested in one of your books if published...charlie

[Bob Hardison]

Brian: Seeing your posts and helpful tutorials along with inputs in the DGJ leads me to believe it would be popular with us vintage sxs and especially Parker guys. I would purchase it but have no idea if it would be profitable or even break even for you. How about some of us contributing to the cost of publishing with refunds if successful? I would be willing to invest $100.00 for this project. The $100.00 could go toward purchase of the book. It could be the next best thing to TPS. Bob

[Virginia Hessler]

Brian
I would buy that in a minute.

[Brian Dudley]

I have to start compiling material to get an idea of the size of the project and then look into publishing and printing costs to see what I am looking at.

[Greg Phillips]

I will buy one for the reference for sure. Best wishes

[Ray Masciarella]

Brian

I just published a book on Lynch turkey calls. I'm not in the book writing or publishing business but I can give you some insight. I learned a lot in the process. It is not that hard to do.

The proceeds of my book are going to a charity supporting disabled vets. Go to lynchturkeycallbook.com or huntforvets.com and you'll find it. You shouldn't have a problem selling enough books to cover publishing costs. Whether it is profitable depends on what your time is worth. The key is the deliver it to the publisher print ready. That saves a lot of money. It is a time consuming project tho.

Ray

[john pulis]

This is a great project and I think you will have problem finding a publisher.

[Bruce Day]

You would have to self publish and you would need to use an on demand print method.... you print the copies when you have firm, paid orders.

You might get 100 to 200 orders at around $40 to $50 each, possibly more depending on illustrations. You'll find lots of expressed interest that disappears when it comes time for writing a check for the real cost of what it takes.

[Pat Dugan]

This project might be subsidized by PGCA..
The BODS of PGCA give NRA $ 10,000 from time to time and I think you book would merit some help. It sounds like a super project that would benefit all Parker people.

[Robert Rambler]

Brian, I would be willing to be a prepaid sponsor for a signed and numbered copy when the first edition is finally printed. This is how Ed Muderlak started the "Shooting Flying" book. I think this would be a great idea, easy for me to say with all the work resting on your shoulders.:)

[walt brown]

I would buy it especially if there was a chapter on restoration and wa list of craftsman like yourself who do resatoration

[Eric Eis]

I think what has been said above is true, Bruce brings up a good point about when it's time to send the money some people disappear, but prepaid orders would be something to look into and yes some kind of support from the PGCA whether it be advertising it in the PP or ordered through the Parker store would both be no cost to the PGCA and a great tool that has been needed for a long time. And yes I would buy the book also.

[James L. Martin]

Brian, Sounds good to me , I would buy one. Hope it works out and happens.

[Ray Masciarella]

Print on demand is an option, as pointed out by Bruce. I choose not to go that way for several reasons. It works great for inexpensive paperbacks but cuts into profit margin because it's ultimately more expensive. You have to set it up with the right company and they get their cut plus the printing cost.

Printing cost to fairly simple. The items that affect price the most are the cover, quality of paper, the number of books printed and the number of pages. Some printers charge on increments of 16 pages. It has to do with their printing method. I stayed away from that because it's a pain in the layout and why pay for blank pages.

My book has a leather cover. Very expensive. Going with a standard hard cover and dust jacket is much cheaper but the dust jacket is a pain in the neck so I didn't go that way. Of course, going with a standard soft cover is even cheaper. I think my printer calls it's a "Perfect Cover" or something like that. Paper weight is also a factor. Photo quality also influences price but overall your paper selection doesn't increase/defeated price that much.

Like my book, yours would have a very specific market. Amazon would probably not be the best place to sell. My book is a limited edition of 500. Once the collector community learned it was out there, 100 books were sold in a matter of weeks. Once all of the diehards get their copies, sales do slow down.


If you can do all of the work and deliver it print ready on a high quality flash drive, the printing cost is not that bad. Most folks I talked to who had published these types of books always just paid to have a certain number printed and avoided the on demand method.

