Author
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Topic: Live TV From the Moon: the Development of the Apollo TV Camera
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Dwight Member Posts: 576 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
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posted 11-26-2006 09:25 PM
Well what have I got to lose? A main publishers of riveting classics like "The AGC Computer" and the complete minutes of every single second of "Earth to Moon transmissions" has deemed "Live TV From the Moon: the Development of the Apollo TV Camera" as a subject of limted audience and thus not worthy of publication. Yep go figure. Ya know, when a big space book publisher employee, despite the New York suit indifference to something that 1. Has no direct competition, and 2. has never been written about, tells you your rejected work is worthy of publication, ya gotta reckon youre on to something good.I have always supported rebel causes. How about you? And so I ask all you CSers who always wanted to know how that TV signal of Neil stepping on the lunar surface made it to your living room to raise your hands in the most simple of market research surveys. I mean how boring could a book be that interviews such players in the TV coverage of Apollo like Stan Lebar, Sam Russel, Ed Fendell, the starring moonwalkers, the tracking station engineers, the TV execs who decided to run unprecendented live coverage from space, and finally the ordinary Joes who watched the end product? Yep you guessed it: I RECKON ITS WORTH RELEASING. How about you? Come on. Here is your chance to support a little guy struggling against the apparent might of a supoposed group of publishers who want to further scientific knowledge. Hmmmm I beg to differ. Furthering the gold lining of pockets me says. What do I know anyway, what having worked in TV since 1983, talking directly to the pioneers of the Apollo TV cameras rah de rah de rah. Ya know, I've only released one other book, and that was about Brian Wilson and the missing Smile album, so I guess enter at your own peril. After 4 years of research and unwavering support from the guys and girls that worked their backsides off to let you watch that historic event, I implore you say yes you'd buy that book from me. PS Did you know about the plans to send the LRV 500km remotely via the RCA camera to later Apollo landings sites? Nope, well there you go, just some of the lacklustre material some near sighted publisher deemed unsuitable for publication. Show your support...I will probably publish this on my own, and please simultaenously pretend you dont read the bitterness in my post. At the end of the day it guarantees a better end result anyway. |
Larry McGlynn Member Posts: 1255 From: Boston, MA Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 11-27-2006 02:39 AM
Dwight,Go for it. I would be very interested in having your book as a resource for my library.
------------------ Larry McGlynn A Tribute to Apollo |
Naraht Member Posts: 232 From: Oxford, UK Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 11-27-2006 05:57 AM
I would certainly be interested in reading it... |
randy Member Posts: 2176 From: West Jordan, Utah USA Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 11-27-2006 07:22 AM
So would I. |
mensax Member Posts: 861 From: Virginia Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 11-27-2006 07:52 AM
Count me in.Noah |
pollux Member Posts: 54 From: London, England Registered: Dec 2005
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posted 11-27-2006 10:59 AM
Me too ... |
Dwayne Day Member Posts: 532 From: Registered: Feb 2004
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posted 11-27-2006 11:21 AM
The first paragraph in this post doesn't make much sense to me.Hasn't the television camera been the subject of an article in Technology Review? Is there really enough material on this subject for an entire book? |
Dwight Member Posts: 576 From: Germany Registered: Dec 2003
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posted 11-27-2006 01:47 PM
The info on Apollo TV camera development has already filled 10 A4 filing folders and I'm still getting stuff. There is alot of material on it and it makes alot of reading. The operational manual for both the Westinghouse and RCA cameras are in themselves big enough to be a book simply of reprinted material.The info itself is hard to find (discounting Bill Wood's excellent compilation over at ALSJ). I anticipate 300 pages with diagrams etc. The opening paragraph is my whinge pure and simple with a touch of humour. I just found it odd that a publisher who publishes every and all aspects of spaceflight felt the tv cameras had a limited audience. Maybe they're right. I beg to differ, and so do the engineers who developed it. I just wanted to get an idea of whether I'll proceed with the project regardless of firm contract or not. Cheers Dwight |
teachspace Member Posts: 74 From: river edge, nj usa Registered: Sep 2003
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posted 11-27-2006 02:07 PM
Sounds great to me.Joe |
Glint Member Posts: 1040 From: New Windsor, Maryland USA Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 11-27-2006 04:37 PM
Here's a thread from ceremony marking the 35th anniversary of the camera's big debut:Historical Electronics Museum to Host Reunion of Apollo 11 Lunar Camera Team http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum23/HTML/001675.html |
Blackarrow Member Posts: 3118 From: Belfast, United Kingdom Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 11-27-2006 06:23 PM
I would buy a copy. |
jrkeller New Member Posts: From: Registered:
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posted 11-27-2006 08:51 PM
I'd buy one too |
freshspot unregistered
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posted 11-28-2006 04:48 AM
Dwight, I would buy a copy too. But there are other ways to get your material out there than either a traditional publisher or a self-published book. I too am a writer (books about Internet marketing). At the beginning of 2006 I had an idea about how news releases have changed because of the Web and that companies should send news releases not only to reach the media but to reach their buyers too on search engines and sites that index the releases such as Google. Esoteric stuff indeed! No publisher would touch it. So I created a free 20-page ebook on the subject called "The New Rules of PR" and published it on my blog. It struck a nerve with marketers. Remarkably, 150,000 people downloaded it over the next few months and hundreds of bloggers wrote about it. It got picked up in over a dozen newspapers and magazines and even won an award. Here is a link to the original blog post and ebook: http://www.webinknow.com/2006/01/new_complimenta.html The resulting success of the free ebook allowed me to hire an agent to pitch a book-length version to publishers. I "proved" the value of the book and that there was a market for it. Wiley acquired the book for a nice advance, I just finished writing it, and it is due out in June 2006. The lesson here is if you can prove a market for your book, publishers will be interested. I would think that if you published something online and for free, that CS readers, TV people, technology enthusiasts, and others would read it (and comment on it) and then you would have evidence to show publishers that your idea is worthy of publication. Cheers, Dave Scott (not the astronaut)
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spacecraft guy Member Posts: 37 From: San Francisco, CA USA Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 12-02-2006 03:36 AM
One guy who could really use a copy of your book is NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. He wrote an essay for Newsweek about 2 weeks ago (should be on the NBC News web site, too) about how his family got their first Color TV in 1968, and how he and his family spent Christmas Eve 1968 watching the color picture of the Earth from Apollo 8 in lunar orbit. I e-mailed him that my family also got their first Color TV in 1968, and whatever the Williams Family was watching on their TV that Christmas Eve 1968, it surely wasn't a color tv broadcast from Apollo 8. They didn't have a color tv camera on board. Didn't get a response from Brian. |