If anyone is interested, "The Gainesville Midland and Her Sister Short Lines" status is as follows:
It covers the Gainesville Jefferson and Southern (ng 1872-1904), Gainesville Midland (ng 1904-1908, dual 1908-1915, sg post 1915), Walton (Monroe and Great Walton), Greene County (Bostwick), Gainesville & Northwestern (Chestatee and loggers around Robertston/Helen that were reported as 42" gauge).
I just finished putting the rough draft of the book together and printing it out on my slow inkjet. There is stuff I want to add and I need permissinons to print some maps etc etc. However assuming I get the permissions, the book has about 199 pages (on standard 8.5x11 printer paper). With 200 photos, timetables or maps as insets. The book will have about 23,000 words. The appendicies with lots of photos and maps will add more words for the captions (in the last sprint to get it ready to print out, I assembled about 35 maps without captions).
I want to add more photos of how the railroads currently look and a few more minor items. One chapter on the Greene County Railroad needs some additional information added in. However, the book is fairly well defined now.
I am sort of shooting for the $30-$35 retail price range with my book. Maybe it will need to be higher or lower depending on the costs of the photos (I am self publishing), but that is the target I am working towards.
I also am planning on submitting this to the publisher in early January 2005. If it is ready sooner, great, I'll do it.
I would like a target release of mid-April and get a table at Railroad Days in Lula Georgia to offer the book. Railroad Days is typically the second weekend (Fri-Sun) in May but it has been the first weekend already.
The book will be 6x9 size and that will push the number of pages to about 300-350. I am considering a hardback but right now intend a soft back only. I may end up with so much (I think a hard back is limited to 280 pages or so with my publisher - I may also be confusing this with the limit on the number of color pages). So I may make it two volumes at $15-20 range.
If you have any suggestions, I am always listening. If you have info on the 42" gauge loggers, I am very interested.
Doug vV