The biggest cost is your time. It took me two years to do it working on and off. I figured my time was free anyway. That said, I don't think you'll change careers after doing it. I don't think there is a lot of money in the book writing business generally.

[Bill Murphy]

Brian, I once attended a gun auction that had a full color catalog, plastic spiral bound. They probably got it printed in weeks. I still have the catalog and I want one like it to sell my guns some day. I would recommend spiral bound for a book like you are planning.

[Brian Dudley]

What Bruce said is kind of what I was thinking.

I figure that I would sell a good amount at first and then not so many after that. I could have it sit out on Amazon or Ebay and maybe sell a couple a year after the initial flood of orders.

I am leaning towards a spiral bound or paperback as being the best options for it iven what it will be.

I do not want to go the on CD only route as it is chinsy and too prone to copying.

[Bruce Day]

Ed Muderlak would ask people whether they might be interested in a certain subject book, he would get many positive responses, so he would have printed what he considered that the demand was. He financed the printing himself and would take delivery of the number.

There would be initial sales at less than the number of people who said they were interested and would buy. He would then have boxes filling his garage and would do promotional offers and finally, about anything to get them gone.

I like these books, I buy them, but those who write them and finance them repeatedly report that there are many who talk a lot about how they would buy, are very interested, then don't seem to be able to pay for the book when it comes out. They want it, but they want something for nothing.

[Eric Eis]

What Bruce said is kind of what I was thinking.

I figure that I would sell a good amount at first and then not so many after that. I could have it sit out on Amazon or Ebay and maybe sell a couple a year after the initial flood of orders.

I am leaning towards a spiral bound or paperback as being the best options for it iven what it will be.

I do not want to go the on CD only route as it is chinsy and too prone to copying.

Since it's a how to book I think a spiral bound book would be better as the page would stay open to the section the person needed a paperback always wants to close it's cover. Agree with the CD too.

[Steve Havener]

Brian in order to keep publishing cost at a minimum you might consider making it available as an e-book as well as a conventional print version. This would also make it possible to imbed videos which would be quite innovative.

[John Dallas]

I think Bill's idea of a spiral binding makes a lot of sense. You can open it up to the correct page and put it on your workbench while you are following Brian's crystal clear directions.

[Todd Kaltenbach]

Brian,
I'll buy at least one copy and maybe more to give as gifts. I know that lots of collectors have wanted something like this for a long time.

[Mills Morrison]

I would buy it in a heartbeat. Limited edition and regular

[Bob Hayes]

Brian
I am new to this expensive and addicting pass time but I would take two copies for sure.And I am sure that with your talent for explaining things you might be surprised how fast and many might sell.
I would suggest a chapter on condition(case color,engraving).I think your insight would be helpful on these.
Look forward to the book.

[FRANK HALSEY]

I will take at least one. It sounds like what I need. Thanks,

[rufus thames]

Woundering if it could include proper tooling and places to purchase hard to find itims.

[Mike Franzen]

Brian I will buy one. You might talk to Daniel Cote from DGJ and get him to mentor you.

[Frank Childrey]

Brian: I wholeheartedly support your proposed book project, and I would certainly buy one. It also occurs to me that perhaps you should approach Blue Book Publications with your idea. After all, this publishing house issued the Parker Gun Identification & Serialization, so the precedent is certainly there. Anyway, it seems to me its worth a try. Best of luck with the project. Frank

[Mills Morrison]

I have used blurb.com for some personal projects and they are good. The advantage there is you don't have to order the copies. The customers order directly from Blurb (and you can mark up the price to get a cut).

[James L. Martin]

Brian, You might also include chapters on other double guns such as Win 21, Fox , etc. Most of us do go over to the dark side for a short while and info on those guns would be nice to have.

[John Taddeo]

As they say "nothing ventured nothing gained" , sounds like it would be a great addition to the gun bench..

[Ronald Moore]

Brian : why not get the Parker Gun Collectors involved, they could sell the books and make a few dollars to boot. I think you could probably sell 300 to 500 easily to our members. Keep the cost as low as you can and you could sell book for under 35.00, no fancy printing and binding. The book would be a useful tool for all of us. People pay 300.00 fpr Parker story and do not even blink.

Ron Moore

[Bill Murphy]

Brian, the spiral catalogs I mentioned are from Conestoga Auctions in Manheim, PA, 2002 and 2005. There is not a publishing company mentioned but you may be able to get information from the auction house. They are 8 1/2X11 inches, glossy pages, card stock glossy covers. One is all black and white and 40 pages, the other is color and about 45 pages, 80 and 90 counting both sides. They are very classy with thick plastic spiral binding.

[Billy Gross]

Brian - I think this a great idea, and I would support the project with an advance sale. The real cost of this effort would be your time. You might want to do a little business plan and project your expenses and revenue to see if it works economically. I second the idea of consulting with Mr Cote', and perhaps getting some money from PGCA. You may also want to enlist some collaborators.

[Dave Noreen]

I was barely out of my teens when I came to the realization that I shouldn't go inside these things!! More than happy to pay those who are qualified to do it for me. Such a book of no interest here.

[Craig Larter]

I agree with Dave. I would much rather pay a craftsman to work on my guns.

[Bill Murphy]

I still buy the books, regardless of whether I will attempt the repairs explained in the book.

[John Campbell]

The previous few posts present a worthy point for consideration regarding any such "how to" manual. And it involves human nature.

On one hand, it would seem generous and helpful to provide the novice with a certain level of tuition on the proper disassembly procedures required. Better to "do it right" than make a muck of it is the easy rationale.

On the other hand, it is a well-worn phrase that "just enough knowledge to be dangerous" can indeed be - dangerous. Especially when a garage gunsmith reaches the FUBAR stage on a nice Parker's takedown.

Then the sorry bits must be sent off to some professional to be put right again. If they can be.

Finally, the Parker hammerless is not a boxlock for the neophyte to be learning anything on. It's more like asking a local tech at the Goodyear garage to tune your Ferrari.

Just my opinion.

[Bill Murphy]

I agree. The removal of the sear springs to get the buttstock off the gun is fairly simple. Getting the sear springs to stay in place while you reinstall the buttstock is a ridiculous endeavor for someone that doesn't do it every day.

[Brian Dudley]

John and others commenting on working on Parkers. My intent is not to train any reader on the service and repair of Parkers, but to only put together a complete and comprehensive set of take down and assembly instructions as well as complete parts diagrams and lists for all types of Parker actions. The other subject I would address is interchangeability of parts between frame sizes of guns.

Some of this information is out there, but lacking greatly as I see it and not all in one place.

I have no intention of making this any sort of restoration or collectors guide manual or anything of the sort.

[Craig Larter]

Brian: I believe a very comprehensive guide to evaluating a Parker would be very helpful to the Parker collector and shooter. A mechanical and functionality check list that is illustrated. This would make a great chapter in your book. Subjects like how to check on face, ejector timing, measuring a barrel properly--all illustrated. Craig

[Robert Delk]

I'm down for at least 5 copies. I bought 10 sets of Michael Petrov's 2 volume work on custom rifles and am glad I did. I plan on giving them away to needy collectors as I meet them.I usually buy multiple copies of any really good book on subjects that interest me and have not regretted it yet.I'm probably stuck with the rest of my Parker posters that I had made but hope you have better luck with your book.Good job.

[Brian R Skeoch]

Brian, you bet. You might visit with Steven Dodd Hughes, he has been down this road.

[Jeff Davis]

The previous few posts present a worthy point for consideration regarding any such "how to" manual. And it involves human nature.

On one hand, it would seem generous and helpful to provide the novice with a certain level of tuition on the proper disassembly procedures required. Better to "do it right" than make a muck of it is the easy rationale.

On the other hand, it is a well-worn phrase that "just enough knowledge to be dangerous" can indeed be - dangerous. Especially when a garage gunsmith reaches the FUBAR stage on a nice Parker's takedown.

Then the sorry bits must be sent off to some professional to be put right again. If they can be.


Finally, the Parker hammerless is not a boxlock for the neophyte to be learning anything on. It's more like asking a local tech at the Goodyear garage to tune your Ferrari.

Just my opinion.

I'd have to disagree with this- I followed Brian's disassembly procedures and found it very simple to completely disassemble and reassemble these Parkers. Granted I was working on those guns that I bought that were in rough shape, screws were already buggered up and the stocks on both were in terrible condition so I had few worries about cosmetic damage. Now that I've done it a couple times i would have few worries completely stripping any parker no matter how nice. I would consider a book like this valuable. For certain folks who like to work on their own guns, at least the simple stuff like totally stripping to lubricate, having a very clear takedown guide in print could be helpful.

The only downside I'd see is that really the only people who would buy it are those who are completely invested in collecting Parker's. I don't know how many copies of the parker story were sold, but I'd imagine a book like this would probably never eclipse those numbers by any great degree, though a lesser cost would probably drive more sales. If you consider it a labor of love, hoping to cover your costs and maybe some of your time I'd say go for it.

[Bob Jurewicz]

I guess I would have to be considered one of those "garage gunsmiths". I have from time to time gone into a few of my Parkers and other brands for various reasons. I would love such a manual!!!
I would only suggest that it not only include takedown and assembly guide but a gunsmith chapter on tools, proper tools, proper tool utilization etc. to help prevent the butchery we often see on vintage firearms.
Bob Jurewicz

[edgarspencer]

While I admire and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit of sharing one's knowledge in a publication, I don't agree with the suggestion several have made regarding the PGCA underwriting some of the expense. Doing so has the appearance of condoning amateur gunsmithing. There is a fuzzy area of someone working on his own firearm, and working on a "friend's gun". I can see the disclaimers already.

Some PGCA board members have stated their own personal experiences with one professional gunsmith or another, and I think in those instances, it's apparent that's what they were; personal experiences, and not Association endorsements.

The assumed safety, and reliability of a potential purchase I might be considering would have the added factor thrown in: Never been touched, worked on by only skilled gunsmiths, using proper tools, techniques and materials, and now, worked on by shade tree mechanics.

Lastly, I am reasonably confident that the reserve of funds available to the board is not limitless, and many worthy expenses have to be weighed annually, many of which get tabled.

[Brian Dudley]

If I go forward with this project, It will be an independent endeavor with no partnership expected or sought from the PGCA.

[William Shirah]

I will purchase also!

Wes

[dwight pugh]

Brian , put me down too.......
like someone mentioned earlier...i would throw a few hundred in to help it get published.
if it does good , great , money back , if not , sign me a copy & i'll have a collectors item.

ddp

[Dean Freeman]

Whether or not you think people should be tinkering with their guns isn't the point here. Brian's book idea would be a fantastic compendium of knowledge that we would all be the better for having access to. Bodgesmiths, garage gunsmith's, and the like will screw up what they're going to screw up, whether there's a book to guide them along or not. For those who are competent enough to use such a book, or for those who would simply have it for their gun library, we'll all be the better for having such a resource available.
I want three... One to replace the original after its pages are so smudged and torn that it is no longer of use, and the third to sell so I can pay for the first two, once it becomes a collector and you can't find it any more!

[Brian Dudley]

Well, this book project is going to take me a while to put together, but I am working on it.

I wanted to share what I am doing as a starting point.

What I wish to be able to do with this book is have a be all/end all when it comes to parts diagrams/lists for Parker guns. I would hope that one day it could become the standard that people refer to by way of diagrams. I plan on doing this by making sure that EVERYTHING is in one place, simply shown and easy to follow. Yet, be comprehensive in covering every variation of part over the whole span of manufacturing. I plan to cover all action types (hammer/hammerless/SBT), ejector system and likely single triggers as well.

The first thing I am having to do in this process is
create electronic vector drawings of each individual part. Then the parts can be arranged how I wish to show them in the diagrams.

Here is an example of my vector drawings for a hammerless trigger plate assembly (early style).

38269

[Rick Losey]

ambitious, can't wait to see where you go with it

[charlie cleveland]

me too....charlie

[Andy Humphriss]

Brian I would buy your book. It would be a great companion to the tps set. Good luck and let us know how it is progressing.

[Bill Murphy]

I have damaged the first two Parkers I tried to disassemble, one about forty years ago, one about ten years ago. The sear removal and replacement needs to be explained better than it has been explained in the past, especially to Parker owners with just two hands.

[chris dawe]

I like how you you put your name and date on the diagram ,the "do not duplicate" is a nice touch too....without something like that anyone could use it without your permission ,at least with that on there even if it was copied people would know it was you.

[Rick Losey]

Brian puts a lot of work into his efforts, and had a photo copied once from here before.

[chris dawe]

Mr.Losey ,I think you may have misunderstood me ...my remark wasn't a result of me thinking his diagram should have been devoid of ownership ,I have no need to reproduce his work for the benefit of myself ,I have no trouble picking a Parker or any other gun apart or putting them back together ,been doing it since I was 15...it was plain and simple a statement saying there's a right and wrong way to do things ,either protect your efforts or don't ...but if you don't ,don't ever believe another's good conscience will stop them from using your efforts without permission or implied recognition .

Other than that read into it what you will,I will truthfully say however and rest assured no gall intended ...I wonder why someone like Mr. DelGrego or Mr.Bachelder haven't offered something like this,their knowledge of all things Parker must be staggering.

[Dean Romig]

Anything that goes on the Internet, be it pictures or anything else, can be considered 'public property'. I have hundreds of images in my personal files that I have copied from the Internet. However, if I re-posted them on the Internet I would give credit to their originator.

[Brian Dudley]

In the above diagram, I am simply progecting my own interests on something that I designed and will eventually be part of a published/copywrited work.
Photos are one thing, this is something different.

[chris dawe]

However, if I re-posted them on the Internet I would give credit to their originator.

Of that I honestly have no doubt Dean.

I know what your saying Brian .
This is a Pic I pulled off the net ,I'm going to have it made into a sign for my pickup...it's not my work ,it's the work of some guy in Michigan I think ,but I like the picture and I make stocks too and nobody up here will know the diff, so who cares right ?

[Rick Losey]

Mr.Losey ,I think you may have misunderstood me ...my remark wasn't a result of me thinking his diagram should have been devoid of ownership ,I have no need to reproduce his work for the benefit of myself ,I have no trouble picking a Parker or any other gun apart or putting them back together ,been doing it since I was 15...it was plain and simple a statement saying there's a right and wrong way to do things ,either protect your efforts or don't ...but if you don't ,don't ever believe another's good conscience will stop them from using your efforts without permission or implied recognition .

Other than that read into it what you will,I will truthfully say however and rest assured no gall intended ...I wonder why someone like Mr. DelGrego or Mr.Bachelder haven't offered something like this,their knowledge of all things Parker must be staggering.

wow

ok fine

[Thomas L. Benson Sr.]

Brian: I would gladly buy one and have used your disassembly for my underlifter and was quite easy to use with good instruction and everything turned out great. I would guess that the underlifter is probably one of the easy ones to do. Thomas

[John Powers]

I have bought and still own many disassemble manuals over the last 30 years of gunsmithing. A few recommendations below:

1. Have a book that lays flat
2. Photos are the key, because not everyone will read the instructions.
3. Be through in the disassembly. The NRA books are great, but stop way before ever fully disassembling the firearm.
4. Assembly is just as important. So many books cover disassembly, but not assembly. There are tricks of the trade with assembly firearms, cover them.
5. Part list with actually part numbers that were assigned is beneficial for those that just might have factory parts.
6. Page quality is important, but expensive. Bond paper is least expensive, but glossy is cleanable when you grease smear the page.

Good luck and these are just my suggestions an opinions, I would buy one either way. Thanks